The Breaking Dawn (Malachi 4)

[Producer Notes: There are known audio issues with the sermon that relate to the microphone's receiver. Thank you for your patience as we work on the issue for future sermons.] In this sermon on Malachi 4, we hear the final words of the Old Testament as a wake-up call against spiritual complacency and eschatological amnesia. God’s people were still worshiping, still showing up, yet living as if the future would simply mirror the present. Malachi confronts that normalcy bias with a sobering announcement: the day of the Lord is coming—a day of judgment for the proud and healing for those who fear God’s name. This message explores: Why delayed judgment often leads to moral complacency How God’s warnings are acts of mercy, not threats The “Sun of Righteousness” who brings both healing and justice Why Advent is about Christ’s second coming as much as his first Why preaching itself is God’s appointed means of preparing his people Moving from Malachi to John the Baptist to Christ himself, this sermon presses one central question: Are you ready for the day that is coming? For those in Christ, that day is not terror but dawn—not fear, but refuge. Advent teaches us to wait, but not passively. We wait awake, watching, repenting, and trusting the One who has already come and who is coming again.