Please turn in your copies of the scriptures to the book of Malachi chapter 2. We're going to pick up this address that the prophet began against the priests in the time of Malachi. We saw that he began speaking against the priests in chapter 1. Now we're going to pick it up in chapter 2 and look at verses 1 through 9 this evening. So hear now the word of Almighty God. Malachi 2, verses 1-9. And now this commandment is for you, O priests, if you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, and indeed I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts, and you will be taken away with it. Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may continue with Levi, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence. So he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should see construction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But as for you, you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by the instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping my ways, but are showing partiality in the instruction. As for the reading of God's holy and errant word, please be seated. Let's pray. Father, we pray for your illumination this evening, that you would make the scriptures clear through the ministry of the word, through the preaching and proclamation of the word, that you would work in the hearts of your people, that they would lay the message to heart. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The year 1845. was a year where several remarkable works of literature were published. It was the year that Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, The Raven, was published. It was also the year that Frederick Douglass published his autobiographical work, A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. But it was also the year that a much lesser known publication came into the public attention. It was the year of Lansford Hastings' publication of The Immigrant's Guide to Oregon and California. And I'm guessing that most of you have never heard of this publication. As I mentioned, it's a little-known publication in the history of the world. But in this work that Hastings put to public through the printing press, he purported to have found a shorter route to Oregon and California than the Oregon Trail. That he had found a shortcut, if you will. The only problem was is that prior to publishing his work, he had not tested the route himself. That here was a man who was saying that he had found a shortcut, but it was one that he had not even bothered to take prior to giving instructions to others. And it's an example of someone who should be one who is trusted in giving instruction, but who actually turns others aside. And unfortunately, he did turn others aside. There was a party of immigrants who were making their way on the Oregon Trail. They knew about this supposed shortcut. It was called Hastings Cutoff. The party was the Donna Reed Party. Perhaps you have heard of them, the Donner Party, before. They took this shortcut and they encountered many obstacles, many hardships. They eventually found themselves stuck in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Snowstorm with snow to depths of 15, 20 feet high. I have been to the place where they got stuck. I've seen the pillar. I've seen how high the snow was. It was an exceedingly high and difficult storm that they got stuck in. And out of 87 members in the party, only 48 survived. Many of them succumbed to hunger, starvation. They resulted to cannibalism. Some of them died of disease. Some of them died from extreme cold. And so again, this is an example of the disastrous impact that can come from poor instruction. Poor instruction to a pilgrim who is on the way. The disastrous impact that comes from turning aside from the way. And the disastrous impact that comes from one who ought to be giving sound instruction, but was causing many to stumble. Well, our passage tonight doesn't concern us with wagon trails and routes to California. The passage tonight is one that is about the ministers of the word in the time of Malachi. These ministers who were entrusted by God to give instructions to pilgrims, who ought to have been guides to pilgrims, but who had themselves turned aside from the way. and who had caused many to stumble, and that these priests ought to have known better. These priests who had been entrusted by God ought to have known better. We saw last time the beginning of God's rebuke towards these priests. that they were accepting profane worship, they were allowing the people to offer blemished animals, to bring that unto God, which was unacceptable by God, which God had clearly set forth in his word, should not have been offered. And yet these priests, rather than turning the people back onto the way, allowed the people to go off the path and allowed the people to go in a disastrous path into profane worship and failed to turn them back onto the way that God had ordained, that these priests ought to have been ministers of the word, that they had been entrusted by God to be ministers of the word. We began speaking about this in Sunday school class for those of you who are in the Sunday school class today, that the priests in ancient Israel weren't simply those who officiated at the altar. that offering sacrifices and incense and slaughtering animals and all the things that were involved in the temple sacrifices and the temple rituals was not the primary or at least the only task of the priest. But that God had called his priests to be his ministers, to instruct his people, to tell them about his word and to guide them in the way of his word. We read in the book of Leviticus chapter 10, speaking to the sons of Aaron, it says that they should make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean. Listen, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 10. They shall teach your ordinances to Jacob and your law to Israel. They shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. So you see this dual calling of the priest. On the one hand, to offer incense and to put whole burnt offerings on the altar, but on the other side, to teach the ordinances to Jacob, to teach the law to Israel. This is one of the reasons why God did not give the Levites an inheritance in the land. It's interesting as you look what God did in ancient Israel, that he gave all of the tribes an inheritance, but the Levites had no inheritance because the Lord God was their inheritance. But what he did was he scattered them, if you were, or dispersed them throughout the tribes of Israel in the Levitical cities. so that the people of God might have messengers of God, might have teachers and instructors in the Word of God in their cities, so that they might know and hear about the Law of God, not just on the annual pilgrimage feast when they went up three times a year, but they might hear week in and week out from God's priests. But yet, these ministers of the word of God in the time of Malachi had failed miserably in this task. That they had failed to give honor to God. They themselves had turned aside from the way. They were not instructing the people in the path that they should go. And indeed, they were causing many to stumble by their instruction. And so God came with a rebuke. He came to rebuke these priests, to turn them back and to warn them. And it's interesting as we look at this, that God is giving this rebuke and He's giving this warning, but it's for our instruction. It's for us to learn from them. And perhaps this has happened in your life. Whether you are in a household where there are multiple siblings, and you hear your parents scold one of your brothers or sisters, and you learn from that, and you say, ah, that's what I should not do. Or perhaps at work, or in your vocation, you hear someone be corrected, and you say to yourself, that is what I should not do. And that is what the Lord is doing here. He is correcting these priests. He is correcting these ministers of the Word so that we might learn what proper ministry of the Word is. And that's what I want us to consider as we look at this. That God teaches us about the faithful ministry of the Word by providing a negative example of those who failed in it. That God teaches us about the faithful ministry of the Word by providing a negative example of those who failed in it. I would like us to look at this under four headings. First, we'll look at God purges the ministry of the word. Then we'll see that God preserves the ministry of the word, that God patterns the ministry of the word, and that God prosecutes the ministry of the word. So purging, preservation, patterning, and prosecution is what we will consider this evening. I do recognize that not all of us here are are ministers of the Word. Not all of us are called to preach and proclaim the Word. But this passage is still for you. Because this passage not only teaches ministers, but it teaches hearers of what Gospel ministry ought to look like. And all of us are called to benefit from the ministry of the Word, that God has given us this ministry in the Church so that we might be built up. So give heed, even if you are not a minister, to the rebuke to the priests, so that you too might learn what proper gospel ministry might look like. And even for, specifically for this congregation, because in the very near future, you will be calling a man to fill this pulpit, and you need to know God's pattern. You need to know what God says proper gospel ministry looks like. So let's turn now and see how God teaches us about the ministry of the Word by correcting these priests in the time of Malachi. The first point is that God purges the ministry of the Word. We'll look at this in verses 1 through 3. God starts out with a warning to the priests. He says, and now this commandment is for you, O priest, if you do not listen and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts. So God brings this warning to the ministers. He tells them that you need to listen. And you need to lay it to your heart that in Chapter 1, God was revealing the error of these priests by offering profane worship. And God wasn't saying it just to speak, just to hear Himself speak. He was giving this correction so that they might listen, and not just hear the words, but that they might obey. No doubt we have all heard our parents or somebody tell us that, that you might be hearing what I'm saying, but you're not listening. That true listening involves action and obedience. And so God comes to the priest and he says, if you will not listen, And if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name. Recall we looked at that last time, that the root of their profane worship is that these priests were not giving God the proper honor and due and glory to his great and awesome and holy name. That they had not taken it to heart. And it is so important that ministers of the Word take it to heart, that far before they ever bring a message to the congregation, that they have been confronted with the holiness of God and have been confronted with the message of God. That God told Moses that those who come near me, by those who come near me, I will be treated as holy. And before all the people, I will be honored. that it was God's calling for ministers of the word to treat him as holy and to bring honor to him and to take it to heart. It's why God, I look at some of the callings of times that God calls these prophets and he gives them this magnificent, glorious vision of himself. And you have to ask why, why before Ezekiel went out with the message of God, did he see that vision of the heavens and that glory of God? It's because before going and preaching to others, he must first have it in his own heart. That, woe to me if I ever come and preach to you, if I have not first preached to myself. That is what Paul tells the Romans in chapter two, having taught others, have you not taught yourself? Remember the example of Ezra, that he set his heart to study the law of the Lord and practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel, that first we must study, then we must practice, then we teach. That these priests needed to take it to heart to give honor to the name of the Lord. And he told them that if they would not listen, if they would not take it to heart, he says, then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. He says, and indeed I have cursed them already. There is some discussion about what these blessings are. Are they the, is it the Aaronic blessing? The verbal blessing that the priest would give to the people? Just as God took Balaam's curse and turned it into a blessing, is he now reversing that? Where the Aaronic blessing, that it was meant to be a blessing upon the people of God, he is now turning it into a curse. There are some who say that that is what God is speaking of here. I think the, more sober and straightforward understanding of this is that he's talking about all the blessings that he has given to the people, that very often we see in Scripture that material blessing and material prosperity come from God and they are referred to as blessings. And if you recall, this is exactly what the priests were seeking after. They were worried because the people were not bringing the tithes, and so they began to compromise on the standard of God, and they began to accept those sacrifices which were blemished and were unacceptable to God, because they wanted to fill their own bellies, being worried that if they instructed the people on what God had commanded, that the people might not bring their offerings any longer. And it's ironic, isn't it? It's what happens so often in our lives. We sin against God, and He withholds His blessings, and then we begin to compromise to try to get those blessings, and it just leads to further removal of blessings. And we end up in this vicious cycle where if we would just stand upon the Word of God, and we would see that He would bring His blessings upon us. So God warns these priests that he is going to curse their blessings. He warns them that he is going to rebuke their offspring, that he would rebuke their descendants. It literally means seed. And that he gives this very graphic and vivid warning to them that he would spread refuse on their faces. This is referring to the excrement that is in the bowels of the sacrificial animals that was removed prior to sacrifice and would be burned outside of the camp, that God is saying, I am going to smear dung on your faces. It's shocking. I can remember reading of a man on the New York Subway, I think it was a couple years ago, took dung and smeared it in a woman's face. And we recognize how that is not normal behavior. And that it's so shocking that it would make national news. But yet here God himself says, this is what I am going to do to you, oh priests, if you will not listen to my word. And he tells them that they will be taken away with it. That the refuse, the internal parts of the animal that weren't to be sacrificed on the altar were taken outside of the camp and burned outside the camp. And the person who burned them was unclean until evening. He is saying, if you do not heed, if you do not listen, I am going to purge you from this ministry. I am going to remove you from this ministry. And you know, we have seen this time and time again. How many scandals just happened last year. How many times do we read Christian Post or even read in national news about another pastor has fallen, another pastor has committed adultery, another pastor has embezzled funds, another pastor has been caught with lewd images of children, another pastor has done this or that, and we mourn over this, rightly so, we grieve. One, because a brother in the faith has fallen into sin, but also because the name of God has been blasphemed. And you know, the ones that make the national news are typically the megachurches. It doesn't even account for all the local scandals that happen and all of the people who are affected by this. And it's right for us to mourn. But what we often overlook is that God is exposing sin in the ranks, that God is the one who is purging the gospel ministry, that God will not stand for it. Sometimes we hear of churches sweeping scandals under the rug and trying to hide the sin of their churches, but that's not how God works. God will expose it because God is far more zealous for this ministry of the word than we can ever imagine to be. I mean, I recognize the intense pain that can happen when a pastor falls into sin, and that there are even people in this congregation who have been severely affected by sins of clergy people, of clergymen. And that there are at times even people who say, I'm fed up with it entirely. I'm done with Christianity. That it's full of hypocrites. I mean, just next time that one of these scandals happen, if you do take the time to read the article, just keep reading to the bottom and look at just the venom that is in the remarks column that people will begin to speak against pastors who have fallen into sin. And if that's where you are, if someone has come to the point where they say, I'm done with it entirely because of the hypocrisy of it all, hear this passage. That the call is not to be done with the ministry of the word entirely. To know that God is working. That God is far more offended at the hypocrisy of ministers than we can ever imagine to be. That he is removing them. He is purging them. That every time you see a scandal, remember that God is exposing the sin of one who was supposed to bear his name and refused to listen and refused to take it to heart. Who had received warnings and refused to honor his name. Okay, that's the first point, that God purges the ministry of the Word. The second we see is that God preserves the ministry of the Word. That far from being done with the enterprise altogether, that the whole point of what God is doing is in removing these priests, in warning these priests. Look at verse 4. It says, Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, listen, that my covenant may continue with Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Do you see that this is a preservation action on the part of God, that he is purging the ranks in order that he might preserve it, that he wants the covenant with Levi to continue? We don't have a direct point in the scriptures where we learn that this covenant was cut with Levi or we see exactly what it is, we have to kind of put it together. It's mentioned in various parts of scripture. It's mentioned here in Malachi. It's mentioned in Nehemiah. It's mentioned in Jeremiah. It appears to be a covenant with God for the Levites to be his ministers of sacrament and the word. Listen to Jeremiah 33. It says, Thus says the Lord, if you can break my covenant for the day and my covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed times, then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant, so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne and with the Levitical priests my ministers. And then he goes on again to speak about the Levites, his ministers, that he had made a covenant with the tribe of Levi that they would be the ones to officiate at the altar at least until the time that the law would be changed and that the priesthood would shift to the order of Melchizedek under our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we've been learning about in the book of Hebrews. And it could possibly be that that this covenant is actually the covenant that God made with Phinehas or Phinehas, however you pronounce his name. Numbers 25, remember Phinehas or Phinehas when the Israelite brought in the Moabite woman at the sin of Baal of Peor and he took his spear and he drove it through them and killed them both. that God said, Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned away my wrath from the sons of Israel, and that he was jealous with my jealousy. I love that. He was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, behold, I give him my covenant of peace, and it shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel. that God had made a covenant with the Levites, made a covenant with the descendants of Phinehas, that they might have the ministry, the ministry of the word, the ministry of the altar, the ministry of word and sacrament, and that he says that it was a covenant, verse 5, of life and peace, that through the sacrifices that they offered, through the word that they preached, that the ancient church was built up, that the ancient church received life as the sacrifices pointed to Christ, that they received peace as the blessing was placed upon them by the priests. And we need to remember that God cares for his church. God is zealous for his church. He is preserving his church and he is preserving the preaching and the ministry of the word to keep it pure. This is part of what Jesus says when he said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Okay, so we've seen that God purges the ministry of the word. God preserves the ministry of the word. We also see that God patterns the ministry of the word. In verses 5b through 7, we see this pattern of what the ministry of the word should look like. Look at the end of verse 5. It says that he gave them to Levi as an object of reverence. He says, so he revered me and stood in awe of my name. that this should be true of every minister who ever dares to proclaim the word of God, that they would first stand in awe of God and his holy majesty. He also says a true instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips, that a minister, a true minister of the word is one who teaches the truth, that they speak the truth, They do not proclaim their own word, the word where it says that, in verse 7, that the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, that they are to guard a body of knowledge that is already in existence. And then it goes on to say that the minister is a messenger of the Lord. That what our calling, or the calling of a minister when he brings the Word of God is to proclaim God's Word. It's declarative. And a minister also ought to be one who walks with him. As it says in verse six, he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. That it is imperative for the ministers of the word to walk with God, just as Enoch walked with God, just as Noah walked with God. That famous statement by Robert Murray McShane, that my people's greatest need is my personal holiness. That more than anything else, what the congregation needs is a minister who walks closely with the Lord and who will study the law of the Lord and give the law of the Lord to the people. And it says that he will be one who turns back many from iniquity. This involves confrontation of sin, not only in the proclamation of the word, but in the life of one-on-one ministry. It's a difficult thing to do, but it was something that our Lord Jesus did. He said, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil, that Jesus was the perfect minister of the word. But you know, that's on the part of the minister. There's also a part for the hearers. Look, in verse 7 it says, So the question is, are you doing that? Are you seeking the instruction of the Lord from the mouth of his minister? Are you listening to sermons? Are you paying attention while the word of God is being proclaimed to you? Remember what Jesus said. He said, take heed how you listen. Take heed how you hear. Are you seeking the counsel of the Lord from his word? Or are you seeking the counsel of the world and of the culture? Are you listening? when the word rebukes you of your sin and turns you back to the way? Or do you get offended when the word confronts you in your sin? Okay, that's the third point. God purges the ministry of the Word, God preserves the ministry of the Word, God patterns the ministry of the Word, shows us what it's to look like, and finally we see that God prosecutes the ministry of the Word in 8 and 9, that He charges His ministers with sin, that He had said that this is the standard, this is what it's supposed to look like, this is what you were supposed to do, and it's amazing that they failed in almost every point. He says, but as for you, verse 8, you have turned aside from the way, rather than walking with God, having communion with God, remaining in the way with God that these ministers have turned aside from the way. And he goes on to say that you have caused many to stumble by the instruction, by the very thing that was supposed to build up the people. They were causing the people to stumble. That rather than turning sinners back to God, they were causing people to stumble and turning them away from God. They were just like that man who gave the instructions to the pilgrims to go off of the way, and it ended in disaster. He tells them that they have not kept the covenant, but have corrupted it, and they have not taught true instruction, but have showed partiality. They were preaching one message in favorable times, another message in unfavorable times, speaking to the rich in one way, speaking to the poor in another way. whole and having integrity in their delivery of the Word of God. And so God comes and he tells them that he is going to punish them. In verse 9, So I have made you despised in a base before all the people. And here we see the justice of God in it. Because that same word, despised, is the same word that we saw in chapter 1, verse 6. It's where he says, if I am a master, where is my respect, says the Lord of hosts, O priest, who despise my name. But you say, how have we despised your name? And then in verse 7, it says, the table of the Lord is to be despised. And in verse 12, it says, the table of the Lord is defiled. And as for its fruit, its food is to be despised. So you see the poetic justice of God. He's saying, you despise me, I am going to make you despised. And that's how often we see God work. We see it in Romans chapter 1, where God says, you didn't want to retain me in your thinking, I will give you over to a debased and depraved mind. You wanted to corrupt the image of the immutable and immortal God into the image of corruptible beasts and four-footed animals and crawling things. then I will cause you to change the natural use of a woman, and lust after men, and change the natural use of a man and women to lust after women. That you want to corrupt my image, I'm going to corrupt your affections. And that is exactly what God says in the book of 1 Samuel. For those who honor me, I will honor. And those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. Remember that verse. If you've ever seen Chariots of Fire, it should be memorable to you. That's the verse that the man handed to Eric Little when he was about to run, that the good book says, I will honor those who honor me. But it also says, those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. So we see the sobering warning of God to these priests that he will not stand for the ministry of the word to be corrupted, that he will remove those who refuse to give him the honor that is due his name, that it is for the welfare of the church, the preservation of this ministry, and that he also teaches us through it, giving us instruction of what a true minister is to look like. And as we think about how to apply this, I'd like to direct your gaze once again to our Lord and Savior, the perfect priest. Because you know, any time we see these failures in scripture, failures of a king, failures of a leader, failures of a priest, it's to direct our attention once again to Christ, to cause us to long for the perfect priest. That is part of the message of the book of Hebrews, that the Levitical priests were imperfect, and that perfection would never come through them. They could never give us what we longed for. But we do find it in Christ, that he is the one who taught true instruction. Indeed, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is himself the truth. He is the one who has the words of eternal life. As Peter told him, that we have come to believe that you are the Christ, you have the words of eternal life. That Jesus, Peter tells us, committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. That even his enemies had to acknowledge that when Jesus taught, he taught the Word of God correctly, and that there was no partiality in him, but that he taught the way of God and truth. That's Luke chapter 20, verse 21. His own enemies had to admit that Jesus was a true and right teacher of the law of God, that he was a true and right instructor in the ministry of the Word. that Jesus walked with God. Jesus kept the covenant of God. He gives us that covenant, that true covenant that brings life and peace, eternal life, the shalom of God, peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. That Jesus Christ is the one who gives us life and peace and the blessing and that he is the one who turns many back from iniquity. He is the one who says that he came to seek and save the lost. To call sinners to repentance, just think of the millions upon millions of sinners that Jesus has turned back to the way of God. It's remarkable to think of Jesus and his faithfulness in this ministry that God had appointed him to. That Jesus will not cause us to turn aside from the way, that he is the way. That he will not cause you to stumble, though many stumble at him. And so the question that we must ask ourselves is, are you seeking instruction from his mouth? Are you following the way that he has ordained for you? Are you placing your trust in him? Listen, if men ought to have sought instruction from the priests of the Old Testament, these imperfect, mortal men, how much more should we seek the instruction of Jesus Christ, the perfect priest, who has been appointed by God as our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, who has risen to the right hand of God, who always lives and intercedes for us. So hear now the word of God, let's pray. Father, we do seek the instruction that comes from the mouth of your son, We're thankful that you have given us the ministry of the word. We're thankful that you are zealous for your word and for this ministry, and that you will not stand to have your name be blasphemed, to have your name be held in light esteem, but that you do purge and remove those ministers who ought to be removed from the ministry. so that the ministry and the blessing might continue to your people, and we give you thanks for that. We pray that you would raise up many godly ministers who would follow the pattern that you have set forth in scripture, those who would honor and revere your name, those who would walk with you, who would have true instruction upon their lips, and who would turn many sinners away from iniquity. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.