I love fall. I love weekends in the fall, but I need to confess a sin of mine and my wife, and the fall brings it out of us. And I can't speak for the other pastors of this church. I have my suspicions about a few of them. Here's what happens. My wife and I sit down to watch a football game. And not long into the game, the referees start making horrible calls. Ungodly calls, unrighteous calls. And we start complaining, kind of mildly. That slowly cranks up as the game goes on. And then it turns into not just they're incompetent. They don't know what they're doing, but I think they're actually fans of the other team. If you took off the referee shirt, You would see the other team's logo underneath. Maybe you've experienced this yourself. Maybe this afternoon, some of you will experience the same thing. Which is, these refs are unjust. And what we really want is for some, like, ultimate official to show up and fix everything. Call the game the way I want it. Call this football game the way it deserves to be called. And please quit cheering for, quit being a fan of the other team. It happens every Saturday. Sometimes on Sundays. Thursday nights has happened before. This is a regular occurrence. It was happening, by the way, in Malachi's time, not about football, but about God. The Israelites were basically wanting to throw the challenge flag on God. and how he was behaving, challenging him that he wasn't righteous, that he wasn't just, that in fact, he was corrupt. What they were asking for was justice. What they didn't want was God to show up and actually call the game fairly. because they had committed a lot of fouls also. The question I want you to think about today as we look at Malachi chapter 2, verse 17 through chapter 3, verse 6 is this. When you ask God to bring justice into the world, are you, am I, prepare for him to bring his refining fire into our own life? When we ask God to bring justice into this world, are we prepared for him to bring his refining fire, not just to the world, but to our own lives. If you have your Bibles turned to Malachi, it's the last book of the Old Testament. We've been working through this series of God being faithful to the faithless. We now find ourselves at the end of chapter 2, verse 17, and then moving into chapter 3, 3, verse six. The 1st thing we see that Malachi brings up is that God is tired of listening to Israel's complaints. Look what it says. You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, how have we wearied him? By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them, or by asking, where is the God of justice? It says you have wearied the Lord with your words, with your complaints. Maybe you've been wearied before. I remember time in my life when I was a young kid about 10 years old. I was playing peewee football. I'm no good at football. I quit once they started hitting too hard. But I play peewee football. I had a hot temper when I was young. It's still there. God works on us since things, but it's still there. But when I was young, it was uncontrolled. Um, and I was on this peewee football team. My dad was the coach, and we were playing, and there was some penalty that was called that I thought was unjust. I was on the field. And so I begin to explain to the ref, who's just some, probably, middle school teacher, who's volunteering his time to help. He's getting an earful from me, a player, about how his call was wrong and how he's against us and how he's opposed to us. So my dad, from the sideline, gets a little tired of my talking, says, hey, son, come on, come stand on the sideline. You out of the game. So I'm standing on the sideline. And I'm still running my mouth. Still jawing. And so my dad says, boy, get in the stand. And so I go sit in the stands. And I'm still running my mouth from the stands. I'm still complaining. I'm still saying how the refs are evil, how they're not on our side, how they're corrupt, and my dad eventually turns around, and in a voice that's not just, you know, kind of like, hey, could you go? A stern enough voice for me to obey immediately. He says, son, go sit in the van. Out in the parking lot until the game's over. And so I found myself sitting in the van, exiled from the field because I had wearied. My father, with my words. God says the same thing to the Israelites, you've wearied God's, God with your words. What were they saying? Two things they were saying. One is, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. So a little bit of a historical background in Malachi's time will help you understand what's going on. So God had chosen the Jewish people from Abraham. 100s and 100s of years ago, He had then made them into a nation with Moses. He sent them into the promised land, and he had told them, if you obey me, I'll bless you, if you disobey me, I'll punish you. They had found themselves around 600 BC punished. They had been kicked out of the land. God had left the temple that he had built, where he dwelt. It had been destroyed. They were living in Babylon. After 70 years, they came back. They had rebuilt the temple. Jerusalem, though, had been destroyed by the Babylonians, and now the Persian Empire was in power. They let them come back. But when the Israelites looked around during the time of Malachi, they saw a city that was in ruins. They saw a temple that had been rebuilt, but was nowhere near as nice as the original temple. There was crop failures happening. The Persian Empire was on the rise. Things were going well for them. And what the Israelites were saying is this. God, you think the Persians are good. They're evil, but you're going to call them good, and you delight in them. There, everything's going well for them. And this is what they were saying. They were challenging God's very character with what they were saying because they looked around and said, things are bad for us and good for others. It must be God that you delight in evil. But that's who you really love. Now, the book of Malachi opens with God saying, I've loved you, and they go, yeah, how have you loved us? And he says, I haven't wiped you out completely. That's how you know. You could deserve it. Your actions have warranted it, but I haven't done that. I have made promises to use this. Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them. Isaiah 520. Isaiah is a prophet before Malachi by a few 100 years, has said this, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet, for bitter. And so the people were challenging God's very character. The other thing they were saying is, where is the God of justice? This word justice underlying it in the original language is kind of a twin idea. There's justice, but there's also judgment. So if things are wrong, you have to have a judgment that shows up to give justice. And so they're asking, where is the God of justice? Where's the God who's going to bring judgment? Because if he was really who he says he is, then he would be here right now calling foul on the nations around us and supporting us. That's what the Israelites are saying. Now, if you've been with us through Malachi, you know that they've been bringing defective sacrifices that God said not to bring, they were divorcing their wives, because they were just tired of them and God said, don't do that, they were doing things. They were committing fouls constantly. And yet they're saying, where is the God of justice? Now, their question shows up in other parts of scripture. Maybe you've asked it yourself. You look around at the world and you see people who are wicked. doing things that are obviously wrong, lying and cheating and embezzling, and everything seems to go well for them. The Israelites were saying the same thing. Our surrounding nations. They seem to be prospering and we're not, God. You must love evil and hate good. There's other places in scripture that we see the same type of question asked, but from a different heart perspective. Psalm 10. says it this way. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain, curses and renounces the Lord, and the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. The psalmist recognizes that. You can go read Psalm 73. The whole psalm is asking the same type of question. I look around God, and I see the wicked prospering. And I see your people languishing. What's going on? Are you going to show up? The book of Habakkuk, the whole book, 3 chapters, is wrestling with this same idea. And Habakkuk ends with the prophet saying, God, if everything failed. If the crops failed, if nothing was working, I'm still going to praise you. These other encounters from Psalm 73 to Psalm 10, prophet Jeremiah and Jeremiah 12, the book of Abakk, they're asking the same question, they're saying, God, I see injustice in the world. When are you going to fix it? They're asking from a posture, though, of faith in God. The Israelites in Malachi's time were asking this question, not with a posture of faith in God, but condemning God for what was going on, challenging his very character and what was happening. It says, God's grown tired and weary of hearing these complaints. He says, I'm going to do something about it. We're going to see, when we look at the next section in chapter 3, verses one to 6 that we need to be careful what we ask for. The Israelites have been saying, where's the God of justice? Where's the God of judgment? He needs to show up and prove to us who he is. And what we see in verse one is that the God of justice is coming is what Malachi says. Look what he says. He says, behold, when you hear that word in scripture, it means pay attention. It means listen to me, what I'm about to say is really important. He says, 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. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. He says, behold, I send my messenger. If you are with us in the very 1st sermon in Malachi, the name Malachi, in Hebrew means my messenger. And so Malachi is kind of making a play on words. He's there as God's messenger. But now God's saying, through his messenger, behold, I send my messenger. So God's saying, I'm going to send someone to you who's going to prepare the way for my arrival. If you've ever paid attention to when the president of the United States travels anywhere, whether it's here to Kansas City or to a foreign country, There's always an advanced team that goes out well in advance. of the president's arrival to make sure everything's ready. Make sure communications are set up, routes are clear, accommodations are set up. They don't show up, this advanced team, to make sure the president's ready to show up at a place. They go to that place to make sure the place is ready to receive the president. God's telling the Israelites. I'm going to show up, but I'm going to send my messenger first. He's gonna prepare the way for me. And we ask, well, when did this happen? Was Malachi, that messenger. He's not. Malachi's predicting that messenger is going to show up. Malachi is expecting that messenger to show up. We don't hear of anything in scripture. In the Old Testament about a messenger that showed up until we meet Jesus. who shows up, and before he arrives, if you know the gospel stories, a man named John shows up. John chapter 11, verses 7 to 10. Jesus says these words. He says, as they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. says Jesus' cousin. He says, what did you go out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing on king's houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes. I tell you in more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. And so God sends John the Baptist. If you look back in Matthew 3, verses one to 3. This is what John did when he showed up, says, In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and here's what he said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Isaiah's prophecy, Malachi's prophecy, are about the same person. And when John shows up, his message is clear, it's repent. It's the same message that God's giving through Malachi. Repent. John didn't show up and say, hey, guys, God's put up with you long enough. He's done. He's finished. It's over. Too bad. It's repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. That's how he prepared the way for God's arrival. We say, repent, the way you're living isn't suitable for when God arrives. Things aren't prepared in the ground. The advanced team has shown up. John the Baptist, in fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy, to say, God's coming to his temple. God is going to fix things. He says, I'm going to send my messenger before me, and he will prepare the way, and the Lord, whom you seek. will suddenly come to his temple. And that language there is an indictment of the Israelites at the time of Malachi. He says, and the Lord whom you seek, that whom you seek isn't like a good thing. There's sarcasm in that language. It says, you want the God of justice to show up? Is that what you want? Is that what you're seeking? This God's going to show up. He's going to send his messenger first. and then he is going to show up. Here's what had happened in the time of Malachi that had them asking for God to arrive. So, the temple that had been built right after they came back from exile. So around the time Malachi was prophesying. They had rebuilt a temple. What is this temple? It's the place where God said he was going to dwell with his people, the Jewish people. It goes all the way back to the book of Exodus. If you've read through the book of Exodus. At some point, you run into the descriptions of the tabernacle, right? You need to have so much cloth, it has so many hooks, it has so many posts, and you're like, whew, this is not the most exciting thing I've ever read. because it's basically instructions on how to build something. It's like an IKEA, you know, manual just going, what do we do here? It was this tabernacle. What was the tabernacle? God said, you, the Jewish people, are my people. And I'm going to dwell among you. But if I just dwelt among you, your sinfulness would get you in trouble. and that you would be destroyed. And so he builds a system, the tabernacle and all the sacrifices that protects the people from God's holiness. And so Moses builds a tabernacle. It was portable. It was a tent. They can take it down and when they moved, they would stop and they would set it back up. That went on for quite a while. From the time of Moses all the way to the time of Solomon. David had become king of the land. His son Solomon said, we're going to build a permanent structure in Jerusalem, and not the tabernacle anymore. He built the temple. So you have Solomon's temple. When both of these were built, Here's the description of what happened when they dedicated those the tabernacle in the temple. Exodus 40 about the tabernacle says this, verses 35, 4 and 35. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the clouds settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled, the tabernacle. There's this visible cloud that descended upon it, and it was evidence to everyone that God had now come to dwell in this tabernacle. In 1st Kings chapter 8 verses 10 and 11, when Solomon dedicated his temple. It says, and when the priest came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord, filled the house of the Lord. And so he had this visible manifestation of God showing up at the tabernacle and the temple. Now, it wasn't long before Malachi's time. Let's just say roughly 100 years, that temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Here's how the Jewish people had come to think about the temple, that, well, we have our temple. And as long as we have our temple, we have God, and nothing can harm us. And they began to associate God with like, he has to have this temple. And as long as it's here we're safe. And God started challenging them about this idea, that the temple is what keeps you safe. And when we look at the exile, when the Jewish people were kicked out of Israel to Babylon, there's a scene in Ezekiel, it says God kind of left the temple, got on his chariot, and flew away to Babylon, leaving his house empty. Then the Babylonians came in and completely knocked down the temple that Solomon had built. Completely destroyed it, shattering the Jewish idea that the temple is what's protecting you. The temple is where God's confined, so to speak, like we have this God that we've confined in this temple, and now we're safe. He's gone. He left. They come back from Babylon. They rebuild the temple. There's no nothing in scripture that says, God's glory filled the temple and there was smoke. He told them, I'm going to be with you. But he hasn't come back yet. And Malachi saying, look, I'm going to send my messenger, and then the God you're seeking is going to come to his temple. That gets fulfilled in the New Testament in Jesus. If you have your Bibles, turn to John chapter 2. John is the 4th gospel. I want to read this so you can see what John says. John chapter 2, John opens his gospel with these words. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. John tells us right up front, Jesus, who is God become human, is God. Verse 14 to chapter one says, and the word, who is God, became flesh, became human. That's what we call the incarnation. We're going to celebrate it in about a month. I know people who are setting up Christmas trees today already. In anticipation of God becoming human and celebrating that. But Jesus grew up, and around 30 years old, this event happened. Verse 13 of chapter 2. He says the Passover, the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, in the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there, and making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned the tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house the house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things? And Jesus answered them, destroy this temple. And in 3 days, I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple. And will you raise it up in 3 days? This is the same temple that was built in the time of Malachi. That 46 years was Herod, King Herod had been adding to it and making it even bigger and bigger for 46 years. He says, so you can knock this thing down. That took us 46 years to get to where it's at now and rebuild it in 3 days. says, but he was speaking about the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was raised from the dead. His disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. When God came back to his temple, he came as the temple, Jesus shows up into the temple and cleanses it and says, what you're doing is an abomination in front of God, you're selling things here. You're manipulating the system. You don't have any regard for God. They were in the same situation as the Israelites in Malachi's time. The God of justice is going to show up. And it says, Jesus says, destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I'll raise it again, declaring himself to be the temple of God, the place where God dwells. If you continue reading the New Testament, Paul tells us that when Jesus ascended back to heaven, he sent us his Holy Spirit, and now God's temple is the church, not one singular geographical location in Jerusalem, but spread out around the world. that each of us are part of the temple of God, the place where he dwells. God says, I'm going to send my messenger, and then I'm going to show up. This happens with Jesus. He's giving them a warning in Malachi's time. And then in verses 2 to 6. I think Malachi asks a simple question. God's asking this question through him. Are you ready for God's arrival? Look what he says. But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand? when he appears, for he is like a refiner's fire in like Fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah in Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, as in former years. Then I'll draw near to you for judgment. I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner. And do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. For I the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. He says, are you ready for God's arrival? He says, who can endure the day of his coming? In the Old Testament, the prophets would repeatedly speak of the day of the Lord. And what this day was, was a time when God was going to arrive, and kind of overthrow completely the evil and suffering that's in the world. He was going to bring righteousness and truth completely into the world. And it was understood as the day of the Lord. Now this idea of day of the Lord could also be used for other times when God says, I'm going to fix things, not in a kind of complete way, but in this situation, this time, and it could be called the day of the Lord. But the idea of the day of the Lord was this massive time when God was going to fix all that was wrong in the world. His arrival. And Malachi says, who can endure the day of the Lord? The Israelites thought was, well, if the God of justice shows up, everything is going to go well for us. All the calls will go our way because we haven't been doing anything wrong. We haven't committed any penalties. We haven't been unfaithful to God at all. God's the one that's being unfaithful. He needs to show up and do his job correctly. Amos writing about the day of the Lord, another prophet. In chapter 5 of his book, verses 18 to 20, says this, woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light, as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him. It is not the day, is not the day of the Lord, darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it. What he's telling them is, you're asking for God to show up and give justice. You need to be careful what you're asking for. Because when he shows up, it says he's going to be like a refiner's fire and fuller's soap. What are these things? So the refiner's fire, if they were like trying to get silver, they would get all the rocks that had silver in it, put it into a furnace and heat it up till it melted. The fire was so hot that it melted, and all the impurities would rise to the top, and then they would skim off those impurities and just have the silver. And so the silver had been refined. All the impurities were swept away. Fuller soap was a very alkaline solution. So it wasn't just, hey, let me wash my clothes. How do I get stains out of clothing? They would have fuller soap, and they would soak the material in it, and vigorously scrub until the stains came out, and the garment was restored to its original color. But it was a highly kind of abusive activity. It wasn't just, I let it soak. They had to rub it and scrub it to get these stains out and Malachi's saying, look, when God shows up, it's like a refining fire. It's like Fuller's soap, and he's showing up so he can purify his people so that they will offer sacrifices that are acceptable. They've been offering defective animals that God says, I'm not pleased with this. I told you not to bring these defective animals. You're bringing them shows that your heart's not with me. They had already been bringing, at times, animals that were appropriate, but their heart wasn't with God, and he said, look, with your lips, you praise me, but your heart's far from me. I'm sickened by that sacrifice also. God wants a heart that's in tune with him. And then a lifestyle reflecting being in tune with him. But he says, are you ready for God's arrival? Are you ready for the cleansing that he is going to bring? And he says to the Israelites, For I, the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. They deserve to be consumed. Their actions were such that they should have been kicked off the field, kicked into the stands, kicked all the way out into the parking lot. And yet God says, I'm faithful to the promises I've made to you. And I'm not going to do that to the nation as a whole. But he is telling the individuals in the nation. You need to get right with me. For when I show up, it's going to be a refining fire. It's going to be Fuller's soap when I arrive. It was some 400 years after Malachi that the promise was fulfilled of God showing up. He had sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus, and Jesus, the Son of God, the God man, arrives on the scene. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then Jesus says, how are we going to deal? with this refining fire in this fuller soap to deal with the sin that besets all of us, that stains all of us? I asked you at the beginning, when you ask God to bring justice into the world. Are you also prepared for him to bring his refining work into your own life? What can we do today with what Malachi is teaching us? I think 3 things we can pay attention to. One is don't judge by worldly standards. What I mean by that is, as you look around the world, we can easily become like the Israelites going, man, I see these people. And I know that what they're doing is wrong. I know that how they're living is wrong, and yet they seem so happy, so blessed. They have a nicer car than me. They have a nicer house than me. Nothing seems to go wrong. They're in great health. Everything seems wonderful. I guess maybe maybe God loves them. Maybe God's blessing them and I have God confused. that we don't need to judge by worldly standards, because there are times when the Bible's clear. Those who are opposed to God seem to prosper. And then there are those who are following God, who seem to suffer. Jesus hanging on the cross is the greatest example where they mocked him and said, well, if God loved you, you wouldn't be up there. If God cared for you, you wouldn't be up there. And yet we learned that he died for our sins. And that the reason he's up there is because God so loved the world. God had already told twice, this is my beloved son, with whom I'm well pleased. It's obvious. When we come to judge the world, we need to judge it by biblical standards. We open the Bible and say, God, show me how I should think about things. And yes, like Psalm 10, we can question at times, God, I see injustice in the world. Are you going to come? When are you going to come and fix that, but I trust you until you do. And it's easy, easier when the injustice is out there, but when we see it kind of getting real close to us, to people we care about, to our situations. We have to go, God, help me to trust you. Don't let me judge by worldly standards, which leads us to do this. Evaluate our relationship with God because he is a faithful judge. It's very easy for me to look out and see what's wrong with others, but God calls us to look inward. And go, God, I want you to bring justice into the world. All the things that are wrong. I need you to fix, but just don't worry about me so much. But I need to look at my own life and go, okay, God, if you're refining fire is showing up, what needs to be refined in me. Jesus described it this way. says, how can you look at a brother or sister who has a speck in their eye and say, I'm going to fix that while you have a log in your own eye? He says, do this. Take the log out of your own eye, and then you can help your brother with the speck in his eye. And he's not saying that, hey, your problem's the biggest, and his problem's not that big a deal, because a spec in the brother's eye is also a log in his eye, right? Jesus telling us very simply, I need to worry about me. I need to focus on me and make sure God, am I being faithful to you? It's my heart in the right place, and my actions in the right place. Now, then I don't go. And by the way, I'm going to ignore everyone else. He says, hey, then help others. But do it from a position of recognizing your own relationship with God. Because he's a faithful judge. God's on his own side. He's on his side, and we line up with him, which leads us to the final point, which is this, trust Jesus to refine and cleanse you. Every single person in this room. has committed all the penalties we need to commit to be kicked out of the game. When my dad kicked me out of the game, into the stands, into the parking lot, he was just in right. And we've all committed the same types of things in our relationship with God. There's no challenge flag we can throw to say, hey, God, rethink this. don't think I'm that bad. We're that bad. Jesus says we look at our hearts, not just our outward actions, but our very hearts. And what are we capable of? What could I do? What thoughts run through my mind? We need Jesus to refine and cleanse us. Jesus died on a cross to forgive us for our sins, so that when God looks at those who have put their trust in Jesus, he sees not me in my sinfulness, but his son in his righteousness. He says, now, I see you as righteous, as cleansed, as refined. And then as his follower, he continues to refine us. He continues to work in our lives. He's already saved us as his followers, because we're in Christ. We trusted Christ, but he then says, now I want you to live out the truth of who you are. And there's a refining that takes place in that also, and a cleansing that has taken place. If you're here, our worship team is going to come join me on stage. If you're here and you're like, I don't know who Jesus is. I've never put my trust in him. We want to talk with you about that if you want to talk. In our back corner, we have one of our deacon couples. They would love to pray with you and talk with you about what it means to follow Christ if you've never put your trust in him. He is the one that cleanses us. If you're here and you've put your trust in Christ. And you said, I've already accepted Jesus as my savior, he has paid the penalty for my sins. But I know I'm being refined. I know he's working in my life and I want to be faithful. I want to know how to be faithful. I want to make sure I'm not thinking the wrong things while I'm going through this refining fire. You can go back and talk. to our deacons. We would love to pray with you and talk about that. But know this, that there's nothing in this world. Nothing. that's gonna make you right with God, not your own effort, not your own goodness, not your own holiness, nothing except Jesus. God himself, who came to his temple, cleansed it, and is a refining fire in fuller soap. The sin that clings to us, the filth, the dirt, the stains, nothing takes away, except the blood of Jesus. Nothing makes us righteous. except Christ in his death. Nothing redeems us except Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection. and is his spirit that empowers us in the midst of our struggles, in the midst of our own, in the midst of our own rebellion and sin, to be faithful to him, to let him refine us. If you'll stand with us and sing nothing but the blood.