 Okay, here we go. We're in Malachi. We just began last week. Powerful, powerful book, and we looked at verses one through five last time we're together. We're going to be looking at verse six to the end of the chapter today, verse 14 in Malachi chapter one. I'll give you a couple of reminders for those who perhaps weren't with us, and to also remind those who were with us of a couple of the things that we've already looked at in chapter one, when we looked at verses one through five, and we'll pick up and we'll look at verses six through 14, and we're going to be looking at the question that is asked by the Lord when he simply says, where is my honor? And so beginning here in Malachi in chapter one, verse six. A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests to despise my name. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? You offer defiled food on my altar, but you say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts. But now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us while this is being done by your hands. Will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you who would shut the door so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts. Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled and its fruit, its food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring the stolen, the lame, the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hands, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a mail and makes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. My name is to be feared among the nations. God's in a bad mood. Son honors his father, servant his master. When we were looking at the introduction to Malachi, I was mentioning to you that at this time, at the time of the writing of this book, the spiritual life of Israel was in shambles. God in fulfillment of his promised Israel through Jeremiah the prophet had brought Israel back from Babylonian captivity. I had mentioned to you that under the leadership of a man by the name of Zerubbabel, as well as Ezra and Nehemiah, that the temple had been rebuilt, the city had been restored, temple sacrifice once again was practiced. And Israel was now dwelling safely in the land. Yet they had become calloused. They had forgotten the judgment that God had brought and they had forgotten the sorrow of their ancestors' captivity. And that sorrow that they experienced while in captivity is poignantly revealed to us in one of the Psalms. If you want to hear what their heart was like when they were in Babylonian captivity, all you need to do is read Psalm 137. Because in Psalm 137, verses one through six, you get a snapshot, you get a glimpse of the agony of the Jews at that time who were in captivity in Babylon, those who had been taken and were now living in a foreign land. And in that particular Psalm, Psalm 137, verses one through six, the Psalmist writes, by the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs. Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. They said, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. My tormentors said, you Jews are known for singing songs of rejoicing and praise and excitement and enthusiasm. Sing us some of your songs now. And so they remembered while they were there. They remembered what they had left behind, but at this point in the history of Israel, they're forgetting the lesson that they had been taught. While they were in captivity, they had been given permission to return to the land that had been granted to them by a king by the name of Cyrus. King Cyrus of Persia. God had made a statement. When you read your Old Testament, you see this in various Old Testament books. God had made a statement that he would judge Israel. And he judged Israel for 70 years, but he had also promised that after the 70 years are up, I'm gonna allow you to return to the land. When Isaiah was writing, the book of Isaiah was written about 750 years before Christ. When Isaiah was writing in chapter 44, verse 28, and he was prophetically speaking to Cyrus, speaking of Cyrus, it says, he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt and of the temple, let its foundations be laid. And so there were already prophecies being made concerning what God planned to do in the still distant future. In Jeremiah 29, verse 10, Jeremiah being written around 605 before Christ. Jeremiah writes, this is what the Lord says, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. And then when you read in the book of Ezra, in chapter one, verses one through three, Ezra being written around 538 years before Christ, it says, in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing. This is what Cyrus, King of Persia says, the Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you, may his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And so Cyrus gave that command, but the command was given for those who desired to go. And he had said, go back to Jerusalem, go back and rebuild the house of God. You see the Babylonian King, King by the name of Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city and destroyed the temple. That's recorded in second Chronicles 36 and it lay in ruins for 70 years. But permission was granted for all who would return and after 70 years, the sad fact is after 70 years, many of the Jews who had gone into captivity had had children. They had had homes for themselves and they had settled in Babylon. What originally for them was a pain. What originally for them was a sorrow. What originally had caused them to write songs of sorrow concerning their captivity had been forgotten. They were now at home in the world, if you will. Now, at the time of the writing of Malachi, they'd been home for some time, but the religion has become formal. It was ritual without reality. It was empty and it had become lifeless. And even as we saw in the introduction, Malachi pointed out that they were dull to God's great love for them. They had forgotten how he had demonstrated his love by bringing them back. They were apathetic about their lack of zeal for the Lord. They didn't fear him any longer. They became insensitive to conviction and their sins, even when pointed out to them in no uncertain terms, didn't provoke them to turn from them. And that's what we're seeing in Malachi when we pick up at verse six and the Lord continues speaking to them. And so he says in a very powerful way at verse six, a son honors his father, a servant his master, if then I am the father, where's my honor? And if I am a master, where's my reverence? Says the Lord of Hosts, to the priests who despise my name, and yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? A son honors his father and a servant his master, but as a dad, where's my honor? Matthew, rather, Malachi is now pointing out in gratitude. They're in gratitude towards God, God who is a father. And notice how he points us out. He does it by pointing out their lack of honor as well as their lack of reverence for him. God had treated the people as a loving father, he treats his babies as he treats his dear children. And in spite of this, they have failed to honor him, even as a son ought to honor a father. He's saying there's a proper respect that has been withheld from me. Sons are supposed to honor their fathers. My mother tried to teach me to do that. My dad made sure I did that. If I then am your father, where's my honor? That's a powerful question. He's simply saying there is a proper respect that should be offered to me that you have been withholding from me. Now what's interesting is this, and we'll look at this. How did that happen? What was instigating that kind of withdrawal of respect from the Lord? Well, he says it's the pollution of the priesthood. You see, the duties of the Jewish priest included the responsibility of teaching the right way of the Lord. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, in chapter 10, for example, at verse eight, it begins by saying, the Lord spoke to Aaron. Aaron was Israel's first high priest, and so it begins by saying, the Lord spoke to Aaron. And then he goes on in verse 11 of chapter 10, and he says this, he says, teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses. So it was a responsibility of the priesthood to teach the word of God to the children of Israel. They were responsible to communicate the things that pleased God. And the way to communicate that which pleases God was to teach them the word of God and to encourage them to obedience to God. In other words, it's not enough for them to be taught things about God, but they were also to be encouraged to be obedient to him. There are a lot of people even today to speed it up to 21st century, and all of us know this as a fact. There are a lot of us who proclaim ourselves as Christians, who on the one hand can repeat things that we have learned in church or in a devotion or perhaps on the radio or whatever, some form of communication concerning God. There are many people who are very capable of talking concerning the things of God, speaking concerning the things they've heard of God, but they're not obedient to those things. And Malachi's beginning, God through Malachi's beginning, first laid the blame at the feet of the priests, because your responsibility is saying to the priests is to teach the right way to these people. You're responsible to communicate the things that are pleasing to the Lord. And you're to do this by teaching the nation of Israel and encouraging the nation of Israel to obedience. In the book of Nehemiah in chapter eight, verse two, it reads, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And it goes on into verse eight, Nehemiah eight, verse eight, and it says they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. See that was their ministry. Many of them didn't understand the words in Hebrew and so they read the word and then they explained to them what it was that was being said. And that's the responsibility of the teaching priest and that's the responsibility in New Testament terms of a pastor. A pastor's responsibility is to teach the word of God and to provoke or encourage people to not only hear, but to hear and to obey. Even as I was mentioning just recently in one of the studies, how that when the Lord God was speaking through the prophet Ezekiel and he was speaking to the nation of Israel and I'm paraphrasing a portion of scripture, he said, son of man, he said they come and they sit before you and they sit before you as if they are my people. And he says they're even speaking about you throughout the city. They stand by the wall and they speak and they say come in here what the man of God has to say. And they do come and they come and they sit before you and he says and they listen to you. He says and they're acting as if they're my people. He says but they're not my people. He says because in reality, you have become to them like a man who plays skillfully on an instrument and sings with a beautiful voice. In other words, you become an entertainment to them. You become someone that they enjoy hearing and all. You've got a novelty, you've got a certain kind of draw. He says they sit before you, they enjoy you but they look at you as if you're just a skillful musician with a beautiful voice. He says so they sit before you as if they're my people. He said and this is what's important that I wanna point out about that whole thing. He says they sit before you as if they're my people but they are not my people, God says. They are not my people because, so he gives the because, because they hear and they do not do. How do you know you're one of God's kids? You hear and you do. And one of the ways that I can test my walk with God as to whether or not I have one is if I hear and don't do or if I hear and do. And he says and the Lord says in that particular case, he says no they sit before you as if they're mine, they're not mine because they hear and they don't do. They appreciate but only the novelty of it, not the spiritual reality of it. That's why when we're looking in Matthew and you see in chapter seven, the Lord speaking concerning people. He says some people will build their house on sand and others build their house on the rock and Jesus distinguishes in this way. He says trials come and things happen. The difference is the one who built on the rock is the one who hears my word and does it. And the one who's really building on sand is the one who hears my word but does not do it. So one of the ways that you and I can know whether we know the Lord or not is if we hear and if we do and so God begins which is really interesting to me with his chastising of the nation. He begins with the priests and he's saying to them you're not teaching them and encouraging them to do the right thing. You are not pleasing to me. So God's displeasure here in verse six is first vented towards a priest and it says here they had defiled food on his altar. Notice how he says there, you priests who despise my name. Interesting way to say it, you priests who despise my name. The word despise means to hold something in contempt or to disdain it. You hold my name in contempt. And he's speaking to them and he says to you priests who despise my name but notice their response. Yet you say in what way have we despised your name? So there's an argument going on between the priests and God himself. In what way? Notice that kind of response is callous and it's blind. And so he gives the answer by your indifference. Your indifference disregard for my word. You see, when you read the Bible, especially as you look at the Old Testament and the sacrifices and things that were related to worship, in the Old Testament, you see that God had given proper regulations concerning acceptable worship and sacrifice. You see, you don't worship God either in the old or the New Testament according to your imagination, invention or good intention. You worship him in spirit and in truth. And in the Old Testament, God had given regulations and part of the regulations related to their offerings. So when you look in Deuteronomy, for example, the fifth book of the Old Testament and he's given the law, he says in Deuteronomy 17 verse one, you shall not sacrifice the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which has any blemish or defect. That he says for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. Or in the book of Leviticus in chapter 22 verse 20 where it says whatever has a defect you shall not offer for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. In Leviticus 22 verse 24, it says you shall not offer to the Lord whether it is bruised or crushed or torn or cut nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. So God said, I have specific regulations pertaining to what I'll accept as an offering. So it was the priest's duty, it was his responsibility, it was his service to God to show this proper way to the people. God demanded worship of him to be done in a particular way. He did not then nor does he now accept just any approach to what may be thought of as worship. Keep this in mind, sincerity doesn't count. He had given them minute instructions as to how to approach him. You see sincerity is just added sincerity but that doesn't make it, it doesn't make it something God says, oh yeah, I accept your sincerity because you can be sincerely wrong. I remember the story of a young mama many years ago now whose child was ill and the doctor had prescribed a particular medication and she put it in the bathroom in medicine chest, we used to call it. And baby began to cry and pain, needed its medicine. Mama got up, she was real tired and she opened up the cabinet and she pulled out the medicine and took it and gave the dosage to the baby and the baby reacted to the medicine and died. She didn't know what had happened and she went and looked back at the label of the medicine and she had actually not given the baby the medicine, she gave the baby mercuricrome which is a poison and poisoned her own child. Nobody would ever argue that that mama intentionally did that. She sincerely gave the baby the medicine. Sincerely gave the baby the medicine. She loved the baby and sincerely gave the baby the medicine. She sincerely was wrong. Sincerity isn't what God says counts. Faith and trust and following what he says does. And the nation of Israel was not following properly because the priests were not instructing them properly. It's the priest's duty and it's calling and his responsibility. It's his service to God to show the proper way of worship to God, to the people. And so the priests were to have inspected the sacrifices and they were to give the ones that were acceptable. They were to make sacrifices according to God's standards. The standards revealed in scripture. Again, there's an acceptable sacrifice. There is a proper offering to God. Now, today for some, the thought that there's a proper sacrifice to God, that there's a way to God, I'll take that even further as a Christian, the thought that he accepts us only through Jesus Christ is a foreign thought even in churches today. In some churches there are those who are standing up saying, you know, you can get to heaven through other sources or other ways. But the Bible doesn't teach that. And see, that's the thing that makes the world so upset with us believers in Christ. Because Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me. Jesus said, we didn't invent that. Listen, if I invented a religion, it would be entirely different than Christianity. At least in that way, I'd say, you know what? Do your best. And just see what happens, you know. That's kind of how I'd be. I don't want to cause you to have a bad day. I want you to enjoy life and all. And if you enjoy what you're doing, who am I to judge? And at the same time though, when you actually give the word of God, there is no name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. That's a pretty strong statement. That's Christianity and I'm telling you, you know this. I'm speaking to people who understand this. That doesn't make us popular. It doesn't. But there was a writer by the name of C.S. Lewis. And C.S. Lewis said this. He said, if you do not listen to theology, that will mean that you have no idea, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God, but that you have a lot of wrong ideas. And that's absolutely correct. It's not that you don't have ideas about God, is that you have a lot of wrong ideas. And that's why we need God's word. You see, in disregarding God's word, the priests misrepresent God and they defiled him. Verse seven says, you offered defiled food on my altar, but you say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. Again, God desires us to worship in spirit and truth, not according to our own methodologies or means. He continues and he says in verse eight, when you offer the blind as sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Yeah, try and pay your taxes with two chickens. And then see if they, see if they take it. Of course they won't. You see, he says in verse eight, when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? These offerings, according to the law we just read, were actually profaning that which was holy. And though their attempt to worship in and of itself was not the evil by itself, the fact of the matter is, is they were saying one thing, yeah, we're worshiping God, but in our offering, the offering itself was not acceptable. And the priest had ceased fearing the Lord. And because the priest had ceased fearing the Lord, they were leading the people to do the same. I've shared this with you many times. It's an absolute fact. We all have influence. You may think that you don't, you do. All of us do. You know, some have greater influence than others, but we all have influence. And the influence that you have can be either good or it can be evil. It just depends on you and how you wield it. So you, as a believer, have a tremendous impact and you don't even realize it. Now, you may be thinking, who me, what am I doing? I'm just, you know, I just work at this job and I just have kids and, but you know, the bottom line is that your influence is amazing. It truly is. You need to value it. I don't know how to say this properly. You need to value the influence that you really do wield because you may not be somebody that is well-known or famous. But you may be right now influencing somebody who one day will be. It may be your own kid who enters into ministry and serves God. And you're thinking of yourself, you know, I'm just, I feel like I'm accomplishing nothing. But in reality, you're raising one of the next key leaders in the body of Christ that will move in a powerful, you just don't know that. You don't know what you're doing at this moment. You really don't. Your influence is amazing. You need to understand it and you need to live with this knowledge that who I am really does impact people. And the way I live really does impact people. And you may not even realize the degree that you actually do influence. And you can use your influence for good or you can use your influence for evil. And what had happened is the priests were influencing the people, but not in the proper way. Their influence wasn't for good. It had become evil. And the people were now being led to believe that if the priest accepted this sacrifice then God must also be accepting the sacrifice. And so that's part of the danger of being in spiritual leadership because you can misrepresent God. That's why James in chapter three verse one tells people, don't be seeking to become a teacher because you are gonna undergo stricter condemnation, stronger judgment because your influence that you're bringing when you're speaking about the Lord is something that God holds you much more accountable for. And so as he's speaking concerning this, I'll read verse nine and continue. Now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably says the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you who would shut the door so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. He said, and I'm gonna jump ahead for just a moment in verse 13, he said, you also say, oh what a wariness and you sneer at it says the Lord of hosts and you bring the stolen, the lame and the sick thus you bring an offering should I accept this from your hands says the Lord. And so bring in one more insight before we move on. Notice how in verse 13 it says you say, oh what a wariness and you sneer at it. They brought the sick, they brought the stolen even. They took the lame and all and they offered it to God. And the priest had found serving the Lord to be nothing but a burden. It was tiresome. I just had a great three days with little over 100 pastors and staff members and we had seven Bible studies we had in one on Monday, several on Tuesday, two this morning. We stayed up last night until about 10 in ministry after glow and then stayed up with somebody until midnight, talked about the Lord and speaking in ministry, got up this morning and you wanna know something? What a joy it is to do that. What a joy. You get physically tired, yeah you do of course. I mean serving the Lord is sometimes labor, yes. And it's even called the work of ministry because it entails physical exertion sometimes. That's a fact but it's never a weariness. It's never a weariness. There's times when people have walked up to me as a pastor of this fellowship and they will say to me, I don't wanna take your time pastor. And I always laugh and I'll say, you're not taking my time, I'm giving it. It's a gift. It's a gift. I mean that's what I exist for. I have people walk up to me in restaurants and I hope this doesn't sound like the David show. I'm just trying to make this real. You know they walk up to me in restaurants and let's say pastor, I go to your church. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. And I always say the same thing. No, pay my bill. No, I always say the same thing. It's my pleasure. It's my joy. This is what I live for. That's a fact. Please if you ever run across me anywhere outside of here because sometimes it's trippy. I'll give you an example. Marie, my wife and I and Randy and Jeanette Walls are very close friends. Been friends with them for 35 years. And on occasion we'll steal away and go some place together. And usually it's to slow. It's to San Luis Obispo. Usually it is. So a few days, several days ago now we took a Thursday Friday and Saturday and we took off together. And we were in just south of San Luis Obispo in a small beach community. And it was Friday night. And okay, we're in a little teeny place. I don't even know how to pronounce it. It's a Spanish name. I ought to know how to pronounce it, Avila. But people call it Avila. So I don't know how to call it. Avila, whatever. We were, so we're in this place. And we're walking and they're having some outdoor festival that's in that. And so there's a crowd of people but it's a very small area. Some of you perhaps are familiar with this. And so as we're walking in this area, this small area, that's, you know, I mean, when you go up to the central coast, there's not a lot of population there anyway. That's why I go. And I like to relax. And we're walking through by this barbecue place. They have much barbecue out in the open festival kind of thing. We come walking around it. We're walking up the sidewalk. And here comes somebody straight at me and stops and says, Pastor David. And I look at him. Yeah. And we start talking, his brother and our fellowship and his wife and his name is Tony and we're having a conversation. And then we walk away and it's just a blessing. I love it. You know, I enjoy that so much. And Randy turns to me and he said, I was wondering when that's going to happen. And because he's been with us so many times in so many places that you wouldn't think somebody would know your ministry or you. I've been on planes where I've had stewardesses walk up and say, excuse me, are you David Rosales? And I'll say, who wants to know? I'll say, no, I'll say, yes, I am. I listened to you on K-Wave. I've gone to different places in New Mexico, New York, where you run across people in Dallas, Texas, you know, just walking from point A to point B and a soldier walks up, a major in the Army on his way to Middle East. He says, Pastor, I go to your church. Can you pray for me? I mean, we have had so many encounters. And so many times people will say, I don't want to bother you. It isn't wearisome to me. It isn't wearisome to me. Do you know what a thrill that is to me? I love it. I enjoy it. But start paying my bill. Come on. No, I love it. And I'll say, so listen, please, it is never wearisome to serve Jesus. It isn't. It is never, yes, you get tired. And yes, you can get drained. And yeah, there's a lot of things that go on that are behind the scenes that people may not understand as it pertains to it. But when these priests are going around saying it's wearisome, oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at this. He said, you don't understand the grace and compassion and goodness of God. You don't understand what a joy it is to serve Him. So a minister who does not enjoy serving the Lord ought to do something else. How to do something else. And somebody one time told me, I love the ministry. It's people I don't like. Well, you've got to have it a little bit backwards here, because people are the ministry. They are the ministry. And so they're sneering at their service together. And God takes great offense at that. They're bringing these things. And the priests are finding that serving the Lord is nothing but just a terrible burden. Now, going back to what we were looking at prior to that, when you're speaking concerning these sacrifices that are unacceptable, again, in the law, you were to give the best that you had to God, but they were giving what had no value to them. And second Samuel, chapter 24 verse 24, David said, I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God-burned offerings that cost me nothing. Proverbs 11, 24 says, there is one who scatters, yet increases more. There is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. In the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6, Paul said it like this. He said, remember this, whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. You don't give your leftovers to God. You give the first to God. That's how it works, because that's demonstrating that you understand sacrifice and that you love and worship Him. So he says, listen, if you think giving what is no good to God is OK, then he said in verse 8 again, he said, offer it then to your governor. To offer this kind of gift to even a government official would be an incredible insult. It's something kind of practical as a husband. Try giving your wife an anniversary present that's defective. Honey, I was walking in the field and I saw these dandelions. And I thought that you'd really like them. Try that. And remember, I do good funerals and I will do yours. Look at this, honey. I got you this great perfume. I got it's a whole gallon for $2. You got so much. Try doing that and see what happens. It doesn't work. You can't even give a gift like that to a loved one. And they will not see that as acceptable at all. And yet he's saying, try giving that to the governor. Try and give to the governor something that has no value. See if he accepts it. And the question to Israel was, why do you think that God accepts things that are defective when a man won't? That's a good thing to think about. We would not willfully give defective gifts to those we love, but we do this kind of service to God. Remember 2 Corinthians again in chapter 9 verse 7 where it says, each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. So we always give God our best, not our leftovers, because giving him the leftovers is just revealing insincerity and a thankless heart. He says in verse 10, who was there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. So God is saying, is there anyone who loves me enough to stop this from happening? It's interesting how he speaks of shutting the doors. Is there even among you, who is there even among you who would shut the doors? The shut the doors is speaking of shutting the doors of the temple, shut the doors of the temple so that people cannot enter in to defile it. Today it would be saying, please close down the church because I don't see it as being acceptable. Remember that Jesus exemplified that mentality when he cleansed the temple. Remember in Matthew 21 how it says in verses 12 and 13 that Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. God has never accepted that. He has never accepted the worship of God to be tainted with human flesh or to be given to him that which mattered not to the giver. And Jesus made it clear. He said that, and it's interesting, it's interesting, one of the things that is said concerning the temple that I find fascinating when it's being described is how it says my temple, my house shall be called a house of prayer. And it's supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations. It's to be a place where people gather together from everywhere to worship God. But in the way that you're handling things there, remember we looked at this recently, the way that you're doing things there, you're actually turning people away instead of bringing them in and teaching them the right way. And so God was very upset and he said, I have no pleasure in you and I will not accept an offering from your hands. In verse 11, for from the rising of the sun, even to it's going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles and every place in sent shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations. But you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and it's fruit, it's food is contemptible. You say, oh, what a weariness and you sneer at it says the Lord of hosts, you bring the stolen, the lame, the sick, thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hands says the Lord but cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and makes a vow but sacrifices to the Lord who is blemished for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts, my name is to be feared among the nations. I am a great king and my name is to be feared amongst the nations. Practical application, God does not need hypocritical worship. He does not require their defective ungodly offering. He says my name will be great among those who do not at that time acknowledge him. My name shall be great amongst the Gentiles. Now, prophetically, this takes place obviously through Jesus' death on the cross and his creation of from the Jew and the Gentile, the one new man that would be referred to also as the church. And as I've been saying over and over again to you recently, especially as we've been going through certain portions of Matthew, how that God created in the Old Testament a definition Jew and Gentile in the New Testament, there's the Jew, there's the Gentile and then there's the church made up of believing Jews as well as believing Gentiles. At this time, the church is still in the future but God intends to reach the Gentiles. Now, Israel was to be a light in a very dark place. You see the nation of Israel, the nation of Israel was taken out from amongst pagans. Abraham is spoken of as being one from a land by idolatry and a family of idolaters. And yet God brought him out and God made him his friend. And God made him what is called the father of the Jews. And so Abraham was brought into relationship with God and through Abraham, ultimately the Jewish nation sprang to existence. And then in the history of the Jews, God ultimately is given to them commands and he does so through Moses and Moses is the law giver and Moses brings to the nation of Israel the commands of God. And in the commands of God, he makes it very clear you're not to have any graven images. You are the people who are not to have idols. You are the people who are not to make anything in heaven or that appears to be from heaven because you worship the invisible God. In an area of geography where all the small nations around that area all have their own tribal gods and they all make their own little God images and they follow after their gods. God was saying you will be unique. He said because I'm pulling you out not because you're great but because you're small not because you're the best but because you're the least. And I'm gonna show you my grace and I'm gonna show you my love and I'm gonna make you unique. And as a unique people you're gonna worship me the invisible God and you will not worship me with anything that is graven anything that is an image of heaven. You will worship me the invisible God and that makes you unique. And I will give to you laws and I'll give to you ordinances I'll give you a priesthood I'll give to you my word and I'll give to you these things that will make you unique there will be things that identify you as my children but you will not have graven images. You will not have idols. You will be unique amongst the world of idolatry in that you worship the invisible God. But how does this invisible God become visible to man? God takes upon himself human flesh and he dwells amongst us. John says, and we beheld him the only true son of God full of grace and truth. The word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. So the invisible God said, you cannot create me but I will reveal myself and Jesus walks the face of the earth. Now Israel at one time was to be the light of the world but Jesus goes on to say, I am the light of the world but then Israel says, you shall be lights. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works glorify my father who is in heaven. So how does the invisible God incarnate? One, Jesus took upon himself human flesh dwelt amongst man, man beheld him saw the glory of God in human flesh. Two, he created something called the church, the temple of the living God and the spirit of God dwells in every genuine believer in Christ. And in a very practical way, the invisible God is still being made manifest not through idols but through his children. And so God has created you to be, well, Christian. You know what Christian means? It means Christ like but it also has been translated little Christ's and the word Christian was not a word that was used originally as a compliment. The word Christian originally was used as a put down. There comes those little Christ's those people who think they're like Jesus was a put down. So it wasn't something that you said, I'm gonna name my son Christian. It was, I'm going to as the temple of the living God I'm gonna live in such a way that people will know that God is alive because he has transformed this terrible wretched sinner and has made me and is making me in his image and I'm becoming Christ like. So when people see you, they will say there's something different about you and it's not just your haircut or the way you dress. See that's where the church has always messed up over the years has messed up. As I say to you on occasion when I first got saved and I had the longer hair and I had the, you know the, we called them granny glasses and I didn't wear shoes and all of that and all of my friends were that way. It wasn't, you know, just me. I wasn't, you know, that was the trend at that time at all. But if you put me next to some cult member, if you put me next to a Mormon and you said which one of those do you think is the true Christian? The average American would have pointed to the Mormon because in the average American's mentality, clean cut, you know, white shirt, you know, and pressed lax, that's the Christian because they look in a certain way and that little hippie guy over there, he needs a bath and a haircut. And that's the way it was. It's pretty much that way again, isn't it? It is pretty much that way again. But do you know what I've discovered in some of you? I have discovered that when God, when God dwells within you, he transforms you from the inside out and it's not the outer appearance at all. It's not the outer appearance, it's the heart because man looks at the outer appearance but God looks at the heart. And when you come to faith in Christ, you stop having these attitudes of, I'm gonna give him less. You have this attitude, I'm gonna give him all. And that's what happens. That's what happens. And God is saying to the nation of Israel through the influence of the priests, you have offered me defective sacrifices because they're not teaching the word of God rightly to you. And what has happened is the children of Israel have despised me, they're rejecting me through your influence. And that's one of the reasons why again, ministers, pastors, teachers are to live in such a way as to give God honor and bring glory to him. You see, we are to fear God and worship him. And we worship him with our best, not our least. Nonbelievers should see Christians as those who have holiness and purity in their lives. Not an outward appearance of holiness because there was a time when people thought if somebody's holy, they're also bored. You kind of walk around with your hands clasped in front of you with the kind of a sad face. Oh, that's such a holy person there. No, no, no, that person just doesn't have a life. You know, because when God grabs hold of your heart, he transforms you in every way and there's a joy about you. But there's also this desire to live in a way that pleases him. When it says my name is to be feared among the nations, one of the things that I believe very strongly is happening today and that we have to awaken out of is the church has gotten so caught up in thinking they can live in any way they want and go to heaven when God's word says, no, listen, I took you out of the sewer, not so that you could remain there, but so that you can show people there's a way out of there. That's what God did, you know? That was a drunk and a doper. Now I'm saved, what am I, a saved, drunk and doper? No, no, I'm a man who's been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and I used to drink the old wine and now I have the new and I have never awakened with a Holy Ghost hangover, never have because the wine of the Spirit is purity and holiness, it's power from God, it's a transformed life, it's revealed in the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace and so many other things that express that one thing that makes us what we are and the church is supposed to be, is being created by God to be holy and so the Bible makes it clear Proverbs 3-7 do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. He doesn't say fear the Lord and stay in it, he says fear the Lord and depart from evil and so when the Lord was speaking here again in verse 14, he said, cursed be the deceiver who makes his flock a male, who has in his flock a male and makes a vow but sacrifices the Lord to it is blemished. I'm a great king, says the Lord opposed, my name is to be feared among the nations. And he's saying, Israel, don't rip me off with the sacrifices, I'm not accepting them, I'm not accepting them because you're not offering that which I require of you and I'm placing blame at the feet of the priests but you're following their lead and what we need to do is we need to make sure that we never give to the Lord that which cost us nothing. Did he give to us that which cost nothing? Jesus Christ, no. He gave us the most priceless gift that we could have, his own son. How can I give him any less?