Before I begin this morning, I want to say something to you that I haven't said in a long time, and that is a great mistake on my part. I want to tell you what a privilege and delight it is to be your pastor, to be one of your pastors. We love you. I love you. We don't do a great job, but we love you. And it's our joy. It's our honor to be your pastors. Again, I apologize for not saying that more. That's my heart. Would you please open your Bibles now to the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, Chapter 1. Revelation, Chapter 1. Now, today I'm going to ask you to turn to a lot of text. And we're going to be all over the Bible. And I know that can be a bother, but It's really important, okay? Revelation chapter one, verse five, verses five and six. Grace and peace from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And now the verse of emphasis. And has made us kings and priests to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Now Revelation chapter five. Chapter 5, a scene of the worship that is taking place in heaven even now. Verse 9, Revelation 5, 9, and they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And again, the verse of Emphasis. And have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. Now Revelation 20. Revelation chapter 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. but they shall be priest of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Now I want you to turn back a few pages in the New Testament to 1 Peter, 1 Peter, chapter two. Just a few pages back. 1 Peter 2, verse 4. And this describes what we are doing. We've had a picture of what is happening in heaven. This is a description of what we are doing. Verse 4, coming to Christ as to a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are a spiritual priesthood and we are being built up as a priesthood to offer sacrifices to God. Verse nine, 1 Peter 2, nine, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, kings and priests, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. his own special people, to the end that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." These are exciting words. And what do these words teach us relative to the impact of the work of Christ in our behalf? How has the work of Christ impacted those who believe in him? Well, these texts teach us that Christ has exalted us to be priests. He has exalted us to become a company of priests in God's house. And that will be true of us for all eternity. The texts we've read teach more than that, but that's what I want you to fix your minds upon. They teach us that Christ has made us kings. That's an exciting thought, but He has made us priests. We are a kingdom of priests. By the grace of God, to the glory of Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have been made a priest. Now this is our connection. to the passage we have been studying in Malachi. So now go from the end of the New Testament to the last verse of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 2. You'll recall that in the book of Malachi, God is expressing six controversies that he has with the nation of Israel. And the second of the six is particularly a controversy with the priest, the bad behavior and the failure of the priest in Israel. I suppose we're tempted to think that texts like Malachi really have nothing to do with us, and particularly a text having to do with Old Testament priests. How could that relate to us in the new covenant church? We no longer have a priesthood in the sense of a special class of men called by God to offer sacrifices in our behalf and to pray in our stead. We no longer have that, so how could this pertain to us? Well, as we have shown from New Testament text, we are priests. Christ has made us as individual believers to be priests unto God. When you were growing up, did you ever aspire to be a priest? Did you ever think you would be a priest? Well in Christ you are a priest. And therefore the warnings and the rebukes given to the old covenant priest do contain certain lessons for us as new covenant priest. Now with that in mind, let's read the first nine verses of Malachi chapter two. Malachi 2, 1. And now, O priest, 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 feast, and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you. so 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 life and peace 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. We will endeavor to explain the contents of these verses under three headings, God willing two now and one next week. Heading number one, point number one, the origin of the Levitical priesthood. You say, oh boy, this is gonna be thrilling. The origin of the Levitical priesthood, how exciting. Well, hang in there. By this late date in Israel's history, remember Malachi wrote in the fifth century BC, about the year 450 BC, By this time in Israel's history, the Arianic and Levitical priesthood seemed to have merged, at least to have been regarded as one in the prophetic writings. So while Malachi only speaks explicitly of Levi and his descendants, the Levites, Malachi may have had Aaron and the Arianic priesthood in mind as well. I think that to have been the case. I think he was addressing all the priests in Israel. Now you will notice in verse four that Malachi writes about a covenant with Levi. God wanted to preserve his covenant with Levi. In verse five he says, my covenant was with him, one of life and peace. And then in verse 8, he accuses the priest, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. What covenant was this? Do you remember a covenant made with Levi? Well, there was a covenant and it was the origin of the Levitical priesthood. Now I want you to turn to the beginning of the Old Testament now, second book in the Bible, Exodus chapter 32. Exodus 32, God has miraculously delivered Israel from bondage and persecution in Egypt. And they are moving across the wilderness toward this wonderful land that God has promised for them. And God is taking care of them, God is feeding them. They come to Mount Sinai and God calls Moses up to the top of the mountain so he can give him his word. And God keeps Moses a very long time. And the people become impatient and a little bit afraid because Moses represented God to them. Moses was gone. So they call upon Aaron, the assistant to Moses, to make them a god. And Aaron was weak. Maybe he was afraid. So he takes all their gold and he makes a golden calf. Now you have to remember that the Egyptians worshiped an idol in the shape or form of a calf or calves. And so they were emulating the idolatry of the Egyptians. and they took this calf and they worshiped it and they danced around it and they committed all kinds of unspeakable acts around this golden calf. Moses comes down off a mountain into this horrific scene. Look at verse 25, Exodus 32. Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had not restrained them to their shame among their enemies, Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said, whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. Now try to envision, well, not too graphically, but here you've got these hundreds of thousands of people partying in a very lascivious manner. And Moses comes and he is angry. And he says, is anybody on God's side? If so, come to me. And we read that all of the sons of Levi, all the male members of the tribe of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let every man put his sword on his side and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, every man his neighbor. So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. and about 3,000 men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, and here's an intimation of the covenant, consecrate yourselves today to the Lord that he may bestow on you a blessing this day. For every man has opposed his son and his brother. There's another text in Deuteronomy 33. It records another event in which the sons of Levi distinguished themselves. And so it was that the Levites were set apart. And what set them apart? What distinguished them? It was their zeal for the glory of Jehovah. And it wasn't a pretended zeal. It was a zeal that exceeded their love of family. It was a zeal that exceeded their love of their friends and their love for their neighbors. It was a love for God that was greater than every other love. It was a zeal that caused them to do hard things and obedience to God, hard things. If you're gonna follow Jesus Christ, it's predictable at some point you're gonna have to do hard things. Now, I can say pretty safely, you're not gonna have to kill anybody, okay? But you will be called upon to take God's side against people that you love more than you love yourself. Will you do that? If you're called to choose between family and Christ, friends and Christ, job and Christ, who will you choose? Sons of Levi took God's side and they did hard things. Listen to the prophecy given by Moses with regard to the work of Levi and recorded in Deuteronomy 33.10. You don't need to turn there, but he said, the Levites shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar. That will be their work. Now turn back to Malachi chapter two and look at verses six and seven. The law of truth was in Levi's 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. The priests were not just prayers and the agents of sacrifice. They were the messengers of God. The priests were entrusted with God's truth. And using that truth, they directed the people of God into the worship of God. They gave them directions, instruction, encouragement to worship God correctly. And that's what we're to do, beloved. We're a household of priests and what is our great business? To show forth the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Our supreme work as church, as a royal priesthood, is the worship of God. And we're to help each other worship God faithfully. And how do we do that? By truth. We're to build each other up in the most holy faith. We're to encourage love and good works among ourselves by speaking truth to ourselves. We are to warn one another, lest any of us should become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. This is a work entrusted to priests. It's a work entrusted to us to use our words to aid each other in growing in holiness, in the pursuit of Christ, and in the worship of God. You take that seriously? Do you take that seriously? You do this primarily by your words, but not exclusively by your words. You do it also by your example. You set an example of zeal for the glory of God. When you worship, people should look at you and say, that guy's all in. He is all in. And that's why, though, I have not broken out of my own confinements, but that's why I personally like it when people lift their hands and worship. One of these days, I'm gonna flabbergast all of you, and I'm gonna do it. I love seeing that because That tells me that that person is all in. At least, I think he is. When it's done at the right point in the song, at the crescendo of praise, and people lift their hands, I look and I say, he's in it, she's in it. They're not just mouthing words, their hearts are in it. Beloved, we cannot be faithful priests if we misuse our tongues. There was a time that we used to require everybody to be deathly silent before worship. And the idea behind that was good, but it wasn't necessarily exegetical. I think it is proper for people to talk to each other before worship, as long as you're talking about worship. What are you talking about? Now, if you're talking to each other about the women's soccer game that's going on in France right now, you are not helping your brethren worship God, are you? If you're talking about the great fireworks show you saw on Thursday evening, you're not helping them worship God. You should talk to your brethren about the mighty works of God. When was the last time you said to anyone as you entered the house of God or as you stood in your seat, isn't our God wonderful? Let me tell you what he did for me this week. I was reading in the Psalms this week and I came across this. I'm not sure I've ever seen this before. Have you seen, let me share it with you. Have you ever done that? Has there ever been a time that in private conversation, outside coming in here, you tried deliberately to stir your brethren to worship God thoughtfully, energetically. See, that's what we're about. But in order to do that, we just can't say whatever pops into our minds. We have to regulate our thoughts by the Bible, by the Bible. Speak truth to each other. Stir each other up in love and zeal for the glory of God. I've told you often that's why after I've studied and prayed, when I'm in my office just before worship, I'm listening to music. I'm listening to songs that stir my affections for God. My wife, she always comes in and she brings this apparatus. And she brought it in and gave it to me and gave me a little kiss and said, I'm praying for you. And then as she walked out, she said, boy, the music's loud. And I said, I need it loud. And it was, it was allowed, but it stirred me. It reminded me of what I'm here to do and of the God that I've come to represent and to worship. Perhaps when Malachi wrote about God's covenant with the priesthood, Perhaps he also had in mind God's covenant promise given to Aaron through a man named Phinehas. Turn to Numbers, we're back to the beginning of the old covenant. See, I said we're gonna cover, we're gonna cover beginning to end. So go to the book of Numbers, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, chapter 25. This is a very sad episode in Israel's history. They had become unlawfully entangled with Moabites. Men in Israel were committing adultery and fornication with Moabite women and they were worshiping the gods of the Moabites and God was angry and he had sent a plague upon Israel. People were getting sick, people were dying. People were dying and the congregation was alarmed and they were standing around as Moses explained what was happening and some of them were weeping. And what happened? Right in the middle of this outpouring of emotion, an Israelite man brings a Moabite or a Midianite woman into his tent to fornicate right in front of everyone. Look at verse six, numbers 25. And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented Imagine the audacity presented to his brethren, a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now when Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man and the woman, through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And listen, those who died in the plague were 24,000. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned back my wrath from the children of Israel because he was zealous with my zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my zeal. Therefore say, say, Moses say this, behold I give to him my covenant of peace and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting priesthood because, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel. The old covenant priesthood was marked by a profound zeal for God's name, a profound burning zeal for the worship of God. Can you think of anyone else who showed that kind of zeal for the worship of God? How about Christ? Two times at the beginning of his public ministry and at the end of his public ministry, Christ, Christ, the Savior, the loving Savior of men, Christ made whips and drove merchants out of the temple grounds. My Father's house is to be a house of prayer and you have turned it into a marketplace and a den of thieves. And the disciples remember that it is written, zeal for your house has eaten me up. Priests were entrusted with God's honor, particularly manifested in public worship. And that is now our peculiar responsibility as a new covenant priesthood. We tend to think of our priesthood almost exclusively in terms of praying. private prayers, approaching God without having to go through a man. And that's a wonderful privilege of our priesthood. We can go boldly into the throne room of God in Jesus' name. But beloved, that's not the totality of our privilege or responsibility as priests. We have peculiar responsibilities relative to the worship of God. To worship him in truth, to worship him with all our hearts, and to help each other do that. to help each other bring to God the best of our mental energies, the best of our intentions and motives, the best of our emotions. Not the leftovers, the best. Let's imagine that you're having a birthday party. It's one of those birthdays ending in zero. You're turning 20, 30, 40. We won't go beyond that, but it's a big birthday. A hundred people have been invited. You're all excited. 20 come. 80 choose not to come. But you're glad for the 20. So you greet them and you begin to move through the 20. And as you talk to them, you become very aware that their minds are somewhere else. They're not particularly excited about you or about your birthday. And that's a little disappointing. But at least they're there. So the time comes to open your packages. First package is a gift certificate, $150 gift certificate to the Angus Barn. You open that and you say, wow, that's a wonderful gift. And then you realize it expired two years ago. Somebody else has given you a shirt and you look at the shirt and it's a nice shirt. but it's obviously been worn and it's two sizes too small. You open another box, it's a pair of shoes, Nikes. And you look at the shoes, a pair of Jordans, pretty expensive. You see some scuff marks and you turn them over and they have holes on the bottom. They've obviously been worn out. It's a wonderful birthday. Well, it's time for the cake. It's a big cake. You take the cake and you begin to cut into it and you realize it has mold on it. Would that be a happy birthday party for you? Huh? Beloved, do we bring God that kind of worship? Minds that are somewhere else, or we don't even bother to come. Now let me say we're very happy that we have live streaming. Because we have an increasing number of people who can't come. And you folk, we're glad you're with us this morning. But beloved, if you can come, it's important that you be seen in the worship of God. That you be there. People see you, observe you. And as I said earlier, it's important that you are all in in the worship of God. Your thoughts are not on next week, but they're on God and his glory and his goodness. and you're loving him as best you can, and you're agreeing with the songs you sing, and you're agreeing, you're entering in to the prayers, and you're trying to listen to the word of God as his word, not the word of men, but the word of God. And even though it might cut you a little bit and sting you, You're glad to be stung because it's your heavenly father who gave his son to cover and take away all your sins. You're not afraid to have your sins exposed because Jesus died for you. And you can confess your sins and be absolutely assured that they will be forgiven and you will be washed. My dear ones, this is what we're going to be doing for all eternity. Not just sitting in worship services. I believe we will be working, and I believe we will be traveling, and I believe we will be investigating the earth and the heavens, but we will do it all with worship. pouring out of our minds and our hearts. Well, I'm gonna stop there. That's only one point out of three, and there's another point that I wanted to deal with, but it'll take me too long. Have you come to worship? Did you remind yourself before you went to bed last night that the reason you needed to turn off Netflix earlier than you ordinarily would is so you could get your rest and be fit to enter with alertness, keenness of mind and affection into the special presence of God? Have you been glad for the songs we have sung? I have come to deeply appreciate contemporary worship songs because they help me elevate my emotions in the worship of God. Now, if they don't speak truth, they're of no use whatsoever. but if they express truth in a way that helps me to engage my emotions, they are a great blessing to me. And they are. I want God to be pleased. When we get through, we say the final amen. We walk out those doors. It's important to me that you have been edified Your minds have been stirred. But beloved, the most important thing is that Jesus has had pleasure. He has seen his blood-bought people making love to him, singing and praying his praises. listening to their conversations as they have borne witness with each other. How great is their God? That's why we're here. Now there are times it's perfectly appropriate to talk about soccer and fireworks and maybe politics, maybe. but beloved in God's house. The chief thing, the big thing, the primary thing, the thing that ought to consume us is the glory and praises of our God. And I personally think if that became true, If we were consumed with the glory and praise and honor of God, and that's how we talk to each other, and that's how we sang and prayed and preached and listened, if that were to happen, I think we would have revival. I think. Well, that's what it's about. May God help us. May God give us grace to ask for the grace to be whole soul, energetic, real, not pretend, and our love for God. Let's pray. Father, it really is an amazing thing that you have made the likes of us to be priests, that you have given to us the privileges and the honor of priesthood. And we know that that never would have happened, never could have happened. If Jesus had not loved us and died for us on the cross, if he had not been risen, if he had not poured out his spirit, that could never be true of us. But all of that has happened and it is true of us. Forgive us when we haven't thought of ourselves in terms of our calling and we haven't been focused upon you and your glory, and we haven't come into your house with ready hearts, overflowing with love and gladness. When our worship has not been enthusiastic, it's not been fragrant with holiness, and it's not been conspicuous with joy. Oh, Father, forgive us and teach us how to worship. to the praise and honor of Christ. Also, Father, teach us, teach us how to convince others to become worshipers of Jesus. That's what we want. We want people to be saved from sin and the wrath to come. But more than that, We want them to become worshipers of our blessed Savior. Teach us how to be fishers of men for the glory of Jesus. Now dismiss us with His peace. And may we deal faithfully with his word and with him. And may we go in the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Amen.