Malachi 2:1-9

Malachi chapter 2 verses 1 to 9 and now O ye priest this commandment is for you if you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name said the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because you have not laid it to heart behold I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces even the dung of your solemn feast and one shall take you away with it you shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you that my covenant might be with Levi said the Lord of hosts my covenant was with him of life and peace and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge. They should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of host. But you are departed out of the way. You have caused many to stumble. at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, said the Lord of host. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as ye have not kept my ways, but have impartial in the law. May God bless to us is sacred and holy word this evening. George Whitfield, who was the 18th century evangelist, was to be the the military chaplain aboard the ship Whitaker as it traveled from England to Georgia. Captain Whiting was in charge of the ship. He had a crew of about a hundred men there, and there were also soldiers on the ship under a Captain McKay. There were 20 or 30 women also with their children. but Whitfield tells us that the moral tone of the ship was very poor. Whitfield’s announcement of public prayer meetings on the way to Georgia was met with derision and scorn. The officers and crew said that he was a phony. On the first Sunday, Whitfield says that all that he could see or hear were gambling and cursing and an oboe player entertaining someone somewhere on the ship. Whitfield writes, he said, I could do no more than while I was writing, now and then turn my head by way of reproof to a lieutenant, who swore as though he was born with a swearing constitution. Now and then he would take the hint and return. nod with doctor, I asked your pardon, and then to his swearing and cards again. Yet as time went on as they went on this trip, Whitfield’s presence began to influence the people that were on the ship. He visited the sick. He shared provisions with those who were there on the ship. He prayed privately for people, and every evening undeterred, he continued to read public prayers. even though they weren’t all well received. He took every opportunity to socialize and to evangelize for Christ while on board the ship. Gradually, as God worked through him and his influence and his courteous but plain speaking, things began to change on the ship. Eventually, the time came when the two captains of the ship would stand on either side of the ship. him as he preached. That the Captain McKay would order a drumbeat before his daily services to call the soldiers all to the service. And Garg was glorified by one minister who had this kind of influence on the ship. Now, this is the kind of influence that God would have this kind of influence on the ship. have, his priest have, in their communities as they serve the Lord. But Melachi sees things differently as we look at this text of scripture. They were supposed to exercise a godly influence on the nation. Ever because of their unfaithfulness, because of their corrupt behavior, they exerted a negative influence on the people of God. Their attitude and behavior caused the people to be cynical about religion rather than to devote themselves to the Lord. And because of this, people looked at them as phonies because they knew what they actually were. Now, last week, we pointed out the sins of the ministers and how God threatened them with judgment. We looked some of the negative things in this passage. Tonight, when we look at what God has accepted. specs from his spiritual leaders. So we’ll look at the positive. First thing, let me mention is this. Your minister ought to have a reverence for God. We see that in verses four and five. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, said the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace. I have made, I gave them to him with a fear. wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. Now, what is mentioned here is God’s covenant with the sons of Levi. Levi is used here in reference to the Levitical priesthood. The tribe of Levi. Aaron and his sons were the offspring of Levi, the son of Levi, the son of Jacob. And God had made a special covenant with them. They were taken out from among the other people of Israel and set apart. They were consecrated, sanctified to serve the Lord. They were special in this department. They were to serve in his tabernacle. They were to serve in his temple. They offered the sacrifices. They administered the ordinances under the Old Testament. They were the ministers of the Old Testament Church. God indicates here, that in the past, that the priest of Israel, for the most part, had a godly reverence and fear of him and served him faithfully. Their task was to turn many away from iniquity. The words and phrases of this section of scripture seemed to refer to an account of Phineas that’s given in Numbers 25. If you want to turn there with me, We’ll look at this passage in the book of Numbers, Chapter 25, beginning with verse 1. In Israel bowed in Shudham, and the people began to commit hordom with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people under the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods, and Israel joined himself unto Bail Pior, and the anger of the Lord was said, kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people, hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, slay ye everyone his men that were joined under Bail Pior. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brother a Midianiteish woman in the side of Moses, and the side of the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it. He rose up from among the congregation, took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through. the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Those that died in the plague were 24,000. And the Lord sent unto Moses, I spake unto Moses, saying, Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, had turned my wrath away from the children of Israel while he was zealous for my sake among you, that I consumed not the children. children of Israel my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. It seems to be this is the passage that is being referenced here in Malachi. Now, because the children of Israel were coming and the moabites feared them and were afraid that maybe they would be overwhelmed, they were hoping that they could deter the Israelites from destroying them. So they thought maybe if we could get them intermarrying with us, they wouldn’t destroy us. And so the people of God committed sexual sin with the Moabite women. And the Lord’s anger was kindled against them and Moses and the judges of Israel and the faithful were mourning this situation because of all the sexual sin that was going on. In Zimri, the Simeonite, he brings a mollabite woman right into the camp, right past the tabernacle evidently in the sight here of all these people mourning the situation. and Phineas, the son of Elie Azar, is provoked by this. He’s angry. He’s a righteous anger. And he gets his javelin or spear. And he goes into the tent and takes care of both of them. And in this sense, he stays the destruction of the whole nation, so to speak. And God says here, because you’ve done this, I’m going to make a covenant of peace with you. I’m going to, you’re going to have a serving me. your seed for the rest of your days here. And he makes this covenant promising life and peace and 12 and 13 here of this text. What he did is he feared God. He had a fear of God. And he was angry about the sin that was taking place. Israelites priests were to fall in the footsteps of Phineas. And have a deep reverence for God. a true fear of the Lord God. That’s what would make them the best priest. Now, from this, we should gather that ministers should have a reverence for God. The Bible makes it clear that New Testament mentors like their old ministers like their Old Testament counterparts are also set apart for the service of the Lord. All things spiritual are founded upon this basic premise. a reverence for God. God’s ministers should be concerned to cultivate such a reverence and healthy fear of the Lord. Now there’s a sense in which I remind you that you can apply this to every Christian because we read Revelation 1 6th. We’re all priests under the Lord, the priesthood of all believers. And so there’s a sense in which we all want to have this race. reverence for the Lord God. You remember what the writer of the Psalm said, and we read it tonight, Psalm 1110. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So that the reverence for God is the first sign, really, of a central trait that a minister should have. If you don’t have this, you have nothing. Jokes about God. and his word and the things of God are irreverent. They have no place on the lips of a minister. The law says, my enemies take my name in vain. They use his name lightly. God’s people should never use God’s name lightly. We should have a healthy fear. When I was growing up, I remember one of the ministers, he always had all the jokes. he had, you know, every week that we saw him, he had all these jokes. But really, the bottom line is, we ought to have a reference for God. You know, not be joking around about things of the Lord. Ministers may appear to be very religious. They may speak very eloquently. They may possess a wonderful personality. They may be highly educated. They may be highly educated. be really motivated with regard to what they’re doing. But if a reverential fear of God is lacking, then they lack the chief element for the office. They lack the beginning of spiritual wisdom. And isn’t this office all about spiritual wisdom and conveying it to others? A true reverence for God will never allow God’s name to be taken in a light fashion. Woodfield tried to rebuke both. who did it on the ship. Phineas went so far as to put to death those who were dishonoring God’s name by their conduct. So a true reverence for God should make you angry when you see God being dishonored. That would be true of every Christian, in a true sense of the minister. Jesus Christ, out of reverence for God and his house, made a whip, drove out all the money changers. Don’t make my father’s house a house of merchandise when it should be a house of prayer. So we have to possess a righteous indignation, a deep reverence for God’s name, his word, his works. So should every believer, but the minister in particular, in a special way, should have this. So your minister ought to have a reverence for God. The second thing I suggest to you, your minister ought to have a personal commitment to knowing the word of God. Now here in Malachiah chapter 2 and verse 6, the law of truth was in his mouth, is what the scripture says. Early generations of priests were careful to be the true messengers of God. They were meticulous in their responsibility to study the law of God, so that they may convey God’s truth to His people. They were careful. They didn’t want to teach anything that was false. They made it their duty to know the scripture, so they diligently studied the law. They knew which parts of God’s law would apply in current practical situations. They were not full of their own ideas. They were the servants of God’s word. faithfully expounded it to God’s people. They were not simply out to tickle men’s ears, but as the servants of God, they were dedicated to true biblical principles. Now, ministers must apply themselves to knowing God’s word. Timothy was told that the man of God should study to show himself, approved unto God, a workman, that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. The pastor has to be a workman, and his work is to mine truth from the Word of God. There’s gold in God’s word. That needs mind. So he is to rightly handle the Word of God, not perverted, not manipulate it, not dilute it, not dilute it, or disliked. stored it. Careful study and prayer. To understand what it teaches is important. John Gill, the Baptist Puritan of several hundred years ago, had a church in London, one of the larger Baptist churches there. And there was a popular saying that day in London. They said, it’s as sure as John Gill is in his study. So where was John Gill to be found? He’s in his study. He’s studied. studying the Word of God. That was the catchphrase that they used. It’s a sure thing. It’s as sure as that. I wish that were true today. That we had more people that were studying the Word of God, who were the ministers of churches. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. Jeremiah 2328, you have the word. Be faithful. expounding it. Courageously, the minister has to apply biblical truth to concrete situations in your life. And therefore, he must study. Now, this is true of every Christian who is also, as I mentioned, according to Revelation 1 6, a priest unto the Lord. Who is the blessed man in Psalm 1? Isn’t he the man that meditates day and night in the Word of God? As verse 2, us in that song. Early church leaders said that we will give ourselves continue to the prayer and to the ministry of the word. That was their focus. Even when it came to taking care of the widows who were being neglected, they said, let’s choose Ben out to do this, full of the Holy Spirit and so forth, to be deacons. Let them take care of it so that we can focus on this, because this is our key responsibility. The law of truth. is to be in the mouth of the minister. It should be readily found upon his lips when he speaks. It requires study to do this. Sadly, today, many ministers are socializers rather than students of the Word of God. People are told, don’t get cut up in all this doctrinal do-do. It’s too divisive. And yet the scripture says, give attendance. under reading, exhortation, in doctrine in 1. Timothy 4.13. I think the reason people who are in the ministry today are not studying the Word of God is they have a light view of Scripture. And because they have a light view of Scripture, it’s not important to them. And therefore, they don’t put it as a priority. When you have a high view of Scripture, this is God. God’s word, then it takes on a different connotation to us. And we look at it completely differently, and we would teach and preach from it in a vastly different way. And I think that’s why the problem exists in our day and age. It comes down to things of this nature. Your minister ought to be a man of the word. Your minister ought to have a godly character. in life, a holy character in life. You see the second part of verse 6. An iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. In former days, the priests were said to walk with God. Now, this phrase is used in scripture. It means to live in full harmony with the divine will of God. to enjoy an intimate fellowship with God. I think it’s Amos. It says, can two walk together unless they be agreed? And so we have this idea of, in order to walk with God, one must be in agreement with what God says and what God proclaims in his word. There are two men in Scripture, and specifically they’re said to walk with God. Noah and Enoch are said to have walked with God. So the phrase is used sort of sparingly in that regard, but Paul mentions it in his epistles. and the need to walk with the Lord and so forth. And here we have it in Melachi with regard to the duty of the priest. God requires us to live in close fellowship and communion with Him. God mentions both the lip here and the life. What we say and what we do. The hearts, the minds, the actions of the priest, are to be set upon serving God. It’s the ever the mark of a false teacher that he doesn’t practice what he preaches. If we say that we have fellowship with God and we walk in darkness, the Bible says we don’t do the truth. There’s something wrong. That’s 1 John 1.6. This is why the Lord said you shall know them. When you’re talking about false teachers, shall know them by their fruits, by their works, what their lives produce. If we have those who we find, let’s say, in the Roman Catholic Church, who are priests and their pedophiles, what does that tell us? If we find them involved in having babies by the nuns, which is often hidden, what does that tell us? I had a friend whose father died. His father was Catholic. I don’t know how diligent he was. He said the priest that came to do his funeral was drunk. He said he was drunk. He was ashamed that this man came to do his father’s funeral. What a sad testimony this would be. A minister should be like Job. A true minister should be one, an upright man, and one that sheweth evil. hateeth evil. Now, that should be true of every Christian, particularly true, of those in the ministry. If you notice some of the qualifications for the ministry in 1st Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 to 7, you look at those things, and remember that ministers are to be an example to those who are believers, so that there’s a sense in which what they’re doing is what you ought to be doing, because they’re going to set the example. But they must not have a tarnished reputation. They must be above reproach, blameless, to avoid the appearance of evil. They must be men of unquestioned morality. The husband of one wife, that there is no sexual misconduct, that they’re faithful to their marriage partner. They must be temperate in their mode of living and habits. They can’t be given to alcoholic beverages. not given to much wine. Not a brawl or a fighter where they’re involved in fisticuffs. We’re quick to be a striker against someone. A strike. Not a greedy, money-hungry person where they’re out for filthy lucre where gain is really their main motivation. Can’t be. Not making acquisition of earthly treasurer their chief aim. The Bible says they’re not to be. covetous, moderate, serious-minded, well-balanced. These are the things that are matched. Ruling his children well. Even on believers, before them, he must have a good reputation. Think about that. So good, godly behavior should be the hallmark of any minister, and people will see that they’re walking with God. Henry Venn was the vicar, or the minister of Hudders’ England from 1759 to 1771. He influenced many people by his godly life. I’ll give you one example of this. A society of Sassinians met in a town market near Huddersfield, and they denied the Trinity. They denied if Christ was God and so forth. These men were full of their own clever philosophies and their own ideas, and they love the ridicule those who believed in the historic faith. Christianity. They heard of Venn, so they decided to send two of their cleverest men to hear him preach. And then when they heard him preach, they could come back to this Ossinian meeting and they could make fun of what he said. It was all going to be a way of ridiculing Henry Venn. When they entered the church, they were. They saw a vast congregation and they were amazed by the worshipful, wonderful, worshipful spirit that they found in this congregation. And the seriousness of that, the earnestness of his preaching, the devastating appeals that he made to his congregation. It deeply impressed the two visitors, and one said to the other, as they were leaving the church building, surely God is in this place. There is no laughing matter here. This man, James. Kershaw immediately called upon Venn, explained who he was, why he had come to church, and he sought Venn’s forgiveness and prayers. He left the Sosinians and eventually he came to know Jesus Christ and became one of the closest friends of Venn until the day he died. So Venn had this tremendous influence in this area because of his holy character and life. So your minister ought to have a holy character in life. Fourthly, your minister ought to have a commitment to preaching. Verse 7, for the priest’s lips should keep knowledge. They should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of host. It’s evident, I’m sure, that Melachi here is not concerned with just a mere conveyance of information. The preacher is not just a storehouse of information, but his duty is to proclaim what God’s word says and then apply it to the life of his congregation. I could get up here and we could, you know, we studied the life of David, and I could get up here and we could, you know, we could discuss David and what he did and so forth, and we could go through all his life of David. life and get all the details out. But it’s when we start making application from David’s life to our own life that you begin to see how the word of God comes alive to you. How that it affects you, even a historical section of scripture that talks about David and his kingship and so forth. It all has very practical and spiritual application to a person’s life. else it wouldn’t be there. It wouldn’t be recorded if it wasn’t beneficial to us. And so Melachi here is talking about the knowledge of God which the minister is to keep or preserved by his teaching or preaching. People should gather around him and seek the law at his mouth. They should come to hear the word of God from him. They should come to hear him explain it. Preaching is the channel that God has chosen. Through which to work with His Holy Spirit to bring people to salvation and to edify the people of God. He calls it, Paul calls it the foolishness of preaching. For a man looks upon it as foolish. But in God’s sight, this is the means that he will use. The minister’s job is to cause people to understand the law, to explain it, to apply it, so forth. And remember what Paul said to Timothy, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the Word. Be instant in season and honest. Preach the Word. He charged him to do that. Preaching must be given a priority. My friends, there can be no spiritual progress without it. There can be no spiritual renewal. Any minister which allows the preaching of the Word of God to take a backseat in worship is shirking his God-given duty. The primacy of preaching has to be upheld if the church is going to have any kind of impact on the community. Do you think a few pious words from a minister is going to have an impact? It’s going to take the word of God and the spirit working with that word to have impact. The cutting back on preaching in order to gain more time for other things, and maybe to gain more of a crowd, is failing to do the duty that God has given you. Isn’t this the reason the church is so weak today? There is no commitment to expounding the Word of God. All we have time for religious dancing, finally trained choirs to sing Catatas, Christian drama, testimony meanings, and so forth. I think I told you before early in my ministry. I wasn’t in the ministry very long when someone suggested, you know, on Sunday night, want to just show Christian movies. I mean, you know, you could get more people in, and I decided not to do that. I said, you know, there ought to be a preaching of the word. You know, to me, it seemed like we ought to have to be preaching the Word of God, not showing Christian movies. And I didn’t even, I had never even heard of the regulative principle of worship at that point. I was still quite ignorant of many things. But in my heart of hearts, I knew that preaching was why I went to church. I wanted to hear the word of God. And I wanted to hear it explain and apply to my life. And I couldn’t see people coming to church without that being the focus. I went to a family reunion once. There were a number of people. There are quite a number of people there. And when Sunday came around, I said, well, what are we going to do about worship? Oh, we’re going to have a puppet show. That was it. I said, well, my family and I are not going to be here. We’re going to go somewhere. where there’s preaching. And you should have seen the faces on the person, the people that were in charge of the thing that, you know, I don’t know, we’re going to have to let somebody preach. Now, it wasn’t they didn’t have two preachers there. There was another man that was there was a preacher. And I was a minister. So they had two ministers right there. But no, we weren’t going to have any preaching. It bothered them so much, they said, okay, we’ll give you 15 or 20 minutes. Well, I didn’t. took the 15 and 20 minutes and I preached to the people that were there. But even that, you know, it’s sort of like a little sermon at. You know, let’s let’s keep it limited. Let’s not get too carried of. What kind of people would you be that you wouldn’t be wanting to hear the Word of God? And it seems like I was the only one that said anything. That’s the sad thing about it. My thinking has always been that we should put the first. focus on the word of God. One of the reason I love singing the Psalms is that the word of God is in focus. One of the reasons we love to hear the word of God expounded is because it is God’s word. It is what speaks to us. It’s God’s voice to us. Why would you, God says his word is a light. Why would you want the light to be dim? Let’s just turn it down, you know. Let’s just give it half, half of its brightness. Why? Why wouldn’t you want to turn up the lab and get as much word of the God as you can in? I had a man in the church at one time wanted to, you know, read as the call to worship what one took place in Baptist history, each church service before the church service began. I said, you’re going to read, you know, I said, you know, what is this all about? Why? Read the word of God. Read a portion of scripture. What is this? what does that have to do with the matter? You know, sometimes I wonder where people’s heads are when they get involved in these kind of things. The preaching of the word is no trivial matter. It needs priority. Fifthly, your minister ought to be impartial, implying in applying the word. In verse 9, he talks about them being partial in the law. Now it’s true. that this may refer to the fact that the Israelites would go to the priest for many judgments with regard to civil law. And so there was a sense in which they would deal with, like, court cases, and handle many of the civic things that took place, as well as the moral law being applied. But if I could update it for today, I would say this, that the minister is a judge in the sense also in that his job is to be impartial and show no favoritism in the preaching of the Word of God or in the application of God’s law. Are there things that would influence the minister’s application of the word? Sure. Power and status. The most prestigious members of the church I don’t want to say anything that would condemn them. Suppose you had come into your church a senator, a governor, a mayor. Would that change the way you should preach? What happens when it comes to money? When you have wealthy people, they can have a tendency to cause a minister to soft paddle a message for fear of them withdrawing their financial support. It can happen. It has happened. age, those who are older than the minister may have a tendency to intimidate him. Paul told Timothy at one point, let no man despise thy youth. I remember I had an older gentleman in the church. He used to call me a young pop when I was the minister of the church, as if he was more wise and more experienced than I in the matters of spiritual things. so I should heed his advice. Well, as many times it’s a good thing I didn’t heed his advice. I’ll tell you that much. A minister can’t be like Balam. I aim to please if the money’s right. I’m willing to say anything if the money’s right. A minister must attempt to administer the policies at church fairly and impartially. Years ago, some of the church members were surprised because I had one of the guest speakers. In fact, two guest speakers had come at different times during the month at one time to speak. And we happened to be having communion on that day. And so I took them both aside and went over my questions with regard to communion as I do with anyone that would take communion. People were shocked. People said to me, I didn’t think you do that with them. I’m thinking, well, I ought to do with everybody. If this is what we do, I should do with everybody. Even people that I know well, I ought to go through the procedure with them as well. Don’t show partiality in this. I’ve preached long enough tonight. I need to certainly stop. But let me just say this. When it comes to a true and faithful minister of the Word of God, these are the things that Malachi would have the true minister be doing. And if we fail in these things, then we’re not really being faithful to the task at hand. So these are things the true minister God should be… These are the things that stand out. These are the things that we ought to be doing. These are the positives. Let’s close with the word of prayer tonight.