Today I wanted to start, kind of with another story. I’m kind of on a story kick lately, right? But this story is about two sisters. Their names were Corrie and Betsie ten Boom. Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were two sisters that grew up in the Netherlands. They came up, and they came from a family of watchmakers. They did so well in their profession that they became the first female licensed watchmakers in 1922 in the Netherlands. More importantly, they were also devout believers. They went and they set up a camp - they discipled young women in their neighborhood - they set up a little camp that people could come to, and they would teach young women how to really excel in biblical living. Right, so they were influencers. They were the “influencers” - not the kind that you know on TikTok - but the real influencers back in the day in 1922. Influencing their communities for Christ. But we all know in 1922 we’re coming into the Germans taking over. The Germans come and they start rounding up Jews in their neighborhood. Remember, these are two Christian women they have nothing to worry about, but you know what they do? They start taking Jewish families and they bring them into their home, and they start hiding them in the walls of their home. They did this for a while, and then this group of people found out, they’re called the “Dutch resistance”. They were kind of resisting the German overtaking at that point. They found out and they came, and they sent engineers, and they sent all these people. And they built these secret rooms inside the walls of the ten Boom home. They set up ventilation, they set up these little buzzers in case there is an emergency, and they had to remain quiet. The ten Boom’s did this for a long time. Unfortunately, somebody sold them out. A time came, it was a night everybody was asleep. They had a family of six Jews inside the house that were hiding inside of this little tiny secret room. It’s pretty amazing. They actually preserved it. You can do a virtual tour online of the house they preserved. It’s really amazing to see. But the Gestapo came in. They kicked their door in the middle of the night. They come in and they search the house, and they don’t find anybody. Even though those Jews were hiding in the walls. But they knew what the ten Booms were doing. They took those two sisters, they removed them from the home, arrested them, and brought them to one of the worst concentration camps that existed in the area.

The two sisters are in the concentration camp, and I’m gonna read you a quote of what they said to one another one night that they were laying in the dirt in this concentration camp. Betsie said, “Are you awake, Corrie?” Corrie said, “Yes, you awakened me.” Betsie said, “I had to. I need to tell you what God has said to me. Corrie, there is so much bitterness. We must tell them that the Holy Spirit will fill their hearts with God’s love. We will travel the world, bringing the gospel to all of our friends, as well to all of our enemies.” But Corrie said, “To all the world? That’ll take so much money.” Betsie said, “Yes, but God will provide. We must do nothing else but bring the gospel and he will take care of us. After all, he owns the cattle on one thousand hills. If we need money, we will just ask the father to sell a few cows.” Corrie said, “What a privilege to travel the world and be used by the Lord Jesus.” Amazingly enough, Betsie passes away shortly after this. She ends up getting sick and passing away in the night. Corrie ends up getting released. There was an “error” on one of the paperwork on somebody; a misprint. She ends up getting released. She spends the rest of her life going out and preaching the gospel. Traveling, writing, bringing God’s glory and God’s word to all corners of the earth. Preaching not only to her friends, but to her enemies as well. Telling people about God‘s love. You see, I think about what these two sisters must’ve went through. As they’re in this concentration camp, they have every right to become bitter, become upset, and turn and say it’s unfair. Yet in those moments, they remained faithful. Just as Corrie remained faithful to God while the world was falling apart, so too are we called to remain faithful. In the midst of the circumstance, the political climate, all the things in this world that we find ourselves in, God has called us to remain faithful. You see, that's what it means to be among the remnant.

Today, my sermon is talking about what it means to be among the remnant of God. You see, I laugh sometimes when people say it’s too difficult to follow God in our current climate. Our country has just moved on, humanism is so great, it’s impossible, things are so bad, culture has moved on from God. “I can’t follow God”. And I want to laugh. When you look throughout history, and look how the Christians and God’s church remain faithful in the hardest most difficult circumstances. There has always been and will always be a remnant of God that exists in the face of all circumstances. Even when everything in this world tries to get us to compromise, standing firm in your faith means putting your trust in him and saying, “God, no matter what I will be counted among your remnant.” They have always existed. They will always exist. The question is: are you counted among the remnant today? And that’s the question we’re going to be exploring today. If you guys have your Bibles, I’m gonna be reading from Malachi 3. So the question is: are you part of the remnant church today? And we’re gonna read about that, and we’re gonna talk about what the remnant look like. As we’re going through the sermon today, and as you’re opening up your Bibles, I pray that you would be searching your own heart and asking that question as we talk about what the remnant look like - saying, “Am I among the remnant church?”

“The remnant have their eyes fixed on the father.”

First, we’re gonna talk about how the remnant keep their eyes fixed on the father. The remnant have their eyes fixed on the father. We’ll talk about this verse and where we are in the Bible before we start reading it. We’re like fifth century B.C. We’re right around the time of Nehemiah. They’ve been released from Babylon captivity, so the Jews were in a foreign land and were captive to a foreign people. Surrounded by idols, surrounded by all sorts of things during this time. But they had been released at this point. The second temple has been built, and the Jews find themselves kind of in a funny place. They’re kind of in a lull. They’re kind of in a point where they needed God for a long time - things were really, really bad - and they were calling out to him, and they were saying, “God, we’re in captivity!” or, “God, we need you!” or, “God, they’re trying to kill us!”, and all this stuff. But now they've been released from captivity, the temple has been built, and now they find themselves in a period of lull. I’ll tell you, it reminds me kind of where we are as a country today. You know, we have been through bad times - the great depression - things were really bad. People needed God. People were throwing themselves off bridges because they were in such despair. People began to call out to God, but now we look at where we are. We’re kind of doing okay. I understand there were bad things, but we were kind of doing okay. People lost their need to call out to God. The Jews at this point, their hearts had grown cold. They were no longer living up to the covenant promise that they had made to God. They happen to find themselves in spiritual apathy; disillusionment with the state of what it means to live in the kingdom. And moral decline, again, it sounds exactly like where we are today. But unfortunately, corruption had entered into the priesthood. And we know when the top becomes corrupt, it trickles down to all the people, and that’s exactly where they find themselves. People were offering blemished sacrifices. You know instead of their best lamb - instead of their best goat - maybe they were offering like the middle of the road one. Or maybe one that wasn’t going to sell anyway, it was so jacked up. So, that’s what they offered to God. They’re failing to honor God properly and they’re withholding their tithes. This is the heart of the people at this time. What does it come down to? It is exactly what my wife said last week: it was that they’re lacking fear of God. Fear of God was nowhere to be found. She said it so passionately. If you don’t know the fear of God, you don’t know anything. And that’s where these men were at.

They started to even question the justice of God, and that’s where we pick up in verse 13. It says, “‘‘Your words have been harsh against me,’ says the Lord, ‘Yet you say, “What have we spoken against you?” you have said, “It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed, for those who do wickedness are raised up; they even tempt God and even go free.’” When I talk about keeping your eyes fixed on God - I know that sounds pretty cliche. But what I’m talking about is that your eyes are so focused on God, that you are so satisfied in the covenant promise - the contract that you have come in with God - that what goes on around you in the world, it doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with you. We know this world; we know what goes on in this world. There are all sorts of things that go on, but when your eyes are fixed on Christ, the truth of what goes on around us becomes clear. We know that this world is filled with false gold. It's fleeting. The things that people go after, the things that they white-knuckle on to are going to turn to ash in their mouth one day. The ways of the world lead to destruction. We talk about what it means to be in God. To be in his truth, to be in his love, and his church. The calamity doesn’t touch you. Your family is there. You’re being healed of all brokenness and your family is coming into truth. You see, that is the gold that will last forever.

We know the ways of the world are all leading to destruction, but the minute we take our eyes off God, all of a sudden those things start to look appeasing. We start to covet the ways of the world. Our eyes come off of him and all of a sudden, it’s no longer about what we deserve -because in the truth we know what we deserve, compared to what we got. No, all of a sudden it becomes about what we should get. What we’re owed. What we think we deserve in our own flesh. See when you have no fear of God, your eyes start to wander. Your eyes start to look around at the world. All of a sudden, lies start to come in your mind. All of a sudden, the world starts to look appeasing, and the things of God seem burdensome. Curiosity turns to questioning. Questioning turns to harboring things inside of your heart. Harboring turns to pride. Pride might not sound like a big deal, but let me remind you that pride is a thing that caused Satan to rebel against God in heaven, and turn away against him and say, “I can be my own God.” Why do people look around? It's very simple. They look around because they are no longer satisfied in the covenant. Because they want other things outside of God, and they’re looking around for an excuse to justify their lack of reverence and their lack of obedience. This is where the Jews are at. They’re looking around, and like lawyers they try to find loopholes in what you do. They try to find loopholes to get you out of the contract, and to get you out of the covenant and out of the promise. They’re saying, “Look! Look what’s going on over here! Do you see? I’m gonna call him blessed because he’s prospering and he’s outside the church. Look at this one! He’s doing great and he’s outside of God, and he has a ton of freedom. I’m gonna call them blessed. So if I look around to that side, and I look around to this side, I don’t really have to follow God, do I?” See, trying to find a loophole.

What does that look like today? We see it today. Our kids say, “Don’t you understand what my friends are doing? Don’t you understand, everybody else does this, why can’t I?” Or you look around and you see people at work and say, “Look, they’re prospering without God! I can do that too! I can do whatever I want, right?” And you prosper outside of God. Oh, there’s a loophole, I don't need to follow the contract anymore. Or, “Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do? Who are you to tell me what the Bible says and how my life isn’t measuring up? Who are you to do that?” Same thing, right? Loopholes to try to get out of the contract. But you see when you fear God, you recognize his sovereignty. When you fear God, you look at him and say, “God, I know all things in this world are held in your hand. God, I know - because your word says it - that this world is leading to destruction. And everything in it is fleeting, and everything in it is falling, and everything in it is gonna lead me to a path to hell. But, in your hands you hold the keys to life. Where else would I go, God, to be outside of your goodness?”

When I say keep your eyes focused on him, it’s because the things of the world are of no concern to you. Your eyes are on him. You remember his goodness. You remember what he has done for you. You remember what you really deserve, and you know God has been so good. And if God stopped his goodness today, you would spend the rest of your life trying to live up to what he has done for you thus far. Look, I’m not saying that we’re not aware of what’s going on in the world. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m very aware of the political climate we find ourselves in. I’m very aware of where we are in New Jersey, being so against religion in so many parts. I’m very aware of what goes on in this world and how people are turning. I get it - I know - I’m just telling you that my God is greater. I’m just telling you that I know my God!

You see, there’s this human condition that people have that the remnant must be aware of. It's a human condition that makes us look around and try to compare. Actually, you can even see it in the animal kingdom. There’s an experiment that was done by scientists where they got a bunch of monkeys together. They got all these monkeys together, and they train the monkeys to go and bring them something. Doesn’t matter what it is, they’d bring like a rock. So they hand the scientist a rock, and the scientist would give him a slice of cucumber. Monkey gets the rock, rock for the scientist, scientist gives the cucumber. Everybody was happy. Everybody knew the deal. It was a contract almost, all the sides were pleased with what was happening, right? Until one day, one of the scientists handed one of the monkeys a grape. And chaos ensued. Because the grape was a much better - in their eyes - snack than a cucumber. And all of a sudden the monkeys looked around and were like, “What is going on?” and they lost their minds. And the other scientist tried to hand the monkey a cucumber. The monkeys took the cucumber, and whipped it back into the scientist's face! Why? Because they were looking around. They have that state where they’re looking around and saying, “Wait, I want” - that covetousness - “I want what another has and I will not accept anything else.” You see, there’s a state of sinfulness - a state of carnality - that makes man try to look around and try to compare, and try to say, “Well, I want this. I want everything. I want that, I want this. I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be in the church, but do my own thing. I want to serve God and get the benefits of God, yet still get all the world. I want everything, everything must be mine. But when you are in Christ, when your eyes are fixed on him, you understand that everything in this world is false gold. It shines, but it is not true. Yet, God has reserved the best for his people.

The remnant are those who are satisfied in the covenant because they know God has given them the best. You know what it’s like? It’s like someone with a drifting eye in marriage. And I’m not even talking about a sexual thing. I’m talking about somebody who looks around and says, “Well I want that. I want this.” You know what’s the worst part? What’s really done people in is social media. Because everybody has this set up choreographed picture. You know, with the waves in the background and everyone smiling, and have a big smile on their face. We know they were just fighting right before that smile, right? You guys in the family you know, somebody was like, “Did you bring my scarf?” “No, I didn’t bring your scarf!” “Why didn't you - I told you!” you’re like, “What am I? The keeper of the scarf?!” Then they fight and they go at it and then as soon as the camera comes out, everybody puts a big smile on. But what do those people who are no longer satisfied in the covenant promise between a husband and wife do? They look around and they say, “Well I want this. They look happy. I bet they don’t do that thing that I don’t like. I bet you he or she cleans more, or cooks more. I bet you he’s more romantic. I bet you she doesn’t nag. I bet you they make more money. I bet you they buy each other nice things. They bring home flowers!” And it goes on, and on, and on and they’re looking everywhere else. Why? Because they no longer want a deal in the covenant promise. They want to look for an excuse - a loophole - to get out of it. To say, “I don’t have to do this anymore.” God’s people, the remnant of God, have their eyes fixed upon him. Nothing can move them. Nothing can make them look away from the covenant promise.

Those who are among the remnant have it inside of their heart. They are so set, they are so appeased in what God has done for them - what they agreed upon so long ago. I want to remind you of where you came from today. I want you to think back about where you came from. How you were in the grave. How God took you out. How you said to him, “God, if you take me out of this muck - if you take me out of the mire in the grave - I will serve you for all the days of my life.” You see, God wants to remind you that you entered into a covenant today. God‘s people, the remnant, the ones who stand strong in the midst of chaos and all the things of the world, the little kernel of people in the center that remain faithful - they are the ones that know the covenant promise, that have their eyes fixed on the king, and won’t move away from him. Amen. So, we know the remnant are those who keep their eyes focused on him.

“Who are the remnant? They are those whose hearts are devoted to the king.”

Secondly, the remnant have their hearts devoted to the king. Their hearts are devoted to the king. You see, again we go through history and we laugh when people say, “Well it’s too hard in today’s day and age to serve God. The culture has moved on from God. We can no longer do it. It is just too hard.” I want to remind you about the Bible, and some of the people that remained faithful. I want to remind you of a time where the world was so evil that God said, “I can’t even deal with it anymore. I gotta send a flood and start over because of how bad it is.” Yet there remained a remnant in Noah’s family that would not turn away from him. I want to remind you about a time when God’s people were in exile in Babylon, and they were surrounded by idols and huge gold statues. And they had a knife to their throat that said, “You better bow knee or you’re going into the fiery furnace.” Yet God had a remnant who would not bow. Even in the early church. When the disciples were being boiled, and they were being turned upside down and crucified. Yet there remained a faithful of God in the midst of such chaos, that would not bow a knee to the world. You see, there has always been and will always be a remnant of God in the face of extreme opposition. The question is: are you counted among the remnant? Who are the remnant? They are those whose hearts are devoted to the king.

Let’s go back into our reading. Verse 16, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened to them and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate upon his name. ‘They shall be mine, 'says the Lord of hosts, ‘On that day I’ll make my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then again you shall discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”

We have to understand where what he’s talking about in this verse comes from. And I’ll compare it - believe it or not - to sin. We know that sin is conceived - where? - inside the heart. When you do the action, when you eventually act out your sin, that’s just the sin being birthed. That’s just a coming to fruition. The sin started inside of the heart. It was born, it was conceived, it was planned, it was plotted, it was reasoned, all those things. And then the action was just the sin being birthed. It is the same thing with righteousness. Righteousness is born inside of the heart. It's when the Holy Spirit overtakes your heart, and gives you a heart of flesh. It wells up inside of you so much, that it just bubbles over, and the action is just the righteousness being born. You see, when the remnant are those whose hearts are devoted to the king, who has taken the holy spirit, birthed it, cultivated it, grown it to such a point that it actually pushes the soul, the carnality, those things that wanna go its own way and do its own thing, it pushes it down and makes it obedient to Christ. That is what the remnant look like on the inside. The actions are just what’s already in their heart being born.

We look at the previous verse where men said, “What benefit is there to serve God? We’re going to call the proud blessed,” and all the things that they said. The truth was that the sin wasn’t what was coming out of their mouth. What was born inside of their hearts had been there for a long time before that. I don’t know when. It could've been days, it could’ve been weeks, it could’ve been months, it could’ve been years. And we see the same thing in the church today, where all of a sudden something will come out. That sin had been born long ago in the heart. But then, what does God say, “For those who have righteousness inside of their heart, he has something different.

I grew up programming. In programming, we have this thing - every language has it - it’s called an “if, then” statement. Pretty much what it means is: if this condition is true, then everything after it comes with it. If this condition is not true, you skip right over it and you move on. God looks at the condition of our hearts. God looks at the condition of our hearts. We can curtail our actions a lot, we can’t curtail our heart, right? You can’t do anything about your heart. You can’t “force” your heart. What’s in your heart is what’s in your heart. It’s really about, have you taken the Holy Spirit and made him Lord over your life? That's the question. But when we look at what’s inside of the heart - “if” that is for God, if there is righteousness inside of the heart - then what’s the “then”, the “then” is those Deuteronomy promises. Where God enters into a covenant and says, “I will be your God and you will be my people. I will be with you till the ends of the earth. I will bless your land and your crops. Your family will be fruitful. I will be with you and I will never depart from you. There will be healing in my wings, and I will bring healing into your midst and into your camp.” You see, that is the promise that God makes to the remnant of God, who have righteousness inside of their hearts.

“Then they will be mine. Then they will be jewels in my eyes. Then I will spare them as a man who spares his son. Then I will make it obvious to all of the world what somebody who serves God looks like.” What an amazing thing. I was reading my Bible this week, and I was reading Zephaniah. And I came to 3:12. I got to be honest with you, when I first read this verse, it confused me a little bit. “But I will leave within you the meek and the humble. The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the Lord.” “But I’ll leave within you the meek and the humble,” I had a hard time reconciling this, and I’ll tell you why. Because everywhere else in the Bible where I read, it talks about God‘s people being mighty, and strong, and courageous and overcomers. You know, as a man, it kinda gets you jacked up a little bit you’re like, “Yeah!” And then I read this and it says, “I’ll leave within you the meek and humble,” and I was looking and I was like, “Well how can those two things coexist?” And I have to admit, I was looking at it from a worldly standard, right? Because in the world, those two things don’t mix. The meek and the humble, they’re not courageous usually in the world. The meek and the humble are who? The meek and the humble are usually the broken. The meek and the humble are the weak. The meek and the humble are the ones who’ve been run over in life so many times they can’t get up. That’s who the meek and the humble are. And who are the righteous, who are the strong and the mighty in the world? They're proud; they’re arrogant. The mighty and the strong are synonymous with the proud and the arrogant in the world. When I look at the church, I want you to understand this today, it is only in the church that you can mix these two things. The meek and the humble still being the mighty and the courageous, amen.

Why? Because the meek and the humble are those who come before their king. Who recognize God, who see him, whose hearts recognize him when they see him out. What do they do? They fall down on their faces in worship before God and say, “God, you are king.” It’s not an idle movement to fall down before God. It is a surrendering. It is a putting yourself and your heart on the floor and recognizing that God is the most high king. You see, the meek and the humble are the men and women who come before God and prostrate themselves before him, and claim him to be king. But they are the same ones when it comes to sin and upholding your household and coming up against the kingdom of Satan, who are mighty, who are strong, and who are courageous, amen.

I look at some of the men who come up here and they lay themselves on the floor. God has called the remnant to be meek and humble in the presence of their king, yet mighty and strong in this world. Upholding the pillars of the church, upholding the walls of the church, fighting against sin in your homes, raising your children, and being courageous and being overcomers. Too often in the church, we see the reverse. Too often in the church, we see people mighty and strong against God, yet meek and humble to the world, right? Mighty and strong in, “Don’t tell me what to do and how to live my life,” but when the world comes they bow a knee and say, “Whatever you say goes, boss.” Only in God are you meek and humble before him, and mighty and strong against the world. That man - that remnant of God - it only exists in the church. They are ones whose hearts have been filled with things of God, whose eyes are focused on him, and who can’t see anything else. Because I’ll tell you, when you focus on the world you get tunnel vision, and the things of God end up blurring out until they eventually disappear in your life. And all of a sudden, you become hyper-focused on the things of the world. But God has called the remnant, in their hearts, to be devoted to him. To have their eyes fixed on him, and to not accept any type of taint from the world.

“The remnant are those who have been refined.”

So finally, the remnant are those who have been refined. The remnant are those who have been refined. Now before we get into the verse, I want us to understand something. When we’re about to read this verse, there’s two different groups of people we’re gonna be talking about. But they’re both facing the same God. God doesn’t change. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. God remains the same, but we’re gonna read about two different groups of people who go and present themselves before the same God, the same fire, and we will see the different results. On one side you have someone who is remnant inside of their heart, on the other you have someone who has chosen to join with the world. Each face the same fire. The only difference is when you boil it down to the most basic form, the only difference is that one chooses to face the refiner’s fire today, the other chooses to face that fire tomorrow.

So let’s read in chapter 4, verse one, “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.’” I really like this verse because it says, “To the worldly that day is coming. It’s coming in the future. It’s coming tomorrow and it’s burning like an oven.” To the godly, he will be the sun - the SUN - the sun of righteousness. The only difference is that one is looking to face that God of judgment today, the other is looking to leave it until tomorrow.

What does it say that he judges? He judges the same in both parties. It says he judges the root and the branch. Root being the things underground, the branch being things that are plainly seen. The root being that thing that people like to hide and say, “It’s the motives of the heart.” It’s that hurt, and that pain and all the things that you’re your actions come from deep inside that we think are hidden but undoubtedly exist. Those roots inside of our heart, God judges. And the branch - the things on the outside - God judges as well. He's not just judging the outside, because what happens if you leave a root of a weed, what happens? It regrows. You see, the things on the outside, the things that are plainly seen; our pride and our arrogance. The things that we hang on ourselves like adornments. When I was working midnights, I would go to the gym sometimes like at night, right in the middle of the night. And there’d still be people in there, and it’s kind of like a joke because you go in there and like these guys like flexing in the mirror. You know, they act like they’re just doing it to look at themselves, but they’re plainly doing it for everybody to see, right? Like these adornments of pride and arrogance that the world hangs on themselves like a Christmas tree. You see, those are the things that are plainly seen, the things that are hidden are the reasons that you act like that -what happened in your past, your hurt, your pain- all the things inside of the heart that you have made vows against God with.

“- The remnant - are ones who willingly go before God and say, “God, here is my heart. Here are my ways. Here is everything that I’ve done, Lord. Let it be poured on the altar for you to judge as you see fit.”

Both things are judged. The only difference is the righteous - the remnant - are ones who willingly go before God and say, “God, here is my heart. Here are my ways. Here is everything that I’ve done, Lord. Let it be poured on the altar for you to judge as you see fit.” For the righteous, that branch is that thing when you do something and you’re like, “Why did I just do that God? I’m so sorry I just did that. That was wrong. Plain to see. That was wrong, I’m sorry.” The root is the thing that comes right after that makes you say, “Why did I do that? Why did I just do that? Why did I just act like that? What is inside of my heart that made it rebel against you like that, God?” And the righteous - the remnant - come before God and they bow a knee. Just like I said, the meek and the humble go on a knee, and they present it before God saying, “God, here it is. May you go through the refiner’s fire today. May it go through the judgment. May you judge these things, God.” For when the day of judgment comes - whether it be when you die or if God happens to show up right now - that you would not be found wanting. That's the heart of the remnant. That they say, “God I don’t want to be found wanting when your eyes meet mine. I don’t want to be found wanting if I walk out and get hit by a bus. But God, I want to be refined today! I want to be holy today! I want to know you today!”

So you might ask me, “Kris, who can stand before God then? Who can possibly stand before God if everything you’re saying is true?” Funny enough, the Bible answers that. Let’s go to Malachi chapter 3, right before, verse 2, “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when he appears?” You didn’t think the Bible could answer such clear questions, but there it is, “For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them,” Purge them, all the impurities out, “as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering of righteousness.” Now, let me tell you something crazy. God - being so good - he has a standard. He has a standard. I know we don’t like standards in this world, but God has a standard. And this standard is to say that, “You can’t be unrighteous inside of your heart and yet bring me a righteous offering.” You can’t have inside of your heart stored up all this nastiness, and think we’re going to bring it before God whenever we feel like it. What do we start to get into? We start getting into that Cain and Abel sacrifice, right? Where one is acceptable and one is not, and this is what made Cain so mad. So we have this sacrifice - this standard - that exists in God and in his church. Now, him being so good he could just say, “Hey here’s the standard, meet it or not. That’s your problem, but this is the standard.” But he doesn’t do that. What does he do? He offers and paves the way for us to have the ability to offer him acceptable sacrifices. He made the way. Pastor Janeth said in the beginning, “The way has already been made.” Don’t think it came cheap, because it cost the son of God his life and his blood spilled on the cross. That you can take that upon your life, that you could be transformed, that it could come and that sacrifice can do something in your life. Transform your heart, give you a heart of flesh, make you a new being, that you might offer sacrifices to the Lord. Offerings of righteousness God has a standard, but him being so good, he paved the way that you might walk it. That you can offer acceptable sacrifices today. It’s by being transformed by the Holy Spirit, by his sacrifice, by what he did on the cross. His blood poured out is enough to transform me, so it’s definitely enough to transform you. God has done it, amen.

When we transform - when God gives us that ability - that’s when we come to know the sun of righteousness. What is the sun? I think about spring and summer. Every time the sun gets closer to the Earth, what happens? It's warmth, it’s life, it’s so nice. We see things grow. We see things turn green. You know, bunnies are being born, flowers are blooming, it's a beautiful time. But what happens if you got too close to that sun? If you got too close to that sun, you’d find it unforgiving. You’d find that you’d get burnt up. Today, I want you to come to know the sun -the SUN - of righteousness. The warmth, and life, and peace that comes when you come to know the refiner’s fire. When you come to know the good God. The God who made a way that you could be refined. The refined - the remnant are those who present themselves to God every single day, and put anything unholy on top of the altar that it might be a sacrifice to God.

For the remnant, today is the day of judgment. And that is a beautiful, wonderful, amazing thing. Today is the day of judgment for the church, for the people of God, for the remnant who come every day. Who are unwilling to wait until tomorrow, or whenever we might face God in judgment. But those who are coming today, that is when you are refined. That is when God takes out all impurities. That is when God works through you, piece by piece, until you are holy like he is holy. God has a standard of righteousness, and he is willing to do the work that you might be purified and refined this day. That you would be counted among the remnant. What does it go on to say? It says, “Then you will go on to find that he has healing in his wings.” If you read the Hebrew in there, he’s not talking about healing as in like if you have a cut. No, he’s talking about the result of sin. Sin has a result. It has an effect. It cuts your heart. So every time you’re hurt, every time you have pain, every time that something bad happens to you, your heart gets cut and cut and cut. And overtime, what happens? Those things scab up, and they harden, and they are what makes people have hard hearts that can’t know God. But God said he is bringing healing in his wings, that he would heal it up, that he would give you a heart of flesh, so that you can know his ways. A heart of flesh that God can write his laws upon your heart. A heart of flesh that you worship him in spirit and in truth. A heart of flesh that your pain, and your abandonment, and your issues and your heartbrokenness and all those things no longer run your life, and run your decisions, and run everything else. But that God may run your life instead.

Why do people not want to meet God? Why do people look and don’t keep their eyes on him? Because there’s judgment in his eyes. To focus on God today, there is judgment in the eyes of the Lord. People look away because they don’t want that judgement. They look to the things of the world because they’re not looking for judgment. They’re looking to do what they want. The remnant keep their eyes focused on God. They don’t look to the left, they don’t look to the right. They don’t look to the world to try to justify why they no longer have to follow God. Instead their eyes are fixed on him. Judgment is in his eyes, and that is a beautiful wondrous thing, because that judgment is life to the remnant. That judgment is purifying to the remnant. That judgment will see you all the way into heaven, that you would not be found wanting on the day of judgment. But that the son of God would be upon your heart. And when you come before the gates and you look at God, God does not see your sin, but he sees the blood of his son.

Then you’ll be a calf. A well-fed calf let out of the stall. Remember, the Bible was written to farmers and shepherds. They needed that imagery. When you had a newborn calf, you’d leave it in the stall with the mother for a long time until it got nice and fat. That way you didn’t have to worry about if it got sick, or if it got hurt, it could still make it and it wouldn’t die. So they’d wait until it was nice and fat, then they’d open up the gate and the calf would go jumping out super excited in freedom. In freedom, jumping into the world. You know, kicking up and down because they are underneath the sun. They’ve seen the sun for the first time and they are underneath it and they are so excited. Today, God wants to let you out of the stall. He wants to provide freedom to you. Not freedom to sin. Not freedom to do your own thing. Not freedom to go your own way. Freedom that you might be underneath the sun - the SUN - of righteousness, that you might know him, and that God might transform you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I had an aunt. And I would go to her house and I’d go there for dinner, and I was definitely not a refined young man. I would go there and I’d be like, “What do I do with all these forks and stuff?” I didn’t know which one. “I just need one fork, and it works for everything I promise!” I always felt out of place in there because I was not refined, and this is a refined place. I want you to think for a second what Heaven is. Heaven: streets of gold. A sea of crystals. Gates of pearl. Mansion, after mansion, after mansion. Let me tell you today that heaven is a refined place. It is a refined place. And it is for those who have been refined. It is there for those who have kept their eyes focused on him, his eyes of goodness, his eyes of love, his eyes of judgment, who have presented themselves before God saying, “God, I am yet but a sinful man. I am a sinful man, Lord. But I present myself before you. Lord, here is my heart. Search my heart, as David said, for any wayward way inside of me. That I might put it before your altar, and it might be burnt up. That I might be purified.” That is how the righteous - that is how the remnant - keep their heart on God. It is a daily refinement for what God wants to do in your life. For the remnant, today is the day of judgment. Today is the day of judgment and that is a beautiful thing.

“God is coming back for the remnant. Not those whose hearts and eyes have been looking after the world.”

I want to remind you today that God will return one day. And he’s coming looking for his remnant church. He’s coming, not looking for people who meet on Sundays. He’s not coming for the people who have a really good worship band. He’s looking for those who have been refined in their hearts. He’s looking for the remnant church. He’s looking for those who have been waiting upon him. Like those bridesmaids out holding the lanterns out into the street saying, “Where is my groom? Where is my groom?” Waiting up all night. You see, that is the remnant church. God is coming back for the remnant. Not those whose hearts and eyes have been looking after the world. Not those who try to mix the world and the church together and have everything on their plates. No, God is looking for those who have been satisfied in his covenant. Who are satisfied in his covenant promise. Who have stood and said, “God, your ways are good enough. In your hands, Lord, you hold the keys to life. What can this world offer? What can this world offer compared to you? Lord, I will come. I will know you. I don't care what happens. I don’t care what this world does. But I will bow a knee before you and I will worship all the days of my life.”