Malachi

Transcript

All right, so for the next couple of weeks, we'll spend some time in the book of Malachi. And we'll take a look, you know, we'll give it like a little bit of a timeline, a little bit of overall view of the book of Malachi. We'll take, we'll see what Malachi was dealing with at his time. You know, spoiler alert, Israel has fallen away, right? And of course, we have this all the time in the scripture. It should be a red flag for us any time we read about this because there are lessons there for us. There are warnings that we need to heed. So we'll take a look at that. We're probably going to start with a little background kind of leading up to the time of Malachi. And the overall message is that, so just keep this in mind as we go through, is that God has expectations for his people. We can't just come to him as we are. There are requirements. With great reward comes great responsibilities. So that's what's upon us. That's upon, of course, his people. So we will, so we'll begin now. This is just a bit of a timeline to give us a sense of where we are. It's about 100 years after the Babylonian captivity. The temple has been rebuilt in Jerusalem. Nehemiah receives permission from the Persian king to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Ecclesia is built up. It was not in a good place, but under their leadership, they build them back up and get them back on track and everything is going great. Nehemiah has got to go back to Persia. So he leaves Jerusalem. And after a very short time, the people fall away again. Nehemiah gets word and he returns to make some corrections. So we're going to go back to Nehemiah. We'll take a little step back and kind of build up to the time of Malachi. Again, the people weren't in such a good place, so this is a great revival. Ezra and Nehemiah, they're going to bring the people back to God. So it says, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man. So that means when we have that phrase, that means in unity, the people were all aboard this turning back to God. And they told Ezra, the scribe, to bring out the book of the law of Moses. And he read it out loud from daybreak till noon. And all the people listened attentively. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded, Amen. Then they bowed and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And this is important, too, because we'll address this a little bit later in Malachi. But the Levites instructed the people making it clear and giving meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. So that was the job that the Levites had. They were all on board. They were in unity. We need to go back to God. So they were going to read the Word. And they listened attentively. They wanted to read and listen so that they could understand. The proverb says, get wisdom, get understanding. Don't forget, my words are turned from them. So what's the lesson for us? When we read, we want to read to understand. It doesn't do us any good when we're just reading quickly just to get it done. We want to read attentively so that we can get understanding. If you've got any comments as we go through here, just shout them out. So a question. Yeah. These people have been here a long time since they had that book. Yeah. They were in captivity for a long time. They traveled back. There wasn't access to the scriptures as we have it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think they thought going back, it was going to be this big. And it didn't quite turn out to be this great return to the land. They just kind of fell. And it was some troubles and whatnot. And then under the leadership here of Nehemiah, we're going back to the Word. And the people were like, OK, let's do it. Bring out the Word. That's how we got to start. You're feeling down spiritually? Get back to the Word. They were in captivity for 70 years. Yeah. I mean, I think about 70 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. A long time. Yeah. They were told, right? God told them, you're going. And remember, they thought that they were going to go. We'll be right back. The priests were telling them, short time. We'll go right back. And then the message gets delivered. It's going to be 70 years. Get yourself comfortable. That's where you're going to be. So it was going to be quite a while before they went back. Yeah. So they were in need of a great revival. So Nehemiah continues. It says, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, wearing sackcloth, having dust on their heads. And all the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places, confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read, in the book of the law, their God, one fourth part of the day. And another fourth part, they confessed and worshiped the Lord, their God. So some meaning to some of these things that they were doing. They were fasting. Self-denial. We're to deny the lust of the flesh and live by the will of God and not by the will of the flesh. So they were doing a sackcloth. Unworthiness. We know we're all here by the grace of God. We know what we're worthy of. We're worthy of death. But by the grace of God, we can have eternal life. Dust on the head. Humility. Foreigners removed. The principle of separation. We don't necessarily separate ourselves from people, but from the ideology of the world. We're not going to look to the world to tell us what's right and what's wrong and what's important and what's not. We seek God's word for that. Confession. They were repentant of their ways. In unity, they were like, we were going the wrong way. We need to turn back. In reading, they were studying the word. There's a difference between just reading the word of God and then studying the word of God. You can do your daily readings in 15 minutes, but when you want to study, it's going to take a much bigger commitment. They were doing it for three hours of reading, three hours of confession and worship. They must have realized we were so far lost, and we were so sinful, we've got to get back on track. They had a hunger for it. Yes, this is where we're supposed to be. You've got to love the commitment. I think if I sat up here and read for three hours, you guys would be running out into the traffic. You've got to love the commitment that they had, that love for the truth. Maybe for some of you that came in from the outside, so to speak, when you start to get that truth revealed to you, you start to eat it up. You'll want more and more of it. And then Nehemiah draws up this oath. He says, and because of this, we make a short covenant and enter into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord, our Lord, and his ordinance and his statutes. So he draws up this thing. This is what you're going to agree to. No intermarriage. You're going to respect the Sabbath. Tithe for the temple, provide for the Levites, and obey the law. And this is what's drawn up in this agreement. And then he has them sign it. I think it was like 84 representatives of the people had to come forward and sign this. The other people were all in agreement that this is what we had to do. They checked their priorities. And it's something that we have to do, check our priorities. We made a commitment. As they signed this oath, we made a commitment at baptism to follow after the example of Christ, to live the will of God, not the will of the flesh. And so it's good for us to stop and take account. And that's what these people did. And then they made changes. And, of course, that's what we have to do. How's my commitment? Is my job? Is my hobbies? What's taking my attention away from my service to God? And then we have to make adjustments in our life. I'll give you a small example. I had about a 10-minute commute to work. And, you know, there was a time there that I was, you know, you're rushing around in the morning and got to get out the door. And I said, well, I'll just pray on my way to work. Well, you know what happens when you're driving? You go to pay attention and your mind gets distracted. It's not a good time. I did that for a while. I'm like, you know what? That's not a good time to pray. It's too distracting. My mind jumps all over the place. I'm driving. You know, it's like doing your prayers while you're watching the Bruins game. It's not a good… That's not, you know, find a quiet place somewhere where you can really just focus on our prayer. So, you know, sometimes we just have to step back and assess our walk in the truth and then realize, okay, I'm not… I got to make a few changes. And unfortunately, the Great Revival doesn't last too long. It was a small period of time after Nehemiah left. Everything was great when he left. And I think he's only gone for like 12 years. And then I think he hears the word, the prophecy of Malachi, and what's going on in the nation. And he's going to come back. And when he comes back, this is what he finds. There's no respect for God or his Sabbath. They're conducting business. They opened the gates of the city and welcomed in the foreigners to conduct business, right? Financial benefits ahead of the spiritual benefits. So, of course, we've all got those type of decisions to make. You know, those who are thinking of maybe going for a new job. Well, am I in isolation? Well, will I be okay? And we've got to think about the spiritual ramifications. So my father and I had two stores. And many years ago, a competitor had opened up two stores right down the street from each location, and they were open on Sundays. And so, right, business decision was going to be, we open on Sundays. We can't let them have that Sunday business. We don't want them getting in our pockets. So we opened up. And that meant that I was going to work every other Sunday. And this went on for like six months to a year. And, you know, I said to my father, what do you think about the opening on Sundays? And he was like, I don't like it. It doesn't feel right. And I said, yeah, it doesn't feel right with me either. And he says, let them have the Sunday business. We have enough. It was good enough. And so we shut that down, right? The financial benefit was not greater than the spiritual benefit that we were losing. So, you know, again, a small example, but we have to make those types of decisions. They were intermarrying again. They were divorcing their Jewish wives, and they're marrying the people of the nations. So, of course, when they were doing that, they were also introducing the gods of the nations into the community, not good. They neglected the Levites. They stopped tithing. And in turn, the priests neglected their duties, and they stopped teaching. So Nehemiah sees all this. He comes. He returns. He cleans house. We see the depiction there of Jesus. Nehemiah did pretty much the same thing, overturning the tables and cleansing the temple. So now on to Malachi, the message of the messenger. That's what the name Malachi means, messenger, my messengers, the Lord's messenger. And he has a message to deliver, and it's a difficult one. Israel is guilty of corrupt worship and unethical behavior. And those two, they go hand in hand, don't they? False worship leads to immorality. And it's a difficult message. Just like many of the prophets had to deliver, like Jeremiah, right? Remember, Jeremiah's like, I don't want to deliver. I'm sick of delivering this. No one's listening to me. So it's a difficult message to deliver. But Malachi is unwilling to compromise the principles of the truth to appease the people. We're not doing anyone any good if we just want to increase our numbers. We once had a gentleman that came here for many years, and he asked us to accept his infant baptism. And after some discussion, and we tried to point out to him that it wasn't acceptable, we said no, we wouldn't recognize that infant baptism. And he left, and we haven't seen him since. But even if we had said, oh, great, this guy, he's a nice guy, and everyone will be happy, we weren't doing him any favors, because it wasn't by the principles of God. So appeasement, whether it's for ourselves or someone else, isn't doing anyone any good. Malachi defends God's love of Israel, and he tells them, you've got to return to God. He highlights the failures of the priesthood. The people, of course, have become unfaithful themselves. And then he finishes with the hope for the faithful and punishment for the wicked. So what I'd like to do is just read Malachi chapter one. It's a short chapter, but it will give us a feel of what's going on. So Malachi chapter one, it says the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, in what way hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountain and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall build, but I will throw down. They shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. In your eyes shall see, and he shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you? O priests that despise my name! And he say, in what way have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say, in what way have we polluted thee? In that he say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. And if he offered the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if he offered the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto the governor. Will he be pleased with thee and accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? And now I pray, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means. Will he regard your person, saith the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nothing? Neither do you kindle fire on my altar for nothing. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts. Neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the nations. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and pure offering. For my name shall be great among the nations, saith the Lord of hosts. But he have profaned it. In that he say, the table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit of it, even its fruit is contemptible. And he said also, behold, what a weariness it is. You have sniffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. And he brought that which was torn and lame and sick. Thus he brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male and boweth and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is terrible among the nations. Okay, so that just kind of gives us a feeling of what's going on in the nation. Again, God has expectations of his people. So we have in the beginning there the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. This burden or challenge, right? So they're being challenged to wake up. I've loved you, declares the Lord. And Israel responds, in what way? O priest that despise my name, in what way have we despised thy name? You've polluted the bread of my altar. In what way have we polluted it? You've wearied the Lord with your words. In what way have we wearied him? You've robbed me. How? How have we robbed thee? So the priest, the leadership, is in complete denial. They have no idea what they're doing is wrong. They're like, it's fine. What we're doing is fine in our service. So they can't even see their mistakes, which can often happen, right, when we're just stuck in that blindness can happen. And we think everything's going okay. That's why we need to take honest assessments of ourselves. So how have I loved you? Well, he's going to tell them, this is why I've loved you. So if we just go to Deuteronomy, or you can just, I'll just read it. Deuteronomy 7, we'll pick it up in verse 6. This is why God has loved his people. He says, For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people who are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with him, who love him, and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. So God selected Israel to be a special people to him. He then goes on and says this in Jeremiah. He's already told them, listen, Babylon's coming, and they're going to take you away. You're going to be punished for your rebellion, for your disobedience. But this is what God says. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Again, I will build thee, and thou shalt be built. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, declare it off the coast afar off. God is declaring his love for Israel, and he wants everyone to know it. Just as when I fell in love with Tammy, I wanted to tell the world. You think I'll get my favorite dinner tonight? Well, that's what God's doing with his people. He wants them all to know. He who's scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. Yeah, the nations might look at this like, oh, he's turned on Israel. And God's saying, no, I haven't. I'm going to bring them back because I have an everlasting love. And again, in Jeremiah, the new covenant, I will put in my law in their inward parts, I'll write it on their hearts, and they'll be my God, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. One day, they'll do what I tell them. They'll be my people. They'll listen to me, and I'm going to be their God. So that is why God has loved them. And so they say, hey, in what way? What have you done for us lately? And Malachi, the messenger of God, brings up the example of Esau. Now, of course, he could have brought up many examples. The popular one we typically hear is, I brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Don't forget it. By a mighty hand, you were in bondage. I delivered you. We hear that over and over again. Don't forget it. But this time, he brings up the example of Esau and Jacob. And I think what he's telling them here is, you're supposed to be Jacob, but you're acting like Esau, and you're going to see the results of that. So he says, you know, I hated Esau, and laid his mountain and his heritage to waste for the jackals of the wilderness. Edom says, though we have been crushed, right? They were crushed by Babylon as well. We will rebuild the ruins. And God says, they may build, but I will demolish. They're going to be a people always under the wrath of God. God's saying, I removed your enemy. I chose Jacob. I didn't choose Esau. This is how I've loved you. And again in Jeremiah 5, I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. Though I make a full end of all the nations to which I've scattered you yet, I will not make a full end of thee. I'll correct you in measure, like a father corrects his child to reprove them for their benefit. And that's what he says in Malachi 3 and verse 6. I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Yeah, you're rebellious. You're not listening to me. But I'm not going to destroy you. Why? Because while you're unfaithful, and you are a covenant breaker, I am not. I'm a faithful God, I'm merciful, and I'm a covenant keeper. And aren't we thankful for that? So sometimes we look at this, right? Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated? And we go, does God hate? Well, he hates sin, doesn't he? So we go back to Genesis, and it says the children struggled within her. Now this must have been a very difficult pregnancy. There's this struggle going on. It's so bad that Rebecca has to go inquire of the Lord. Like, what is going on here? And the Lord replies, oh, there's two nations in the womb. There's two manner of people, one of the flesh and one of the spirit. And Paul tells us in Galatians, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for these are contrary one to the other. They do not get along, right? Paul says in his struggle in our minds that take place between the flesh and the spirit, he says, you know, the thing, oh, wretched man that I am, right? I want to do this, but then I do this. I shouldn't do that, but then that's what I do, right? And that's a struggle we all have. If we want to live a life in the truth, if we want to follow the example of Christ and deny the flesh and live according to the spirit, it will be a struggle. There's three times when that struggle ends. Once when we're dead, right? That's why God can say, I have pleasure in the death of the saints, because they endured to the end. The dead know not anything. So then the struggle's over. The struggle's over when Christ comes back and we're changed in a twinkling of an eye. No more struggle. And the struggle also ends when we walk away. And that can be pleasing to the flesh. The struggle's over. I have no conscience towards the things. I can live according to the flesh. I can live my way. And for a while, I think, for those who leave, that probably feels pretty good. But they're also walking away, not only from the struggle, but from the hope of the kingdom. And that's what has to be remembered. They've given up the hope of the kingdom. So he then goes on and he says, the elder, the flesh, shall serve the younger, the spirit, right? So, you know, we're all the elder, originally, right? First comes the natural and then the spiritual. So we all have to supplant, replace one thing with another. We have to replace the flesh with the spirit mind. It doesn't come naturally. That's what has to be worked at. But in Romans, he says, they who are the children of the flesh, they're not the children of God, right? So you hear that in the world quite a bit. We're all the children of God. Well, I guess in some respects, right? God is the creator. But those who go the way of the flesh, who give no concern to the things of God, those aren't his children. The children of God are the children of promise, the children of faith, not right. Today, the world says, we've got rights. As soon as we're born, we have all these rights. Well, there's no rights that man has before his creator. Instead, we have responsibilities. Now, the flesh doesn't like responsibilities. We only want to be responsible to ourselves. So many will grasp onto, there is no God. Bowen's theory, right? Even Bowen himself said, this isn't proven. But people are like, we don't care. It's close enough. Now, we can just do our own thing. We don't have to be responsible to our creator. The other thing is there's a prophecy in the elder shall serve the younger. Now, it doesn't feel or it always feels like perhaps the flesh is winning. We look in the world, it seems the flesh is winning. We look at ourselves and boy, sometimes the flesh is just dominating me. But what he's saying here is one day, the spirit wins. In the end, the spirit wins because God is more powerful than sin. So we should always remember that. The spirit wins in the end. Our sins are easily forgiven by God if we come to him because he's more powerful than sin is. It's 10 o'clock already. So Esau, what kind of a man was he was? Two manner of people. He was connolly minded. He was a man of the world, self-seeking, and he had no concerns for the things of God. He despised his birthright. We read that in Malachi. He brings that out intentionally where he talks about the priest despising the name of God. Again, another connection to Esau. Esau despised his birthright, gave it up for a bowl of stew. Now, what did he give up? Remember, he says, I'm dying. What good is my birthright? Well, in the birthright is eternal life. So I always think he was exaggerating when he says, I'm dying. But if he was literally dying, that should have been the most important thing to him. And he kicks it aside. He didn't care about it. But Jacob, he is connolly minded and spiritually minded. That's struggle. He's a sojourner. He's not a man of the world. He's a sojourner in the world. He sought the things of God, and they were important to him. They had contrasting attitudes. It's about attitude when we come before our Heavenly Father. One's a fleshly thinker, and the other is a heavenly thinker. So we're all Jacobs. That's who we are. That's who we want to be. And again, the message here to Israel is you're acting like Esau. You're supposed to be Jacob, and you're acting like Esau. See, God can work with a Jacob. The connolly spiritually minded man, yeah, that's a struggle. But the things of God are important to us. He can't work with an Esau. He has nothing to do. They don't seek the ways of God. So Paul in Romans, to be connolly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Can you get any more straightforward than that? Paul's writing here. He's not trying to give it a soft blow. He's not trying, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. It's pretty straightforward. You want to ignore God, you're connolly minded. Death awaits you. You're like the beast of the field. But you want to be spiritually minded. Eternal life awaits you. And there's a peace, not only then, but there's a peace now. And there's a comfort now in our walk in the truth, isn't there? Though we suffer, though we have trials and tribulations, the hope of the kingdom, knowing that this is not the end all. This will not always be. We have a great future, and that brings us great comfort when we're dealing with difficult times. So there were two nations. So that's one way to look at God hated Esau. But here's another way to look at that, too, if people are like, oh, God, he doesn't hate, he only loves. Well, you know, God blessed Esau. Esau became a mighty nation, the nation of Edom. He had a large family. Kings came out of him, and he had great wealth. It says in Genesis 36, therefore, their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. So he received a blessing. However, when we compare it to the blessings that Jacob received, boy, it's a big difference. It says, but compared to the promises that would go through Jacob, they were by comparison as the difference between love and hate. So great are the eternal promises compared to the temporary ones. And yet even we can struggle seeking the temporary over the eternal. And yet the gap is so significant. It's like the difference between love and hate. Does that make sense? I thought that was a pretty good way to put that. I think that I found that in a little study Bible. I think that was a little note in there. But it's not foreign to the rest of scripture either. These are the words of Jesus. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and his own life, he can't be my disciple. So what is he saying? I thought we're supposed to honor our mother and father. Brother Chris. Yeah. There were eternal blessings given to Jacob and there were, as you said, temporary blessings to Esau. But nevertheless, Jacob was highly favored and Esau less favored. I don't know if Jacob was once said to hate Leah. But in the same sense that he favored her less than Rachel, not that he despised her. We could say the same thing about the promises to Ishmael. That same correlation. And so what is Jesus saying here? He says, hey, the number one commandment is love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Number one, God takes place. Everyone else falls in second place. The gulf between them should be like the difference between love and hate. And many of you that came from the outside probably had, maybe your family wasn't so supportive. And in Jesus' time, I imagine some families were getting divided. He's the Messiah. Well, my father says he's not. So I got to honor my mother. No, Jesus says, no, you got to make your choice. I am the Messiah. I remember some years ago down at the Bible School, I don't remember the brother's name. But I think he was a Baptist and he was about to become a deacon. So his family was very involved in this Baptist church. And then I think if I got the story right, he met Brother Phil Hazard. And Brother Phil taught him the truth. And the man tried to convince his family, and they weren't interested. So he became a Christadelphian, left the Baptist church, and his family still went to the Baptist church. So that was difficult. He could have very easily, we could see, he'd say, I don't want to disrupt my family. But he had to put God first. Make some sense? Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. And he was trying to create this division between light and darkness, good and evil. And it's not that he's trying to create division within the body, for example. He's just trying to create division between carnal thinking, as you describe, and godly thinking. Yeah, for sure. Right and wrong, love and hate, yeah. So again, we have that connection with the priest despising, just as Esau despised. Now the priest despised the name of the Lord. So we go to Exodus, very familiar with us, when Moses wants to see the glory of God. And it says, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord, a God merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity. So I think what he's saying here is, listen, if you don't glorify my name, if you don't develop my character, I'm going to find someone who will. Then he goes on in verse five there, it says, in your eyes shall see. He just said that, you know, Edom says they're going to rebuild, but I say I'm going to destroy them. Because in your eyes they're going to see it, and the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. God destroys your enemies. Edom. Don't be like Esau, or the same will happen to you. And then he goes on in verse 11. He says, for from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the nations. Incense shall be offered unto my name in a purifying offer. And he's quoting, I think they're from Isaiah. I'll read Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, beginning in verse five, it says, I am the Lord, there is none else. There is no God beside me, I girdeth thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, there is none else. And he's telling them, you know, this is what it should have been. If it had been true to me, you would have been a witness to the nations. They would have seen the blessings that I have given you. And this is what it should have been, but you were disobedient. Thus it hasn't happened. However, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. No matter the stubbornness and rebellion of mankind, God will fulfill all that he has promised to do. You can believe, you cannot believe. It doesn't matter. God will find someone who will. He will fill the earth.

Transcript

okay so we're going to continue our time x in the Book of Malachi uh remember that x uh you know they had you know under x Nehemiah and Ezra they were revived and x they were back on the the straighten x Narrow Path and serving God as they x ought to be then they then they fell x away and uh you know Malachi is telling x them uh you're supposed to be Jacob but x you're acting like Esau and kind of the x overriding theme to the book is that God x has expectations for his people and his x people during the time of Malachi and of x course it would still apply for us that x God you know with with great uh reward x comes great responsibility so we have x requirements uh to meet before our x heavenly father right he expects the x best from x us so the people no respect for God no x respect for his word no respect for the x Sabbath uh they were Covenant x Breakers uh they forgot his mighty hand x right how have you loved us right like x you know what have you done for us x lately and as we'll see this was a time x of economic uh uh turmoil as well uh so x they forgot all the wonderful things God x had done for them and apathy had set in x right they had lost enthusiasm for the x truth they were half hearted in their x service you know we can't come before x our creator to worship him come as you x are right that's kind of the world's x thoughts on that but he expects us to x come completely fully not x half-heartedly right of course these are x the words of Jesus up at the top there x the lay of Dean Ecclesia they were x lukewarm and Jesus says I'll spew you x out of my mouth right they were x apathetic they had lost their enthusias x ASM they were just going through the x motions and of course this is something x that um it can happen to us as x well so they fail to show appreciation x for this special calling to be God's x children and if they don't turn back to x God he's going to find someone who will x respond to what he has x done um no matter the stubbornness of x man God's will will be performed One Day x the Earth will be filled with his glory x uh there's always the remnant right uh x the sacrifice of Jesus is not going to x fail and neither is God's plan so we x kind of um we get this same type of a x story you know hey if you're not going x to listen I'm going to find someone else x and we find this in the parable of the x wedding Feast so it's a very short uh x pretty short Parable I think we'll read x it it's in Matthew chapter 22 x um and then we'll kind of go through uh x go through the um the x parable so Jesus says the Kingdom of x Heaven is like a certain King who made a x marriage for his son and he sent forth x his servants to call them who were x bidden to the wedding and they would not x come again he sent forth other servants x saying tell them who are bidden behold I x have prepared my dinner my oxen my x fatlings are killed and all all the x things already come unto the x marriage but they made light of it and x went their ways one to his farm another x to his x merchandise and the remnant took his x servants and treated them shamefully and x slew them but when the king heard of it x he was angry and sent forth his armies x and destroyed those murderers and burnt x up their City then saith he to his x servants the wedding is ready but they x who were bidden were not worthy go x therefore into the highways and as many x as you shall find bid them to the x marriage so his servants went out into x the highways and gathered together all x as many as they found both good and bad x and the wedding was furnished with x guests and when the king came in to see x the guest he saw there a man who had not x a wedding garment and he saith unto him x friend how comest thou in here not x having a wedding garment and he was x speechless then said the king of the Ser x to the servants bind him hand and foot x take him away and cast him into utter x Darkness there shall be weeping and x nashing of teeth for many are called but x few are x chosen so as we go through this x Parable first is the the first invite is x from John the Baptist right he came to x pave the way and for the most most part x Jesus is rejected right the invited x refus to come and the second invitation x goes out it's by the apostles right and x they were x mistreated right what did the people do x when they heard the message they made x light of it right they went their ways x one to his farm the other to his x merchandise they couldn't be bothered to x hear it I get other things to do I'm x preoccupied right with my business with x my x merchandise these things were more x important like Esau right the temporary x was more important than the Eternal well x this made the king angry right so he x sends forth his army this is the Roman x army this is the one that Daniel x predicted um when he says and the people x of the prince that shall come shall x destroy the city in the sanctuary right x so that happened x 870 uh those who had been invited they x were not worthy so the call now goes out x to to the x Gentiles right and they're pretty happy x about this uh it says I think this is x Paul and Barnabas he said we had to x speak the word of God to you first but x since you rejected it and did not x consider yourselves worthy of eternal x life we now turn to the Gentiles and x when the Gentiles heard this they were x glad and glorified the word of the x Lord later in Acts it says God did first x did visit did first visit the Gentiles x to take out of them a people for his x name name so no matter again the x stubbornness of man God's will will be x done he will always find those who will x hear the message in respond to x it so the guests the guests who didn't x have the appropriate x garment right he accepted the x invitation but he neglected to fulfill x the requirements of making himself ready x right that responsibility of making x himself ready that that falls on us x uh to make ourselves prepared to to x fulfill those requirements right coming x to meeting prayer daily readings the x requirements are not x overwhelming but with not a half-hearted x heart we have to be serve our God in x sincerity and then we have these x judgment seat words right cast them into x outer Darkness they shall be weeping and x nashing of teeth so whether we refuse to x accept our invitation those who we just x say you know what it's not for me this x calling I'm going to walk away or we x neglect the requirements we have that x half-hearted heart we we come we show up x from time to time we're here but we're x just we're just going through the x motions and we neglect the requirements x of the Divine call well they both end in x rejection at the Judgment seat x and we see here in Revelation it says x let us rejoice the marriage of the Lamb x has come his bride has made herself x ready right it's h it's up to us you x know uh you know that old saying the uh x you can lead a horse to water but you x can't make him drink so you know it's x not the Ecclesia fault if you're not x ready right we offer Sunday morning x class we offer the service we have a x Wednesday night class there are Bible x schools uh today we have more x availability to Bible classes and x exhorts probably than ever before but x with a uh you know going online online x can be dangerous sometimes but there's x great benefits too so it's up to us to x make ourselves ready and prepared to x meet the x groom and a revelation it continues says x and it was granted to be ar raid in fine x linen clean and bright for the fine x linen is the righteous acts of the x Saints the Saints are the True Believers x so the faith and the acts right that's x work so it's faith in works are we x working in the truth do we have these x righteous acts are we active right you x know some people say you know my faith x is part of my x life well it's all of our life it's not x just Sunday it's at home it's in the x workplace we don't get days off from it x right it has to be our entire life so x work works of Faith right so we need x both of these this is how we make x ourselves x ready so back in Malachi we see the sins x of the priest they were offering these x blemished offerings right the priest x allowed the people to bring the Blind x and the lame the sick among their flock x as an acceptable offering uh to God upon x the Altar and God he goes this is x unacceptable so we go back in x Deuteronomy right he says but if there x an animal has a defect if it's lame or x blind or has any serious flaw you must x not sacrifice it to the Lord your God x and yet they were doing it and the x people were okay with it and the priests x were okay with it um of course it would x be more valuable to have the perfect one x than the lame one and they had it says x they profaned the table of the Lord it x was you know that word means to make x something common or x insignificant right and we'd hate to x think that when we come here to remember x our Lord and savior that it's just x become a routine that we're just going x through the motions that we're just x taking the bread and the wine and it x lost its meaning to x us so it's about attitude x isn't x it so now God calls out Israel for their x contempt their lack of respect for doing x things his way he says uh he said also x behold what a weariness it is and you x snuffed at it says the Lord of hosts and x you brought that which was torn and the x lame and the x sick thus you brought an offering should x I accept this offering at your hand x sayeth the Lord then he goes on to say x it's an evil thing that you do when you x bring this type of offering to me when x you bring the lame it's it's a wicked x thing that you've done go give it to the x governor see if he'll even take it x saying you know he won't even accept it x and you expect me to take this x offering and they said oh it's a x weariness this is a burden we have to x inspect these things you know so the x people had to you know choose out the x perfect one and they had to inspect it x and take care of it until it was time to x make the offer and then the priest had x to take it and inspect it and they're x like H this is a weird is it really that x important and you did they just snuffed x at it ah what's the big deal it's going x to be killed anyway why don't I give you x the one that's blind it's just going to x be killed now of course the the Blind x and the lame they didn't have as much x value right they could take the good one x and that was worth something but the x lame you're just going to kill it anyway x so the people are like hey if the priest x accepts it it's okay and the priests x were like whatever they were wearied at x it so how do we apply that today yeah x brother x Chris see how their uh thoughts had x digressed so these offerings were to be x a substitute out of God's mercy uh for x them okay they had sinned and they were x worthy of death and God said I will x accept this offering in l sentencing x being passed upon you and then they in x turn uh take that and offer something x half-heartedly completely losing you x know the idea that this is a substitute x for what should be required of you that x your life should be required of you for x this x sin uh so you just see you know how far x they had come in their thinking that x these offerings they had lost touch of x the connection between themselves and x this offering you know that's right x that's right that's what we don't want x to do when we're partaken of the bread x it's not just bread and wine we want to x think of the uh price paid so great x point there Chris and he he goes on in x verse uh 14 of Malachi chapter 1 he says x but cursed be the x deceiver who has H in his flock a male x and vth and yet sacrifices unto the Lord x a corrupt thing so he says I know you x have in your flock an acceptable x offering cuz I gave it to you right go x God like he's not going to ask you to do x something that you can't do I've x provided you with it and yet you're x withholding it right that belongs to me x and uh and he says and then you just you x just given me this lame one so you know x we might apply this you know the world x tells us that what we believe doesn't x matter right you get the big ecumenical x movement where it's not just all x Christian faiths now it's all religion x should come together under one purpose x so of course to do that well you got to x remove Doctrine you got to remove x principles right so the world tells us x what we believe doesn't matter and of x course you know we get a different x picture when we read the scriptures it x does x matter right so Jesus says you know in x Matthew there right the blind leaders of x the blind if the blind lead the blind x they both fall in the ditch and that's x the result of false teaching it's the x result of the lack of teaching that was x taking place uh the priests was slack in x their responsibilities they didn't x inspect the offer the people didn't x bother to inspect it said hey if the x priest take it that's good enough they x didn't handle the word correctly they x stopped teaching the people they had a x lack of interest in serving it was you x know it was kind of boring they didn't x have any enthusiasm and of course x because of this they caused many to x stumble x so then it says in uh chapter three it x says how you know the priests and the x people have robbed God and they say how x have we robbed thee and he says in x tithes and offerings you are cursed with x a curse for youve robbed me even the x whole nation right it wasn't it was the x priests who robbed them and so and so x did the people right so they stopped x tithing and the purpose of the tithe was x to support the priesthood uh so the x priest could focus on teaching on x worship Services maintaining the x Tabernacle the x temple um and it was a relationship the x service to God was a relationship x between the people and the priesthood x right the people supported the x priesthood and the priesthood supported x the people so when this relationship x broke well it was devastating x spiritually for the nation they worked x uh together in this so when um we won't x look it up in Nehemiah 13 and verse 10 x there you x remember um Nehemiah comes back he x straightens out the people at the end of x chapter 12 it tells us that the people x were going great it says that they love x they enjoyed x tithing so everything was great then he x gets word he hears about Malachi's x prophecy he goes back to check and he x goes and he cleans out the temple and he x comes and he says where are the x priests and he goes I suspect they have x stopped TI cu the priests have returned x to their fields they had to go work in x the fields cuz the people weren't x producing for them so we see how this x relationship can break up and it was x also to help the poor he says in x Deuteronomy when you finish tithing the x full tenth of your produce in the third x year the Year of the tithe you are to x give it to the levite to the outsider to x the orphan to the Widow so that they may x eat within the town Gates and be x satisfied so you supposed to x provide uh for the x poor and we'll we'll see what was going x on in Malachi's time we'll see that they x weren't doing x this so the people in the priest have x robbed God Exodus uh you are to present x the Lord the firstborn male of every x womb all the first firstborn males of x your livestock belong to the Lord right x all all the tithe of the land seed or x fruit of the tree it's the Lord's it's x holy unto the Lord it belongs to him x because he's the one who gave it and he x wants the first he wants the best and x the same would apply to us he wants the x best of us right honor the Lord with thy x substance with the first fruits of all x thine in increase right so everything we x have we owe to God and he wants the best x from us right I gave the example of uh x myself giving prayers while I drive it's x just too distracting that wasn't the x best should pick a quiet time to pray x you know I I can't read at night if I x start reading at night my mind's not in x it and I'm probably falling asleep x pretty quick I got to do it in the x morning first thing that's the best time x for myself so we all have to give give x our best that's what he's looking for x and we can think of another time in the x scriptures when the people robbed God x and it's the story of x achen um we won't read it I think we're x pretty familiar it's when Joseph's x leading Israel in the battle um of x Jericho and this is what they're x told the city and all that's in it are x devoted to the Lord it belongs to God x everything in it and then they're warned x before the attack keep away from the x devoted things so that you will not x bring destruction upon x yourselves nor x Israel and of course aen takes some x things that are pleasing to the eye and x God tells Joshua Israel has Sinn they've x broken my Covenant they've taken the x devoted things the things that belong to x me they have robbed me so sometimes when x we sin it um it affects ourselves x sometimes when we sin it affects x ourselves someone else our family and x sometimes we sin and affects ourselves x in the x Ecclesia and this is this is the case of x aen it affected the entire x Ecclesia so you know we can rob God x ourselves and we've got to be careful so x it says in Corinthians here each of you x should give what you've decided in your x heart to give not reluctantly or under x compulsion for God loves a cheerful x Giver right so we want to we want to x give give because God has given us so x much not because H I don't really want x to I feel like I have to do a little bit x but he wants a cheerful Giver now that's x whether it's wealth or time right that's x that's what he's looking for um and x again many ways in which we can serve x one another in the Ecclesia with our x time or funds or or what have you x and Paul says in Romans I beseech you x therefore Brethren by the mercies of God x that he present your bodies as a Living x Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God why x because it's a reasonable service he x says it's the least you can do right x well living sacrifices then he goes on x in Corinth he says you're not your own x you are bought with a price of course x here he's talking about sexual x immorality but I think the principle x Still Still applies we were bought with x a heavy price we've been redeemed x by the sacrifice of Jesus and we're not x our own we are living x sacrifices um so again we got to give x our best we got to serve any way we can x and we give the best to our God not x what's left over at the end of the day x after we've been worn out from our jobs x and whatnot but we got to look forward x to give our best and you know we're not x required to give animal sacrifices uh x we're not required to give 10% of our x income and the spiritual welfare of the x Ecclesia is going to be the number one x priority um the Ecclesia comes before x our own x needs in chapter 3 and verse 7 uh it's x the challenge to return to God even from x the days of your fathers you've gone x away from my nances and you have not x kept them and God says return unto me x and I will return unto you I'm waiting x just come back it's like the prodical x son right he leaves the father's always x looking every day he went out there and x he's looking and as soon as that son x makes a move to come back what does the x father do he runs back to get him right x and that's God right whether we're x feeling a little down while we got x things uh in our lives that are x occupying our time and we feel like I've x been putting we too much time over here x I've been robbing God of my time he's x saying I'm waiting just come back x return unto me I'm there waiting I'm x ready to return unto you right and x that's the way we feel if we have a you x know any brothers and sisters who have x left for no matter how many years and x they want to come back we're thrilled x right it's tough to walk through those x doors but you know there's no scorn I x mean the rest of us are like thrilled x it's it's uplifting it's encouraging x we're looking for the x return and then he says this he says x listen you're off track bring your Tides x into the storehouse he says test x me you know that I will will I not open x the windows of heaven and pour out the x blessing that there shall be no room to x receive it my blessings come they're x overwhelming come on test me just do x what you're supposed to do and the x blessings will flow and the other x nations will look and say wow that's a x blessed Nation you won't have room to x keep it x and this is what he said this is from x the blessings and the cursings right if x you walk in my statutes if you keep my x Commandments then I'll give you rain in x due season and the in the land shall x yield its increase and the trees shall x yield their fruit so in some ways they x should have x known uh they were in a time of economic x trial there wasn't enough food and then x God says and I will also rebuke the x devour for your sakes and he shall not x destroy the fruits of your ground x neither shall your Vine cast its fruit x before its time in the field so you go x back to Deuteronomy and this is the x curse you don't follow my ways this is x what will happen you will sow much seed x in the field but you will harvest little x because the Locust will devour it right x he is the devour speaking about in x Malachi uh swarms of locusts will take x your tree and your crops and your land x so when something like this came on they x should have been able to look back the x priest should have been saying x something's wrong God said he would x produce for us if we were faithful we x must be unfaithful same thing when they x would go to war if they lost War they x had a hang on a second why are we losing x what's the x reason so those Locust man they can they x come and that's what they do they devour x and destroy this was like five years ago x in Africa a place that could ill afford x it and the Lo and you see this guy here x and he has like a bamboo stick in in x vain he's just swinging it against x against these locusts they just come and x you know God sends them you know the x Unfaithful x Israel and then the people were dealing x treacherously it mentions that I think x five times in the Book of Malachi means x deceitfully x um why do we chapter 2:10 why do we deal x treacherously every man against his x brother by profaning the Covenant of our x father so in Malachi 3 right they're x oppressing their fellow x Brethren I'll read it it say it talks x about the Judgment that will come on the x people that are doing this I will be a x swift witness against the sorcerer x against the x adulterers against the false swearers x against those that oppress the highing x in his wages oppress the Widow and the x fatherless and turn aside the stranger x from his right hand from his right and x fear not me saeth the Lord of hosts so x this is what they were doing remember x what they were the ties were supposed to x be for the poor for the fatherless for x the Widow for the a stranger in the land x and now they're oppressing their fellow x Brethren they're divorcing uh their x wives of their youth and their marrying x outside the faith to the x foreigners uh in verse 11 of chapter x 2 it says Judah hath dealt treacherously x and an Abomination is committed in x Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah hath x profaned the Holiness of the Lord which x he loved and hath married the daughter x of a foreign God right an Abomination x it's it's a disgust to God it's hateful x and it's been committed against the Lord x in Jerusalem first of all it says Thou x shalt have no other gods before me in x Exodus and that they were doing this in x Jerusalem where God put his name a place x that was supposed to be holy for the x worship of God and now they're x introducing these false gods Gods into x the nation they've dealt treacherously x with their fellow man and they've dealt x treacherously with their God and again x that's the when the faith is corrupted x the morals get x corrupted so of course Jesus says which x is asked which is the greatest command x of all and if we just remember this one x right the most important one is here oh x Israel the Lord Our God the Lord is one x love the Lord your God with all your x heart and with all your soul and with x all your mind with all your strength and x the second is love your neighbor as x yourself right there is no commandment x greater than these and this is obviously x what they were not doing right they were x not giving everything to God and they x were certainly not treating their x neighbor well x any x thoughts that you'd like to share on x this x okay they were also complaining about x their hardships again there was a famine x in the land they had forgotten the x mighty hand of God and all that they did x and they thought it's futile to serve x God where's the prophit look at us life x isn't great for x us look at the proud they seem to be x blessed right the Wicked Prosper right x and sometimes we can look Boy The Wicked x seem to be doing quite well in this x world and sometimes we can be jealous of x the wicked and their success and what x are we doing that's when we're thinking x like the flesh that's when we're x thinking of the x temporary and not the Eternal blessings x that we've been x promised and life life is difficult x isn't it there's no promise even for the x fath faithful that life is going to be x smooth and easy because we learned from x Genesis 3 that hey guess what life isn't x easy there's sorrow there is pain x there's the thorns and the thistles x there's hardships and challenges and of x course life ends in death right and we x know this we're not immune to it you x know but I remember a friend of mine x said he goes you know he goes Butch here x you are this faithful guy and yet you x know you've got this cancer that doesn't x seem fair I said oh it's fair x this is we what we deserve is death but x by the mercy and grace of God we can be x given a hope there's no you know we're x mortal this is what happens to Mortals x uh and it falls you know it rains on the x just and on the unjust and this is just x the way life is but God has offered a x better life and he's telling us you know x when we take of that wine right we're x taking in the Life of Christ in that x resurrected life right he's saying right x we're told in uh Deuteronomy pour the x blood of that animal into the ground x right and then Jesus says drink my blood x right that's of the new life to come x take that this life ends in the dirt the x dust you shall be but this blood that x you drink of mine that goes to eternal x life so there are two fires x mentioned in Malachi 3 and: 2 x it says but who may abide the day of his x coming who shall stand when he appear x for he is like a Refiner's x Fire in like Fuller's Soap so the x refiner fire is a purifying fire it x removes impurities but it's not all x consuming this is a fire that we all go x through the trials of life x and then there's another fire that comes x and that's in chapter 4 and verse one x for behold the day cometh that shall x burn like an oven and all the proud and x all that do wickedly shall be stubble x and the day that come the shall burn x them up so that's a fire of judgment x right that's destructive and that is all x consuming we want to avoid that fire x we're going to go through the first one x but we want to avoid void that second x fire you know so we are uh work in x progress Peter says this in this you x greatly Rejoice though now for a little x while while you may have to suffer grief x and all kinds of x Trials these have come so that your x faith of Greater worth than gold which x is which perishes perishes even though x refined by x fire may be proved genuine and may x result in Praise Glory and Honor when x Jesus Jesus is revealed right so it's x painful to go through the trials when x you're going through them but in the end x we're refined we are purified therefore x our benefit we're told because the Lord x disciplines the one he loves and he x chastens everyone he accepts as his son x so endure the hardship as discipline God x is treating you as his child right just x as a father or mother uh discipline x their children x um it's for their own benefit and that's x what God is doing with us we're a work x in progress um and again the end goal of x God and the angels working in our lives x is to get us into the kingdom uh doesn't x matter what the trials we may have to go x through now it's the end game it's the x Eternal promises that are x important so finally we'll we'll close x here with some practice iCal lessons for x us to be x transformed I'll read from chapter 3 and x and starting in verse 16 it x says then they that feared the Lord x spoke often one to another and the Lord x hearkened and heard it and a book of x remembrance was written before him for x them that feared the Lord and that x thought upon his x name and then they shall be mine sayith x the lord of House in that day when I x make up my Jewels I will spare them as a x man spareth his own son and that serveth x him so the x remnant they were those in Fellowship x right they spoke often one to x another they prayed right and earlier he x says I pray Malachi says I pray you x beseech God right so in prayer in the x word he tells them remember the law x right we got to keep that word at the x front of our minds so it guides us in x our daily decisions and it says that x they thought upon his name right they x thought about developing that Godly x character that is a requirement that God x expects us to try to do to the best of x our x ability and very similarly those who x were newly baptized in Acts it says then x they that gladly received his word were x baptized and they continued steadfastly x in the apostles Doctrine and in x fellowship and breaking of bread and in x prayer so these are the requirements x right that we must give attention to we x must develop and nurture our faith and x they're not overwhelming it's not a x burden these are all things you know x again God's not going to give us things x we can't accomplish these are things x that we can do and so that's got to be x our Focus again God is expecting he has x expectations for his people and this is x what he expects us to do to come to him x 100% not x half-heartedly with joy and excitement x so when that day comes uh we will be x able to go to that judgment seat um with x great confidence