 We'll be looking at chapter 2, Malachi chapter 2 verses 1 through 9. This is a very practical, powerful portion of Scripture and much of it pertains to rebukes and words to the priests. And when you look at it and begin to apply it in the New Testament sense, you can see that it is a rebuke of spiritual leaders in general. And you'll see what I'm speaking about in just a moment as we go through this. So let's begin here in Malachi chapter 2. At verse 1, I'll read to verse 9. That's what we'll be looking at tonight. Malachi chapter 2 verses 1 through 9. We'll get into our study. Malachi chapter 2 beginning at verse 1. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces. The refuse of your solemn feasts and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you. That my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace. And I gave them to him that he might fear me. So he feared me and was reverent before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people because you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in the law. He sounds mad. Malachi, the prophet Malachi, even as we began this book, disclosed to us that he had a burden. Remember in verse one of chapter one, I want to develop this with the Aleah Foundation. Remember how I said in chapter one, verse one, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, the burden. Malachi has a burdened heart. And this burdened heart is being revealed to the children of Israel. And the message that God has given to him compounded with the sorrow of his heart for Israel, the message and his heart is heavy. It would seem to me that ministers can have a deep response when God moves in their hearts. It's like what it says in Jeremiah 20, verse nine, when Jeremiah said, I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back and could not. There's this desire on the one hand Jeremiah had to not speak in his name. Things had not been going well up to that point for him. And he said, I'm getting tired. I don't want to be speaking any more in his name and yet on the other hand. But it was like a fire that was raging within me. And even though I wanted to hold it back, I couldn't. When the Lord puts a burden on somebody's heart, even if he if he resists that sense, there's still this this fire that burns within them and they can't hold it back. Jeremiah 23, nine went on to say my heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine has overcome because of the Lord and because of his holy words, my heart within me is broken. And the Lord has something to say very often. The first thing he does is he breaks the one who brings the message. The message reveals the burden of the heart of the Lord and the messenger. If he is going to communicate that message properly is also going to experience brokenness, there will be a burden. That's what happens when somebody has something to say from the Lord, when God begins to move within that person's heart, there is an overwhelming sense of heaviness that can occur because of the holiness and glory of God, the desire for God to be exalted and because of the lostness of the people that you see who are rejecting the message that God would give to them. When you look into the New Testament, you see an individual we all know by name. His name is Paul. And there's a portion of scripture in the book of Acts where Paul is waiting for two of his friends to come to him. Paul is in the city of Athens and he's waiting two of his friends, coworkers, one by the name of Silas, also known as Sylvainus, and the other one by the name of Timothy. You see, Paul had preached in the city of Thessalonica. There had been a great harvest of souls. A multitude of people had listened and had come to faith in Christ. A good number of Gentiles had come to faith in the Lord and there were some Jews who were present and they were unconvinced concerning the message of Christ and as a result of seeing what was taking place, these unconvinced Jews became envious and they went about gathering a mob and then they incited an angry response. So in order to protect Paul, the church had sent him to Athens where he was awaiting Silas and Timothy. But while he's there in this amazing city, the city of Athens, this ancient city of intellectualism at all, when he was there, what he saw burdened his heart and it moved him deeply. The Bible tells us in Acts chapter 17, verses 16 and 17, while Paul waited for them at Athens. His spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. So the Bible says that his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was completely given over to idolatry. That's what happens when you see people given over to that which destroys their life. When you have a heart for the Lord, a burden is there and a grief can occur and there's this sense of heaviness because people are lost. You see, the Bible teaches one thing very particularly clearly and that is that God takes no pleasure in sin. God takes no pleasure in sin and neither should his children see in the evil and the pain that results from sin. The evil and the pain that results from people being in sin. How to provoke us? It ought to cause us within to have a grief, at least a grief for those who are so lost and not only for those who are so lost but for the lives that are ruined because of that ruined life where the man is not happy with his wife in his marriage and so he decides to have some fun on the side. So we ought to be grieved that his marriage is not doing well but our grief goes even deeper when we see what it does to the wife and when we see what it does to the children and when we see what it does to those who love that family. It ought to go deep within us. We ought not to be those kinds of people that, oh, well, big deal, they're big, they'll take care of it. It ought to cause a burden within us. God sees no pleasure, he has no pleasure in sin and his children ought not to take pleasure in it either. In 2 Peter in chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, the Bible tells us that God rescued lot a righteous man who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men for that righteous man living among them day after day was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. So though he was there in the midst of Sodom, Gomorrah in that area, though he was there in the midst of all of this, he didn't take pleasure in it, his heart was grieved, he grieved him daily as he saw the way that they lived. Well, Melachi has a burdened heart and he has brought a heavy message to the nation. And at this point as we've been going through Melachi, we have seen that he has been rebuke in the people of Israel because they have dishonored the Lord. You see, this dishonoring of the Lord had begun through the ungodly ministry of the priests. The priesthood had become somewhat like a polluted stream. Zephaniah in chapter three, verse four says, her prophets are insolent, treacherous people. Her priests have polluted the sanctuary they have done violence to the law. Her priests have polluted. And what has happened is the ministry of the priests has become a polluted stream. The clear living water of true worship was muddied by the apathy and the impiety of her priesthood. The priest had been accepting sacrifices that were not acceptable to God. They had grown weary in their service to him. There were same things like, oh, what a hardship, how difficult this is. He had said in chapter one, verse 13, you say, oh, what a weariness and you snare it, it says the Lord of hosts and you bring the stolen, the lame, the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? And so that's what they were doing. They were saying, oh, this is a hardship. This is difficult. We're working long hours and not getting much for it. And so they were offering to God that which he had rejected. There was sacrifice seen the blind, lame, stolen and the sick animals. What had happened is the priests were not giving their best. So it was easy for them to accept from others what was not their best either. Offerings to God. Offerings to God always will reveal or expose what's in our heart. They were willing to give to God what they would never give to a friend or even a politician. There's a writer by the name of Warren Wearsby. And Wearsby once said, what does this say to professed Christians who spend hundreds of dollars annually, perhaps thousands, on gifts for themselves, their family and their friends, but give God a dollar a week when the offering plate is passed? Acceptable offerings were intended to be a picture of God's perfect offering. The Old Testament gave regulations so that it would be something that revealed what God would do through his son. So they were to be without blemish. They were to be the best that could be offered. In 1 Peter in chapter one, the apostle writes that verses 18 and 19, you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that were redeemed from the empty way of life, handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. And that was the perfect offering that God gave. And so in the Old Testament, the offerings were to foreshadow the perfect offering that God would give himself when he gave his son Jesus Christ. Jesus was not an offering that had no value. He was the offering that had all value. And so in the Old Testament, when people would give an offering to the Lord, it was to be their best because God was to give his best. Now obviously this kind of ministry had a detrimental effect on the people. They grew to believe that what they were doing was acceptable to God. And the fact is if the priest accepted this kind of service, it would seem that God must accept it too. Malachi had addressed that. It said, you have departed from the way you have caused many to stumble at the law. The priests were responsible to teach and obey the law of God. And in their negligence of his word and in their ungodly examples, God is now being dishonored. That's what happens in the New Testament sense when a pastor disregards the word of the Lord. That's what happens. I'm gonna get into this in just a moment when we look at a few things later in this chapter. But that's what happens when a pastor misrepresents the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the sobriety of God. When a pastor takes the pulpit and makes it a place where he can show off his skills or be cool or funny constantly, it takes away from the Lord and it reduces the sobriety that one must have when we follow after Jesus Christ. We'll see that in just a moment. I'm gonna develop that with you. But the Lord had been saying that the priests were not being good examples and thus God's name is now being dishonored. God intended his people to know that he is great. He had said in chapter one, verse 11 that his name should be great among the Gentiles. And in verse 14 of the same chapter, he said, my name is to be feared among the nations. So when he said, my name shall be great and my name shall be feared, when it says my name, name in this context refers to his character as well as a reputation. The priesthood had defiled the name of God. Israel didn't serve the Lord of fear and didn't serve the Lord with humility and God was chastising the priests first for that. Now, the priests accepted these offerings and there was a kind of a practical reason why they were accepting them. And that is because they lived from the sacrifices that were being offered. You see, the priests and their families actually ate the meat that had been offered to the Lord. You see that when God was establishing sacrifice in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse one, where it says the priests who are Levites, indeed the whole tribe of Levi, are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel, they shall live on the offerings made to the Lord by fire for that is their inheritance. So when they received these offerings, they could take and they could partake of them. So they were literally living off of them. That ensured them that they would have food on their tables. If the economy was down, if taxes were high, money was scarce, they still were able to eat. So their service was to be done with the knowledge that they had deep relationship with God. And the problem is, is their relationship was to fuel their service to him. And when their relationship with God was faltering, their service to God would not be acceptable. It's interesting how in the Old Testament book of Numbers in chapter 18, verse 20, it reads that the Lord said to Aaron, the first high priest, you will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites, I am your portion. I am, you don't need land. See, the other tribes were to receive an allotment of land when they inherited the land, when they entered into the land of Israel, it was dividing into sections so that the various tribes would have a portion. But he said to the tribe, to the Levites, he said, you don't have any land. You are not gonna be receiving land as your inheritance. You have something greater, you have me. I am your portion, I am your great reward. And so this relationship with God, the knowledge that God was their portion and great reward, was supposed to fuel their service to God so they, in the worship of God knowing who he was, would actually be most effective to the people because they weren't inheriting land at all, they inherited God himself. And so here in Malachi, the Lord is speaking through Malachi, the prophet, to the priests and he's rebuking them for the things that they are not doing and the bad effect of all of that. And that's what we're seeing here in Malachi leading up to chapter two. And so in verses one and two continuing, it says, now, oh priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already because you do not take it to heart. So God now calls for the priests to repent. And if they don't hear, he's saying, you're gonna be judged. Now undoubtedly the priests would have denied that their apathy was harmful to God's people after all. They were still receiving and giving offerings. We're still doing it. I mean, why is it harmful to them? But God says otherwise. No, God is not pleased with what they're doing. You see, the priests didn't see serving him as a privilege. They didn't see temple ministry as a high honor. They actually were treating it with contempt. How do you communicate that? I can't. Serving God, serving God, there isn't a greater honor than that. There isn't anything more fulfilling than serving God. Somebody asked me once, when did you know you were called to serve God as a pastor? I've always given the same answer for as long as I could remember hearing the question. I've always given the same basic answer, the day I got saved. When did you know you were called? The day I got saved. Did I know what a calling was the day I got saved? No. Did I know I wanted to serve the Lord all the days of my life, the day that I got saved? Yes. Did I know how I was gonna do it? No. Did I know that I was gonna do it? Absolutely. Did I know what I wanted to do? Yes. What was that? Open the book, read it, and talk to people about Jesus. I knew that from the day I got saved. That's what I did, pretty much, from the day I got saved. First Bible study I ever tried to give, I was about three weeks old in the Lord. I didn't know a thing, except I was blind and now I see. And I wanted to tell people that. That was in my heart, that's what I wanted to do. Was I a mature believer? No, of course not, I was a baby in Christ. Did people listen some? The ones I could bribe? Yes. When I walk on these grounds, some of you have been with us every step of the way, every step, and you know what I'm gonna say. But when I look back all the way to Norwalk, where I started in 1973, when I look to Ontario, where I began a Bible study in 1974, in an apartment that sat about, in the front room, that sat about six to eight people. And from there, moving to Montclair, we still had eight to 10 people. And teaching every week, four people, five people, 10 people, never having more than 10 or 11 people in a Bible study for years, from 73 to 74 to 75, to 76 to 77, to 78, to 79, to 1980, to 1981, having 30 people and 40 people in a Bible study and blowing my mind saying, wow, we're gonna have to bring more chairs out. We got 50 people here. See, when you walk on these grounds here, some of you think they've always been here. That all these buildings and everything you see always been here, and they weren't. We have seen God here, moving here, year after year after year, and soon 35 years of pastoring this church, seeing God move in wonderful ways, seeing things built, seeing things torn down, seeing people's lives torn down, seeing them built up. There's nothing greater than serving Jesus Christ. There's nothing greater than serving the Lord. Nothing. It isn't, it isn't, oh, what a bummer, oh, how hard, because that's what they're saying, oh, what a weariness. And he said, and you sneer at it. What an honor, what an honor to serve the Lord. But for them, serving at the altar became tiresome. They didn't value it. So what does the Lord do? Well, he calls a priest to repentance. He says, give glory to my name. He calls them to listen to what the Lord is saying, and he calls them to turn their hearts back to him. And he's giving them the opportunity to correct themselves. This is something that he does, by the way, throughout their history. Again, in Jeremiah, obviously one of my favorite prophets to quote, Jeremiah 25, verses four through seven. It says, the Lord has sent to you all his servants, the prophets rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them. Do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands. And I will not harm you. Yet, you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. You have not listened to me. I warned you. I said these things will take place and you don't listen. You see, in verse two, he says, if you will not hear and if you will not take it to heart, so disobedience to God will always result in judgment from God. He says to them, I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. I will curse your blessings, what do you mean by that? Well, that would first refer to the blessings God promised the nation of Israel if they obey his law. When you look in the Old Testament, again, you can look at Leviticus, for example, and if you looked at chapter 26 and you read verses three through 13 in those verses in Leviticus 26, there are a variety of promises that God gives to the nation if they obey him. And so he's speaking of the blessings that he has promised. When you look in Deuteronomy chapter 28, you would see that in verses one through 14, God had said something similar to the nation of Israel, but if you read just verses one and two, Deuteronomy 28, one and two, you would read, it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. He said, in your obedience, you do receive blessings. But he says, I have cursed. I have cursed him already. Why? Because you don't take it to heart. You're already being cursed. He was cursing their crops, cursing their seed. You see the Levites received their supply of food from the offerings, but now they're having empty tables. They were willing to receive offerings that were defective, but soon he was saying, you will receive nothing. Now, he had said in chapter three, he says in chapter three verse 11, if you repent, I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field. The Lord was already allowing the devourer to consume. The devourer more than likely is locus. They more than likely were having a plague of locus that were consuming all the grain. And so he says, I'm gonna curse your blessings. I have already cursed them. So they're already going through tough times. Also, the priests had a status before the people that had been given to them by God. And he's saying, I'm gonna remove my hand from you. Now, in the New Testament, since we would say, and this is a phrase that many of us in this room are familiar with, many will say, well, that guy's ministry is anointed. He's got an anointed ministry. Well, it would seem that God is saying that he's gonna take his hand off the priests. That means his provision for them is gonna cease. Their ministry to the people will no longer be effective. Their burdensome service to God is gonna end. And their personal blessings will be taken away. I'm removing these things from you. Seeing that you're complaining about it, I'll just take these things from you. Now, what's interesting is he goes on to say this, in verse three, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts. And when we'll take you away with it, then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts. Now, spread refuse. Do I have to explain what he's talking about there? I don't think so. He says, first though, I will rebuke your descendants. Now, there are different ways the rebuke of descendants could work itself out. One, very basically, God could make the priests incapable of having children. Therefore, they're unable to perpetuate the priesthood. They just don't have kids. Or two, it could mean that their children, instead of being a blessing, would be a burden and a curse. It can be painful to not have children in and of itself. There are many who are their infertile couples, and they wish that they could have children. And I understand that. The desire that they have to have children, sometimes is very, very great. And in and of itself, that can be very, very painful. But it can also be painful to have children, especially children who break your heart. I know nobody in this room who's a parent has ever had a child break your heart. We're just, we're speaking hypothetically, as if that were possible. We know that that's not possible. None of us have ever cried ourselves to sleep at night for the stupidness of our kids. Though we do, though we do pray for, and cry for other people, don't we? No, every person who has a child cries for that child, because the child's a disappointment in one form or another. Every one of us know that. I mean, I know my kids, I look at my, oh man, I have to, maybe I shouldn't, but I can say this, that I have watched my kids grow up, and then I can see myself in them. You know, and I have to tell you, you know, sometimes it hasn't been a pleasant thing to see, at all. And children break your heart, especially when that child does not follow the Lord. You see, I have great faith, and it's grown over the years, that God will care for my kids. But I haven't always had that. There have been seasons when I've said, oh Lord, what am I gonna do? Oh God, what am I gonna do? Lord, I prayed for this child that you would give me this child. Would you take him back? Not like a Christmas gift. You can't re-gift your kid. And so you start clinging to God's promises, don't you? Train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it. Lord, I prayed for this child. I dedicated this child. I've done the best that I can to raise this child. At this moment, the child doesn't seem to desire you. It's breaking my heart. Any parent who loves the Lord and loves a kid has prayed like that in one form or another, at least once. And the Lord could be saying your children will be a perpetual heartbreak to you. So on the one hand, it may be that the priests will not perpetuate their lineage, perhaps they won't have offspring. Sons who could carry on the priesthood or two. Perhaps he's saying at this point, you can have children who will be painful to you and cause great grief. He goes on and says, and spread refuse on your face. That word refuse obviously is internal waste. It speaks of dung, excrement. When an animal was offered to God, the dung was to be taken outside the camp and was burned. Exodus 2914 says the flesh of the bull with its skin and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. So when he says that I will spread refuse on your face, he's simply saying I will humiliate you. If you treat me with disrespect, I will treat you with disrespect. What a powerful statement. He said in verse four, then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you that my covenant with Levi may continue. Now, Levi represents priests. God's priesthood comes from the tribe of Levi. So God's desire is for them to repent that he may continue to work in the nation. He didn't want to judge them even more severely. And then he goes on to say this, and I wanna develop this with you in verses five through seven. When he speaks concerning this covenant, he said, my covenant was with him, one of life and peace. And I gave them to him that he might fear me. So he feared me and was reverent before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. I wanna develop this with you. Malachi at this point is revealing the true marks of a minister of the Lord. If anybody in this room has a sense, any man has a sense of a call to pastoral ministry and perhaps I have some who are here, these are things that are very important for you to listen to, especially if you have a heart to be a pastoral minister. These are things that are very, very practical. And I'll show you some things in a practical way because the Lord outlined some things here that I think we can learn from, things that are very important, especially in ministry. The first thing that he's pointing to is a proper relationship with the Lord is marked by reverence. A proper relationship with the Lord is marked by what is called the fear of the Lord. So a genuine minister has a reverence for God. A genuine minister has a reverence for the Lord. In the book of Titus, in chapter one, verse eight, when the apostle Paul is writing concerning the qualifications of a leader in the church, of a bishop, the word bishop is an overseer. It's where you get the word episcopal from. Episcopos is what it is in the Greek language. It speaks of an overseer and when he speaks concerning the bishop or the overseer, which is also a word that we use today when we speak of a pastor. So when he's given the qualifications of a pastor or a pastoral minister, he says that this bishop is to be sober-minded, just and holy. So that's one of the things that you, the church, you have an obligation to evaluate my life with. Whether or not that's true. Whether or not you see those earmarks in me. It's nothing wrong, by the way, with people looking at a pastor's life to see whether these things are so. The Bible gives qualifications for leadership. And you don't just put a novice into ministry because if they become proud, they can fall into the condemnation of Satan who fell by pride and a bad leader brings a bad taste of the gentile, non-believers, a bad taste in the mouth for them concerning Christianity, especially concerning Jesus Christ. So one of the things that a minister is to do and what the priests were supposed to do is they were to have the fear of the Lord. You see, true knowledge of God begins with the fear of the Lord. Psalm 111, verse 10 simply says, "'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'" And so if a man has a relationship with the Lord, if he is a true minister, it's going to be first marked by reverence, the fear of the Lord. Secondly, he speaks of the law of truth being in his mouth and injustice is not found on his lips. A second thing is there's a commitment to the word of God. The law of truth is in his mouth. There's a commitment to the word of God. This translates to God's word being shared with people. And minister, God's word is to be shared with people and ministers are not to mix truth with error and they are not to dilute the message of God. I have to be careful because this is a real passion of binding and it could be misunderstood. I was mentioning on Sunday, some of you were with me on Sunday about a particular program I was watching and I was watching a man speaking to a stadium filled with people and misquoting scripture. And I use that as an illustration. It's interesting. It just seems anytime I turn the TV on I can see it because I did it again today listening to somebody else. If I use this name, which I don't want to because I don't want to malign the person. I don't have enough time to explain why this is a great concern. Therefore, I don't want to use the name without giving a more full explanation but I will say this. I will say that today. Marie and I were watching a particular program because I had heard this person's name used and I've heard of him but don't know anything of his ministry. Not very much anyway. So I put on his program to hear him teach and he was teaching a portion of scripture out of First Samuel. And as he was sharing, he was sharing concerning some spiritual principles. He said he found from the portion of scripture and I put it on pause and I turned to my wife and I said as popular as this young man may be and as cool as he really is, he's teaching error. God did not say that. What he is saying is not found in that scripture but when you look at the people they're all nodding their head and cheering along with them. And I told Marie, I said, that's the problem with the church today. When you don't feed them the word of God and give them scripture to develop their discernment, they have none. And so if it sounds good and he looks very confident when he says it, it must be truth. We're living in an age and forgive me, this has always been the heartbeat of my ministry. We're living in an age where error is presented and the church has no discernment and if it doesn't entertain them, they don't want any part of what they're hearing even though it's true. And they would just as soon hear the false because it tastes so good going down. And it's dangerous, it's dangerous. There is so much error being presented in the name of God. But a minister, well he says the law of truth is in his mouth. There's a commitment to God's word. In 2 Corinthians chapter four verses one and two, Paul said it like this. He said, therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret in shameful ways. We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Ministers are to faithfully present the word of God to people. 1 Thessalonians two verses three and four, the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God who tests our hearts. Ministers are to present God's word to people. Third, he says, he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. A minister has a developing fellowship with God that produces godliness and evangelism. Fellowship with God produces a lifestyle as well as a passion for others to know him. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 11 verse 30, he who wins souls is wise. In Psalm 39 verse three, my heart grew hot within me as I meditated, the fire burned, then I spoke with my tongue. That's a passion that comes out. You might want to do something, you might want to, if you can, you can Google this, sinners in the hands of an angry God, one of the most famous messages ever preached in the United States, sinners in the hands of an angry God. If you read it, and I read it not that long ago, if you read it doesn't take that long, you would say this message would never be preached in any pulpit in the United States today. It's such a downer. It doesn't tell me how to get wealthy. It doesn't tell me how to overcome friends who don't like me. It doesn't tell me how to have a good day. It actually warns me against hell. It warns me against becoming judgment. When the preacher gave this message, he didn't even want to give it. He was in a city where the people there were so anti-Christ that he just came in and historians say that he actually held his sermon, he used to read the sermon in his hands and he leaned against a pillar there and he just read it nonchalantly. It's like when Jonah went through yet 40 days, Nineveh shall be destroyed is one of those things where he was just kind of just saying it, but as he was reading his sermon, the fire of God began to fall and the people who were there began to tremble and began to cry and began to be afraid because God was using these words that were being spoken in a monotone and an entire congregation of people that were there to hear him, really some to mock him, came to a full on faith in Jesus Christ because he was warning them of the judgment to come. A minister has a heart for the Lord and evangelism and a passion. He says in verse seven, the lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law. Should seek the law of the Lord. They should seek the law of the Lord from him. The law from his mouth, he's the messenger of the Lord of hosts. A genuine minister values God's word and here's an important point and guards it from distortion and error. When it says the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, the word keep means to guard. It speaks of observing and guarding. It means to protect. When it speaks of knowledge, the word knowledge speaks of understanding. And what are you saying? The lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from him. Well, the bottom line is is the priest's responsibility is to make sure that the word goes forth as God would have it to be heard. You see, the result of guarding God's word and exhibiting a passion for its truth earns people's trust. And the people will come to hear the word from that person because they know they can trust that he's giving them the word of God. People should use discernment, but they should know that they can seek the law from this person's lips. Because they see that, and I want you to notice this, they see that he is what is called a messenger of the Lord. He is not bringing his own opinions. He is a messenger of the Lord. And again, I think in this generation, this age of the church, some don't realize that this word that we're looking at right now is the word of the Lord. And in some, oh, you know, that's your opinion. I have found it interesting over the years as somebody who never reads the Bible, never reads the Bible, never has really studied, never taught a single Bible study because they never read the Bible. But they have all kinds of opinions as to why that person speaking there is wrong. They correct teaching that they have no understanding of. It happens quite often. Because, well, after all, we're a Google generation, right? If we want to know anything, we just ask Google and Google tells us and we become experts, right? I mean, that's how it works. So you don't have to get on your face and weep before the Lord and ask God to give you discernment and understanding. You don't have to do that. All you need to do is ask Google a question and, you know, what does it mean? And then you have all these answers prepared. There are quite a number of people like that. Bottom line is the priest is to be regarded as one who has treasured and guarded the word and has presented it. And thus the people can trust him and they will come to him and ask for God's word. What does God's word say concerning these things? He goes on in verse eight and he says, you have departed from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people because you have not kept my ways. You have shown partiality in the law. Instead of being a blessing to the people, teaching them how to worship, you have stumbled them. You are what are called toxic messengers. And I'm judging you. In Proverbs 1121, be sure of this, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free. Isaiah 50 verses 16 and 17, to the wicked, God says, what right have you to declare my statutes or to take my covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you? He says, you have departed from the way and you have caused many to stumble at the law. Ministers who depart from God's word cause unbelievers to reject Jesus and believers to stumble. I was sharing with my staff in staff devotions yesterday. I was about 34 years old and a brother who was in our church, he was an older guy, he was in his 40s. Let's see, I was 34. So that's old, isn't it? When I first heard Chuck Smith, Chuck Smith was 43. And I thought he was an old man, because I was 20. And you know that, you know how that is. I mean, you're young and anybody 20 years old, that's an old man, he's as old as my dad. Right, so I'm now about 34. I still remember this, I was in my front yard and I see a car driving by and I was watering and the car slows down, backs up and pulls over. And I'm looking and this fella climbs out and comes walking. Hi, Pastor Dave, his name is George, I knew him, he was from our church. I said, hi George, how are you? He said, I'm fine, I was on my way home, I just, I didn't know you lived here, I just was driving by, I just thought I'd say hi. I said, how you doing? We visited for a moment and he said this to me, I'll never forget the conversation, never forget it. George said to me, you know, Pastor, you know how you say how much you love your Pastor, Chuck, I said, yeah, he says, I want you to know that's how I love you and I smiled at him and I said, in my heart, no way. It's a fact, you could not love me as much as I love my Pastor, but I certainly appreciate you saying that. You just don't know how much I love my Pastor. But I smiled and I said, really? He said, yeah, I said, I truly appreciate that, thank you. And he did, he loved, he loved us, he loved us. I got a phone call, I was in the office and George is in the hospital, could you go and pay a visit? And I said, well, of course. And so I call my wife and I say to Marie, honey, I'm gonna do a hospital visitation, you wanna go with me? And she said, yes. She got babysitter to watch our small children at that time and off we went to West Cabina, to the hospital that George was, we went to the front, we said where's George Casillas? And they said he's in a particular place in the hospital. We climbed on the elevator, we went up to the floor, they said he was at and I still remember the elevator doors opening and the whole area was pitch black. There was just, there were emergency lights, but the whole floor was dark and I, so we stood at the entrance exit of the elevator, took a step out and we're looking around and I'm thinking, what floor is this? And a doctor comes walking down the hall and runs into us and he acts like surprised and so he says, what are you doing here? And I said, oh, I'm a pastor, I'm here to see one of the members of my fellowship, his name is George. He said, you haven't heard? And I said, heard what? He said, George just died. When he said died, the word died, was still in his mouth, come in, I died, George's wife came walking around the corner. I heard the word died and there's his wife and she has this look in her face and again, I'm 34 years old, the young man. And I'm looking at this woman who just lost her husband. We go to her house. I still remember being in her kitchen, standing and looking out a window up the street. I see a little boy around 12 years, around 12 years old at the time, whenever suns. And he's walking home and he's kicking, look like he's kicking a can or something in the street. He's got his little backpack and he's walking down the street and I'm looking at this 12 year old boy and I turn to his mama and I say, would you like me to stay here with you? And she says, no, I have to tell him myself. And I watched this little boy as he's walking two houses down, Marie and I come out and I climb in our car and drive away. And in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that little boy's coming in to hear the news that no child should hear, not at 12. We have a young man in our church at one time. His name was Marcel. Marcel was like a son to me. As a matter of fact, we went to Israel on one occasion and his mama came up to me and said, can you talk to Marcel? He's not listening to me. And I still remember Marcel, he had his arms folded and he just give me this look like. And I said, oh, come on Marcel. And had a talk with him. Marcel graduated high school and went to college. Well, he was going to school. He came down with cancer and it was progressing. And here in this room, I used to have an office in the back when we had Sunday services in here. Marcel, because he was taking chemotherapy, couldn't be out in the congregation with people because he could become ill with anything that they might have. So he would sit in my office with me in between services and I would visit with him. And then he'd watch the service on TV and he did that every Sunday. And Marcel got married and I performed his marriage for him and a few months later I get a phone call from his mom and his mom says, Marcel just died. Can you come? And Marie and I go to the house where he was living with his brand new wife. And we walk into the house and there are some ladies there, his little wife, 22 years old or so, and his mama. And the nurse was taking care of his body. He was in another room and the nurse came out and said, if you'd like to go in, you can do his mama and his mom turns to Marie and me and says, do you want to come in with me? And we say, of course. We walk in, the window's open, there's this dim light in the room and Marcel is there and there's a sheet on him but his feet are exposed and it's cold in that room and his mom says, as she reaches down and touches his foot, his foot is cold. She says he's cold and she puts a blanket over him. She hadn't processed, my son just died. A few months before I married him and then a few months later I buried him. The nurse comes walking into the front room where we are. She brings his wedding ring. She took his wedding ring off of his hand and came in and without thinking says, what do you want me to do with the ring? When she says that, this little girl falls on her face on the carpet and begins to scream in pain and my wife is seated next to me and I turn to Marie because two or three of the women the minute this little girl hit the ground and she collapsed on the ground, her mama and two other ladies grabbed her and mama was starting to rock this baby. The daughter, a widow, a few months married, crying with such pain. I turned to Marie and I say, pray for him. This is a moment when a woman should minister to women, pray for him. Marie says, why don't I say pray for him? Marie kneels down, I still remember that holy moment. She prays, God of comfort bring comfort to this precious land. You want to know where passion comes from. It comes from pain, it comes from pain. Sometimes when I teach, the passion is so strong, it can come off like judgment or harshness and it's not that at all, it's pain. I've seen it, I've seen it. I hear stories every week, every week. The little girl who approaches me and says to me, a college student says to me, can you pray for me? I was raped last night in a laundromat. The man who approaches me and says, pastor, pray for me. I have to tell my children I'm gonna die of cancer, I don't know how to tell, pray for me. The mama who brings a little boy to me and says, will you pray for my son because his dad told him yesterday he doesn't love him. And I see this beautiful little boy's shoulders slump into tears rolled down his face. And I hold him in my arms and rock him. Pain, the burden of the word of the Lord. Where does it come from? It comes from seeing people hurt who could have been blessed but decided to reject. It's the voice of one crying in the wilderness because in the wilderness of sin, people don't sometimes listen very carefully. That's ministry. So if I see somebody on TV saying, oh, your destiny is determined by the thoughts of your heart. Or when I hear somebody saying something that is not scripturally sound. And I come and share it with you. Some say, why do you get upset? It's because it destroys people's walks with God because they're dishonoring the Lord and despising his name. It's not that I'm perfect, forgive me if it ever sounds that I think I am, I know I'm not. But I do have a passion for truth, for truth. Because it is the truth that set you free. It's the truth that set you free. You need that, you do. And so that's a glimpse inside the cup of a minister's heart. Those are the things that go into the minister's ministry. And Malachi had a heart and a heart for God. He wanted the children of Israel to worship God because that's God's command and God's desire. And yet they're not. And he says, I am gonna curse your blessings because what you have right now, you're taken for granted. It cannot go on. But God help us not to take his grace for granted.