THE OTHER SIDE OF GOD

Malachi 3:1-6a

Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight.  Behold, “He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.  “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soup/  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.  Ten the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.  And I will come near you for judgment; I will e a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—because they do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.  For I am the Lord, I do not change:…”

We often think about God as a God of love and of peace.  One who is gentle and kind and loving and so He is.  But I want to talk to you about the other side of God.  God says here that He will come near you for judgment.  There will come a day when you will be judged for your sins and not just you, but everyone.  And so it behooves us all to get it right with God.  We don’t know when the Day of Judgment will come.  We don’t know if we have another tomorrow to get it right.  But we do know that we have right now, this minute.

As such, we need to not only see the loving Father who woke us up this morning but we need to be aware and even afraid of the other side of God.  Go with me to Leviticus 10:1-3

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.  So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.  And Moses aid to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke saying; “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.” So Aaron held his peace.

 Numbers 16:30 – 35

“But if the Lord creates a new thing and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”  Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah with all their goods.  So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.  Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!” And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.

 Numbers 21:5, 6

And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

The Word of God says that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. Matthew 18:16  In other words, I have given you three instances or three different views of the other side of God.  Malachi says that God does not change.  So why is it that today, we think that it is okay to disobey God?  When we break the laws of the land, we disobey God because all authority comes from God.  God hasn’t changed.

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