Sunday, June 15, 2025
Dr. John Welborn
Worthy of It All
Sacrifice of Endurance
Malachi 3:13-4:6

Today we wrap our series from Malachi on how God is Worthy of it All. Two weeks ago, we saw how God was worthy of a sacrifice as a priority, last week we saw how he was worthy of a sacrifice with specifics, and today we will see that he is worthy of a sacrifice with endurance.

This week I had the privilege of sitting under the preaching of one of my all-time favorites, 76-year-old Dr. Robert Smith of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. In his sermon, he reminded me of one of the great Olympic moments in history from the Mexico City games of 1968. Long after the men’s marathon winners had received their medals and the closing ceremonies had commenced, a sparse crowd was on their way to the exits when John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania grabbed everyone’s attention. Earlier that day, he had been slowed by altitude sickness and had suffered a violent fall that created a gash in his knee and dislocated his shoulder. Everyone assumed he had quit to receive medical attention, but he had not. Many hours after the winners had crossed the finish line, Akhwari came limping into the arena and fell across the finish line to the raucous applause of the remaining spectators and careful attention of the medical staff. When asked by the press why he kept going after the race had already been won? He responded, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles from Tanzania to start the race, they sent me to finish the race.” Incredible endurance…

Main Idea: God’s Worthiness Calls for Sacrifice of Endurance

“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. 4:1 For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come & strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”Malachi 3:13-4:6


Three Realities of Endurance for God’s glory in Malachi 3:13-4:6

I. Temptation to Doubt – Malachi 3:13-15

The rhythm of God’s word to the people through Malachi continues. He confronts them with hard, harsh words in verse 13 and they respond in defiance. This time God reminds them of their blasphemous words rooted in their rank unbelief. They say there is no benefit to being faithful to God since it has not resulted in prosperity beyond those who are not the people of God. They saw their relationship to God as purely transactional and felt he owed them.

“They feel they are doing a lot of religious activity for God and getting nothing out of it. The wicked, they believe, are thus better off than they.” Tony Evans

“Judah’s current difficulties, combined with their perverse understanding of God’s demands and of having a relationship with him had led them to conclude there was no advantage in serving the Lord.” CSB Study Bible

The people of God overestimated their own faithfulness to the covenant (they hadn’t really been as holy as they thought) and they under-estimated God’s faithfulness to the covenant (evil would not go free).

What to Do with Doubt:
• Measure God’s Goodness by Jesus’ Sufferings on the Cross, not My Circumstances in this of Life
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

• Measure God’s Power by Jesus’ Victory in the Resurrection, not My Prosperity in this Life.
“And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:19-20

To embrace faithfulness to the Lord is to do so by faith in his promises. If you are doing it as a transactional arrangement with God, you will not endure because there will be seasons when it simply doesn’t appear to be working. Will we keep tithing on our income when times get tight? Will we keep coming to church when we have conflict with others? Will we keep praying and reading the Scriptures even if we don’t feel like it? Will we share the gospel, even when we’re terrified? This is what it means to fight the temptation to doubt. Doubt begets more doubt, faith begets more faith!


II. Distinction to Recognize – Malachi 3:16-18

Part of their argument against faithfulness was that there was a difference between them and the pagans around them. In fact, sometimes it seemed like the pagans were prospering while they suffered.

“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” Malachi 3:17-18 – They are his people, THEN it will be clear!

Imagine if I walk out to find my son with his buddy down the street defacing the gazebo in Westerleigh Park with graffiti. I will send his buddy home, but I’ll take my son in the house and discipline him for his behavior.

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons…For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:7a, 11 – God is making something beautiful of us.

This is why we can’t really assess our current situation relative to what God is doing. We must trust that we are his treasured possession, and that faithfulness will reap a glorious harvest someday, if it’s not today!


III. Vindication to Anticipate – Malachi 4:1-6

God reminds the people of God that there is a “great and awesome Day of the Lord (4:5)” coming where the righteous judge will preside.

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble… But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.”Malachi 4:1a, 2a

Two Judgments Initiated by the Day of the Lord:
• Judgement of the Sinfulness of Unbelievers – Revelation 20:11-15
• Judgement of the Faithfulness of Believers – 2 Corinthians 5:10

Sometimes it looks like the enemy is winning, neither Malachi nor the Lord dispute that fact. But the call for us is that God is Worthy of it All, including a sacrifice that defies the cultural narrative. Why be faithful, even when it doesn’t appear to be working? Because…

Main Idea: God’s Worthiness Calls for Sacrifice of Endurance


Here’s how the Old Testament comes to a close ….

“…lest I come & strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”Malachi 4:6b – destruction = accursed (khay-rem)

This leaves us hungry and thirsty for something better, doesn’t it? So, let’s travel over to the last chapter of the New Testament to see how it really ends.

“No longer will there be anything accursed…the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.” Revelation 22:3, 21

The difference between being accursed and enjoying grace is Jesus Christ!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”Hebrews 12:1-2 – You can endure, because he endured for you!

Escape the curse of sin, trust Jesus! He is worthy of a sacrifice as a PRIORITY, with SPECIFICS, and of ENDURANCE.



Sources and Further Reading Opportunities:
CSB Study Bible – Trevin Wax, General Editor (2021)
Malachi: God’s Restored People - John L. Mackay (2003)
Wiersbe Expository Outlines on the OT – Warren Wiersbe (1993)
Cornerstone Commentary: Minor Prophets – Patterson & Hill (2008)
Notes from my Bible – Dwight L. Moody (1895)
Insight for Living: Malachi – Charles Swindoll (2025)
Tony Evans Study Bible – Tony Evans (2019)
The Spurgeon Study Bible – Charles Haddon Spurgeon (2017)
Marathon Man Demonstrates Superhuman Spirit – Olympics.com (1968)