Eternal Distinction Between the Pious and the Wicked

FROM: JANUARY 23 @ 29, 2018

TOPIC: "Eternal Distinction Between the Pious and the Wicked" Malachi 3:13-18

On many occasions we have complaints. But, we must consider that every believer's complaint is against God. It is different with the wicked because, when he speaks and complains, he speaks to himself. But, of all that we speak we will be accountable before God. (Matthew 12:36, 37 “...I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”). This is clearly said by the Lord, that by our words we will be justified or we will be condemned. He takes note of all the complaints. Here in these verses of Malachi the notes that God wrote of the people of Israel are these: it is not profitable to serve Jehovah! God's people came with impiety, there was no longer any love or respect for God in them, they no longer had reverence towards the Lord. That's how it was with chosen people who were on earth especially to fear God! Then God declares to them that soon He will bring the day in which He will make an eternal distinction between those who are pious and those who are ungodly! Those people spoke harshly against God saying that He was unfair to them. We see that we have to be careful, because it becomes a habit to speak of God in complaints, and that is done by the hardness of the heart. These words we read were said not directly to God, but were said about God from one person to another. They said it among themselves: "What do we gain by keeping His law?" Murmuring against God was very common among them. Yes, there are realities around us, we see that the ungodly prosper in earthly goods and that the pious suffer. But, what is suffered or endured is with respect to the nature of God's service. Our lives as believers is to serve out of love as Christ loved us, it is not a mercenary business where we are going to be paid money or to be given commodities for the good that we can do. Those people spoken of in Malachi complied with the external observations, not out of love for God, but rather in the hope of being well paid in material prosperity. So, these Jews here are completely wrong with respect to the nature of service to God. Today we are not far from that same religiosity, brother; that happens a lot. There are religious people who accuse God of being unjust when they do not see prosperity come their way. God wants us to serve Him, but not for what fills us externally; God wants us to understand that this life is nothing and that it ends quickly, to realize that if we want to be rewarded, that it be eternal! God rewards the true worshiper, not so much in this life as He will in the one to come. He who is a worshiper has a mutual communion with God. He glorifies God with his life because he was redeemed. The motive for coming to God is not for prosperity, it is to have communion with God; for that reason we have to live for that where God wants to take us. These men of Israel confused the exterior with the interior that God wanted from them. It was not the garments of sadness; from their observances what God wanted was their obedience, a true humiliation. That is was what God wanted from them. They were upset because the arrogant prospered impiously, they tempted God and escaped. But we must see that there were also those who truly feared Jehovah. Those were the contrast with those arrogant ones. We can hear today many so-called Christians asking themselves: "Why do the

impious prosper? And we see them rebel. It is like those in Malachi who also look to be satisfied in the external and do not separate from the evil. They defend themselves complaining, but they do not seek to be worshipers. They do not have a mutual communion with God. It is simple, they lack a normal and correct communion. God inscribes them all in His book of memories. God has a book for the sighs and tears of His afflicted (Psalm 56:8 "You have counted my escapes, put my tears in your vial, are they not in your book?") We are God's special treasure, great jewels. That is what I want to be: "His treasure." On the day of judgment, the Almighty Lord will show who the righteous are (who is the one who serves God) and who is the wicked (who does not serve Him). Let each one say what they want through their mouth and boast, but the moment will come when it will be declared who is who. We must serve God out of love, even when it seems that the majority, like those mentioned by Malachi, have turned their backs on him. Let us be sincere with God and love Him with a pure heart, not with our mouth or seeking an external reward as an excuse to serve Him. Amen.