Honor My Name - Malachi 1:1-2:9

1:39Babylon. By whom? I don't know which one to use there, but they're taken by Babylon. Okay. And so after that, later on, they are able to return back to the land because of the providence of God. And we studied how spectacular and amazing that is that God orchestrated all these events and changed the hearts of kings to be able to send the people back and command them to rebuild the temple. And that's the setting that we have, is that the people have just started to come back to the land. That's the setting for the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Okay, now, when we were studying the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we separated it kind of into four chunks. I don't know if you remember this, but the first half of Ezra and then the second half of Ezra. The first half of Nehemiah and then the second half of Nehemiah. Does anybody remember what was the main issue in the first half of Ezra?

2:39They're rebuilding something. The temple, right? So that's what they address first. And Ezra isn't even there yet, even though this is in the book that bears his name. This is about 80 years before he gets there. But they've come back to the land and they need to build the temple. And they stop. Halfway through, and that's where Haggai and Zechariah come in that we just finished studying. They're the prophets who come and get the people to continue to build the temple, and then they finish the temple. Okay, second half of Ezra is when Ezra actually comes back. And what was the biggest issue in that chunk of the book?

3:20Intermarriage, right? Foreign wives. They were commanded, they'd been commanded not to marry the women of these other nations because those women worship other gods and bring idolatry into their homes, teach the children these idolatrous practices in the language of these other cultures, things like that. And so they were forbidden from marrying foreign wives. And so as a nation, they're convicted of this because of the ministry of Ezra, and they repent. And that's the biggest issue in the second half of Ezra. So you have building the temple, and then you have the foreign wives, the intermarriage. And then in Nehemiah, the first half, what's the biggest issue in Nehemiah?

4:06Rebuilding the walls, right? They had already built the temple, but the city was not safe because they hadn't built the walls, and the nations around them were their enemies. And then the second half of Nehemiah, what was the big issue? This is the hardest one. There is the marriage. Marriage pops up again. The second half is kind of a mixed bag in Nehemiah. What was the biggest? Do you remember? Right. Repopulating Jerusalem. That's how the second half of the book opens, is that they need to do this. After the walls are finished, they need to re-inhabit the city now that there's walls. So those were our four movements. Well, like I said, Haggai and Zechariah are the prophets that are in there with the first movement. Malachi is somewhere in there. in all four. We're not really sure. We don't really know a lot about Malachi. His name means my messenger. And different people consider different times. Probably the most popular one is that in the last half of Nehemiah, we learn that there's a period that he went back to Persia and then since he had a relationship with the king there, and then he comes back, and that's when he makes some more reforms. And some people think that Malachi was preaching as a prophet when Nehemiah was gone. And then Nehemiah comes back and puts into action some of the things that Malachi preaches against. I actually like the idea of Malachi being before Ezra even comes. So the people have come back, but they have issues. The temple is there, and they're sacrificing, but there's a lot of issues regarding their sacrifices and regarding the temple. And that's what Malachi is going to address. So look at Malachi 1, verse 1.

6:05The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. So in the end, it doesn't matter too much that we don't know exactly who Malachi is or if he's contemporary with Ezra or just before him, because what's clear in the first verse is that this is the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel, and it's just coming through Malachi. So the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Pray with me as we begin this new book. Father, I pray that you would help us study this.

6:48It can sometimes feel tedious for us to go over the history over and over and over again, but I just pray that you would lock it into our minds so that each time we approach these books, we know what's going on and we're able to understand them and we're able to grow from them and learn about your character and learn what you want from your people. I pray that you'd help us study this passage tonight in Malachi. I pray that any place that we see the sins of your people in this passage, I pray that we would do the opposite.

7:27I ask that you give us humble hearts as we seek to apply. This passage. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, in spring of 2017, I was about to graduate seminary, and Thomas, we knew we were coming to Emmanuel, and Thomas and Eric were going to the Shepherd's Conference, and they invited me. And so I went to the Shepherd's Conference with them. And right before, they have this TMAI conference, just a one-day thing that they tack on to the front of the Shepherd's Conference. And one of the speakers there has now become one of my favorite pastors to listen to, is named Conrad Mbewe. M-B-E-W-E.

8:12If you like to listen to podcasts or something, I recommend that one. He sounds really cool and he's solid. Yes? C. And then you spell them out his name again? M-B-E-W-E. I don't know if I'm saying it right, but I say Mbewe, yeah. But his sermon that time at this, or maybe it was a lecture, I don't remember, but what he was talking about was how in Africa, he's a pastor in Africa, and in Africa, the health and wealth gospel has spread all over the whole continent. And he was saying in his region, one thing that had become so popular in this health and wealth movement, and it's kind of Of, like, a name-it, claim-it movement of the prosperity gospel. And one of the things that had become so popular was using the name of Jesus almost like a charm or like a spell.

9:17And he says that he would run into people in his community that would carry around a card or something on it that just says, like the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus, that people would read like a spell or something. That they had, maybe they had a history in their culture of kind of cultic practices or other religions. And they kind of took this idea of Jesus and made that their new magic or their new spell. And they would say, the name of Jesus is so powerful. And he said it has become such a dangerous thing in Africa because it's true that the name of Jesus should be revered. And it's true that we should honor the name of Jesus, but they're doing it in a way that's really strange. They're using it almost like an incantation. And he was telling us all this because he said he thinks he sees this spreading to America too. And I don't know if you've run into this, but just the other day I was at Howdy's Pizza. And a guy came up to me, a stranger, had kind of the Of a salesman or like a pyramid scheme kind of guy. I don't know if that kind of personality. I don't know. But he came to me and we started talking about church. He thought I was one of the owners of Hallis. And we started talking about church and he goes to a church in town. I'm not going to mention the name, but you could tell that he was very money-driven. And he said the same thing to me. He said, you know, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the name of Jesus is so powerful. And I kind of tried to ask more of what he meant. And he went on to tell me about how he wants to get rich so he can retire by the time he's 30 and things like that. But it was just this idea of an incantation, the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus. Long introduction. But we know, as a church, we know that we should honor God's name and we should honor the Lord Jesus' name. God says that over and over in Scripture. And in fact, this morning in our study in Romans, we learned about how when we act as a hypocrite or when the Jews acted as hypocrites, it gave occasion for the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of the Lord instead of honoring the name of the Lord. And so we should be people that want to honor his name, that don't dishonor his name. Well, in our text in Malachi today, that's going to be a major. Your theme is he's saying, honor my name. The nations are going to fear my name. Honor my name. And so the question is, how? If we're not going to honor it by just repeating it over and over as a lucky charm or a magic spell or something, how do we honor the name of God? How do we honor the Lord's name? Well, we're going to see at least four ways, and maybe at the end, you could give me some more if you see some more in this text, but we're going to see at least four ways that we can honor the Lord's name. And unfortunately, we're going to see it because we have such a negative example of the Israelites doing the opposite after they come back to the land from the exile. So look at verse 2.

12:47This is the first thing God says. The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, verse 2, I have loved you, says the Lord. That's the opening line. I have loved you. He has put his favor on them and shown them love. The next line should be, thank you, or we are so grateful. Instead, he says, but you say, how have you loved us? And what does that tone immediately make you think of?

13:30Me too. That's what I thought of. Teenagers, right? Ungrateful, showing ingratitude, right? God says, God says, I have loved you. And they say, how have you loved us? God responds, is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob. But Esau I have hated. I have laid waste to his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. So he's going to engage with them. He says, I have loved you. He's loved his people, and they say, oh, how have he loved us?

14:16And he says, well, wasn't Esau Jacob's brother? And of course, what's Jacob's other name? Israel, right? And he's the father of this nation, Israel. And God is saying, look, Jacob had a brother, Esau. But I chose a nation that came from Israel and not Esau. So it's ridiculous for them to say, how have you loved us? It's clear, right? I chose you as a nation. I had another choice, but I chose you. Verse 3 again, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals. Of the desert. If Edom, remember that's another name for Esau, that means red, because he's got the red hair and he ate the red stew.

15:11If Edom says, we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins. The Lord of hosts says, they may build, but I will tear down. And they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. Okay, so what is he saying? He's saying, look, you are loved. And I don't think he's trying to give this picture of, you know, Esau just really got under his skin. And so he's always going to make sure that whoever came from Esau is just going to suffer, suffer, suffer. I don't think it's like that. I think what he's trying to emphasize is that this is the way of every nation, right? This is the way of his chosen nation. I have loved you. You could have been just like your brother nation, but you're not. And this nation, when they get torn down, they might say, we'll rebuild again. But God says, even if you do, you're always going to be cursed because of your sins. They're wicked. The Lord is angry with them. Verse 5, your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, Great is the Lord, beyond the border of Israel.

16:26That's the profession of the people when they see again that. even though the other nations are continually despised, God's nation is favored and loved. So our first way to honor God's name is, I think it would be easy for us to say, is gratitude, right? If the attitude of these people, when they hear, I have loved you, if the attitude is, how have you loved us? And he says, well, look what could have happened. And yet I chose you. I did these things for you. You're not like that other nation. You deserve to be just like that other nation. That's what every nation deserves. And yet I've had this mercy and grace on you, and I've loved you. So they should be grateful, but they're showing in gratitude. So the first way that we can honor God's name is showing the proper gratitude. Any other thoughts before we move on?

17:30Okay, let's move on. For the rest of our time this morning, we're going to try and make it all, I mean, this evening. We're going to try and make it all the way to chapter 2, verse 9. And for the whole rest of the time, he's primarily addressing the priests in the land. And he's going to ask them more questions and interact with them like he's just done. Look at verse 6. A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is the My honor, and if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. Okay, I'm going to read that again. Pay attention. A son honors his father, and a servant his master.

18:20If then I am a father, where's my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. Okay, so what are they doing wrong? They're not honoring him, right? They're not fearing him, and they're despising his name. So what's the opposite of that? What can be our next one? He's going to talk about this one for a while, but what should be our next way to honor God's name?

19:01Respect, right? Respect or reverence or fear of his name. So we should show gratitude and we should show respect. Just like a son shows his father respect, just like a servant shows his master respect. If the Lord truly is the father of his people, if he truly is the master of his people, why aren't they showing him any respect? Why are the priests despising his names? Despising his name. At the end of verse 6, but you say, How have we despised your name? You've got the teenager attitude coming out again. But how have we despised your name? Verse 7, by offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, how have we polluted you?

19:54Response, by saying that the Lord's table may be despised. When you offer, verse 8, when you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of the Lord, that he may be gracious to us, with such a gift from your hand. Will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. We'll stop there. So you see that they're not giving the Lord any respect. They're not honoring his name at all. And the way that this is showing up is they're giving the worst of their animals as their sacrifices. They're giving blind animals. They're supposed to give these spotless animals. They're supposed to give the best of the flock to the Lord and sacrifice. But they're offering what is lame and sick.

20:58God says, Just think about this for a minute. Offer that same sacrifice to your governor. What's he going to do? He's going to say, get that out of here. I don't want that. Right? You wouldn't do that. If you're trying to show respect to somebody like your governor, you're not going to give them the worst, right? If you have a house guest over to your house, you're not going to give them the burnt cookie, right? You're going to give those to the kids or something and give them the good cookie. You show respect by giving the good parts. Don't they know that God sees this too? Do they think they're tricking him or something like that by giving him the worst of their flock?

21:43And now, verse 9, I think he's implying, like, are you going to give this bad sacrifice and then entreat the favor of God? And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us with such a gift from your hand. Will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. So you get this idea that they're just pretending to give something so great to God and then ask for his favor in return. And God is saying, Look, I see it. You know, you're not tricking me. I see what's going on. You're just dishonoring my name. Verse 10.

22:26Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the door. So that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. So he says, if this is your attitude, and if this is your practice to give me the worst, the lame and the sick and the blind, instead of what you're supposed to give to the Lord, I wish somebody, I wish somebody in the community would just shut the doors to the temple and stop all these sacrifices. I'm not accepting them, anyways. How can you entreat the Lord's favor when this is your attitude? Why? Verse 11: For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. And in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

23:32So he challenges them by saying, you know, someday across the globe, from this side to this side, from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun. In our heads, that sounds more like a time thing, right? All day long, from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun. But usually in the Old Testament, that's a geographical thing, from way over here to way over here, from the rising to the setting. Everywhere in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering. So he's saying all across the globe, there's going to be a time where everybody is honoring my name. They're offering incense. They're having these offerings. And I think he's trying to communicate this idea of, look, you're my people, and you're not honoring my name. Think about the fact that someday, globally, everybody's going to honor my name in the nations.

24:32Shouldn't you do it now? Shouldn't you stop this dishonor now if you know that that's how things are going to end up? For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. My name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. Verse 12, but you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit, that is its food, may be despised. I think this is the second time he talks about the Lord's table. Usually, in our terminology, we talk about the Lord's table being when we celebrate the Lord's supper or something like that. But I think here he just means the table that the sacrifices were offered on. So now the people are saying that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit, that is its food, may be despised. And so since They're so casual about the food that gets offered on this table and they're willing for that to be despised, then they're saying that the Lord's table in the temple, it's okay if you despise that. Verse 13, but you say, What a weariness this is, and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. Got that teenager attitude again, right?

25:57This wicked attitude. You say, What a weariness this is. Can you imagine saying that to God? If God is speaking through his prophets, can you just say, I'm just tired of hearing this, God? It's not showing the Lord respect or reverence. But you say, What a weariness this is, and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering. Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord. So he brings up the lame and the sick, and he adds another one here, those that have been taken by violence. So, like, you know, let's say you had a flock of 100 sheep, and you know, you need to go sacrifice one, and it just so happens that before that night, a wolf comes and takes one of the sheep and mangles him, or something like that, or kills him. Well, how convenient. That can just be the one that you sacrifice. You see the attitude? This is they're despising. Just giving the worst. They're giving what doesn't hurt them, or the easiest thing to give. You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame, or sick, and this you bring as your offering. Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord? Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

27:33For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. The proper response, if we know who the Lord is, is to revere him and honor him. The opposite of that is what they're doing. They're dishonoring him. They're giving him the worst of the worst. You would never do that for your governor. How much more important is the Lord than your governor? Shouldn't you give him the best? Shouldn't you give him honor in your worship?

28:08They're also being cheats. They're lying. They have a male in their flock. That would be a great sacrifice, and they even vow it, but then sacrifice to the Lord what's blemished, the worst of the flock. And so they're not being honest. And that's another way that we can honor God's name is honesty. I think that they are trying to, you know, be deceitful in what they're offering. I think they're trying to be deceitful in their vows, excuse me, instead of being honest before the Lord and considering the fact that he sees everything they're doing. You know, it's awkward if, we'll go with the burnt cookies again, okay? It's awkward if you ate the three best cookies, and all you have are burnt cookies, and you think your guest doesn't know, but really, they saw you eat all the good ones, and that would be embarrassing, right? And I think you have this kind of idea of like God sees all this. I don't know if you're trying to be sneaky or what, but God saw you make the vow and he sees all the sheep in your flock, and he sees that you're being dishonest with this stuff, and you're showing him disrespect.

29:33Any questions before we move on to chapter 2? All right, let's keep going. Chapter 2, verse 1. And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will 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. Indeed, I have already cursed. Curse them because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So, what he's saying there is: look, if you are not going to pay attention to what's being sacrificed, if you're going to allow these unclean things to be sacrificed, then I'm going to make you unclean. All of the byproducts that aren't supposed to be up on the table where they're sacrificing, all of the gross stuff that they take out of the animal before they sacrifice it, that's the stuff that he's going to put on the priests so that whenever they have to take that stuff out to the garbage heap and dispose of it, they're going to be taken out too. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So, he's saying, if you're acting this way, then you yourself are going to be made unclean. That's going to be your curse. This relationship that God has with the Levites, that God is going to allow them to take the portions for their own food from the people, and they are supposed to keep the Lord's sacrifices and the Lord's temple holy.

31:19They are not keeping their end of the deal, right? They are not keeping these things holy. And so, God is saying, I'm going to cast you out. Verse 4. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

32:01We'll stop right there for just a minute. Is there anything that raises a red flag for you in that passage? Or makes you wonder or scratch your head? The covenant? Right. What's that covenant? That's one question. We'll spend a little time there. When does he make a covenant with Levi? Okay, what else? Anything else? Seems to be kind of a glowing account of Levi, right? I don't know if you remember the story of Levi, but there's not a lot of positive things to say about the man himself. And so I think what he's talking about here is the priesthood, the Levitical priesthood. They had, so Levi himself was a man of violence, if you remember the stories. And it wasn't until later that the tribe is kind of redeemed. And do you remember why? The tribe of Levi was redeemed and set in this position of favor?

33:08The golden calf incident, right? That the nation had descended into worshiping this golden calf while Moses was up on a mountain. And the Lord had a sentence to carry out on his own people. And I believe he asked for volunteers. Maybe that sounds right to you, but either way, the tribe of Levi stood up and offered to carry out this sentence. They didn't take partiality, it says in the text. They carried out the sentence against their own brothers that the Lord required. And so they were having to kill their own family members, right? People of their own land, because God was punishing the people for what happened with the golden calf. And the Levites stepped in and obediently took the hard job of carrying out that sentence. And so then they were given this position of favor.

34:02And they become the tribe that the priests are going to come from, the tribe that Aaron is from. And so I think what he's saying here is he's talking about the tribe itself. My covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts, verse 5. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. Walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. I think he's talking about that early priesthood that was righteous in total contrast to the priesthood that is right now in Malachi's day.

34:44He's saying they used to do what they were supposed to do, they used to keep the temple holy and teach the people, instruct the people on how to do the sacrifices. Nobody knows better the book of Leviticus than the Levites, right? At least that was the hope, right? Nobody knows that book better than them, and so they can be the ones to instruct the people and say, Well, wait, wait, that's not right. You brought us a blind animal. Do you have anything in your flock that is unblemished? You know, they're the ones who can instruct the congregation. They're supposed to, and they did, but now they don't.

35:27We're not exactly sure what he's talking about when he says the covenant of Levi. If you're taking notes, you can write down Numbers 3 and Numbers 18. Both of those are texts that he doesn't really use the word covenant, but he does kind of set up this agreement between himself and the Levites, which we mentioned earlier: they are this privileged tribe, and their responsibility. Is to keep the temple holy, and as a reward for that, they're going to get to eat the meat portions of these sacrifices. They're going to be provided for. So they live among the tribes, and they are taking care of the temple, but they're also profiting and getting to eat from that and being taken care of by the other tribes of Israel. And so maybe that is what he's calling the covenant of Levi, this arrangement that he has with the Levites: of you do your job and you're going to get blessed for it. You instruct the people and you're going to get blessed for it, which would make sense when he's saying they disagree.

36:38There is also a covenant that he makes with Phineas, who is the high priest, and you can write that down. That's Numbers 25. Let's actually turn to that one. Numbers 25. I'll start in verse 1 just so we can get the story, and we'll go through it quickly. When Israel lived in Shatim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each of you, kill those men, kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor. And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phineas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were 24,000. It's a lot, right? So they had started to intermarry with these people and worship their gods, the Moabites. And this curse came upon the people. Well, one of them was so arrogant to bring it right in front of the sight of Moses that he was bringing in this idolater into his own home. And so Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, of the priestly tribe of Levi, has zeal and goes and takes care of that issue. Look at verse 10. And the Lord said to Moses, Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel. And my jealousy. Therefore, say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel. So he blesses this particular branch of the tribe of Levi and actually says covenant in this passage. And so this is our other option for the covenant with the Levites, that through Phineas and his descendants, that this is the covenant he's talking about, the promise. You can turn back to Malachi. And for those of you taking notes, two more passages that we don't have time to go to are Deuteronomy 33 and Jeremiah 33, that you can jot down. And I encourage you to look at those later. Deuteronomy 33, he's talking to the Levites again. He recounts their faithfulness at the golden calf incident and proclaims more blessings for them. And in Jeremiah 33, he gives the Levites a really special promise of this same kind of thing he said to Phineas, of a perpetual priesthood. And he mixes it in with the promise of David in Jeremiah 33, that David's always going to have a descendant on the throne, and the Levites are always going to have priests that serve before him. So you can look at those later. But back to our text.

40:30Is, if we're boiling it down in Malachi, we took a tangent to talk about that covenant. But the issue is, at one point, the priests were doing what they were supposed to. They were honoring and revering God and instructing the people. Now they're not. They're dishonoring his name. They're allowing all of these wicked things to take place. Verse 7. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge. And the people should seek instruction from his mouth. For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Now he's talking about the priests, and he said, the priests used to do this. Instruction used to be in his mouth. And that's how it should be for the priests.

41:19The lips of the priests should guard knowledge. The people should seek instruction from his mouth. The people should be able to go to the priests. Excuse me. I'm losing my voice, I think. The people should be able to go to the priests and ask things, receive instruction from the Lord. How do I do this sacrifice? Is this blind one okay? Or should I give this other one? Or something like that, right? They're supposed to be giving instruction from the Lord. He is a messenger of the Lord of hosts. Verse 8. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

42:06And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction. Okay, now that's interesting, right? That's exactly what we've been studying in Romans. And that's what he gets on to them. He's saying, you don't do what I do. I don't show partiality. Just like Paul has been saying for the whole chapter so far. I don't show partiality, but you're showing this partiality. You're allowing these people, maybe it's the people they like or something like that. You're allowing them to get off easy. And so I make you despise. Again, verse 9. And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction. So we'll stop there. But the last one is that they are being disobedient to the charge that they have from the Lord. In those numbers passages 3 and 18 and 25 or 3 and 18, one of the things that was clear is that they were supposed to be these instructors. That was one of their commands. And so these priests are not just being disrespectful, they're also being disobedient.

43:30Not doing what the Lord has told them to do. Number one, in instructing the people, but also in fulfilling their function of overseeing these sacrifices and making sure that the table of the sacrifice is not being despised. And so, negatively, it's disobedience, but how can we honor God's name is by obedience. So, just to summarize our four, and these are just four I picked out, and maybe you saw other ones, our four, how can we honor God's name if we don't want to be like this generation that is ungrateful, that is disrespectful, that is dishonest, and that is disobedient? How can we honor God's name? Well, we should be grateful. We should be respectful. We should be honest, and we should be obedient. Those are ways, genuine ways, that we can honor God's name. So, I think if we are going to take these principles and apply them, of course, we are not sacrificing animals in here, right? That's not what we do when we come to church, is sacrifice animals.

44:37And so, we don't have blind and lame and sick animals to offer. None of us have flocks. Maybe some of you have flocks, but we're not taking from our flocks to sacrifice, right? So, how do we apply these principles? Well, I think in the same way we can honor or dishonor God's name. We can revere him. And I think that if we're looking out on American Christianity as a whole, I would say that there are some parts of it when we look at it that it seems like maybe they are dishonoring God's name with the way their attitude toward the Lord, the smallness of God in their eyes, or the self-centeredness of their worship. Instead, we should be a church that is striving to have this fear and awe of God's name, to honor His name. And so we do that by being grateful. We do that by showing Him the proper respect, by being honest and obedient to what He wants from us. I think that'll look different for each of us.

45:57Excuse me. I think one connection that we might jump to right away, and we'll talk about this more as we go through Malachi because he's going to have some things to say about money is maybe our money. But let's not talk about that tonight because I want to put some qualifiers on that as we continue to study through this passage. But what are some other ways that you can think of applying this text? Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I think that some of us can be deceitful. Maybe not on purpose.

46:48But maybe even just self-deception of, don't we know God sees what we have? Don't we know that he sees our responsibilities? And I sometimes think that we can kind of, in our own lives, you know, cover something up that we don't want to surrender to the Lord or something like that. We can give this partial obedience and just assume that God isn't looking or something like that. And instead, we want to have hearts that are eager to obey and eager to give what we can and do what we can. What else?

47:29Yeah, Russell? Our time. Yeah. Time is a finite resource. And you think we're well just say that I'm guilty, maybe other parts of just giving God the leftover instead of working. I agree. And that would be so convicting, right? You know, we'll say so often something like, I just didn't have time to read the Bible again this week, maybe is how it sometimes happens. You know, I didn't have time. I didn't have time. I didn't have time to read the Bible. And the convicting reality, as much as we hate to realize it, is: well, maybe you watched 12 hours of TV that week or something like that.

48:16Maybe you did all these other things with your time, and the reality is not that you didn't have it, but that you didn't even give a thought at the beginning of how I can honor God with this week. Somehow we think that God doesn't see that just like you didn't see what you mean you didn't have a time. Right. It's convicting, right? What else? Any other applications? John? Just me and asking God to give us a true desire when you're doing their teeth rather than just give us something to check on the church or even reading your Bible for today and all of the plan for that, rather than just throwing an angle on the altar for something that's happening. Right, exactly. I mean, it had gotten to the point where God was telling them, these Jews, that, look, I just wish somebody would shut the door. I want you guys to stop it. You know, I don't even, you know, yes, God gave them the sacrifices. He was the one who told them to do these sacrifices, and yet he's saying, I want you to stop. I don't want you to do this anymore. I'm not accepting your sacrifice.

49:30And it is that attitude, it's because of that attitude of, well, I got to give something. Why don't I give that one that's mangled by the wolf? And there you go, box checked, right? I'll give the worst of my flock. And I do think we can have that same kind of attitude of, okay, I went to church this week, box checked. But I think that we can strive to give our best, to give our best efforts, the best time of our day to reading scripture, the best rest of our week in preparation for church, things like that.

50:10Anything else? Let's say the term that comes to my mind when you read these verses, particularly about how they view the sacrifices, is they are far too casual with God. We are too far too casual, and we don't have a high view of him. I think people like that are sort of like we see depicted in the movies sometimes. I don't know who that is. But I agree that on the one hand, there is a positive side of that, right? That he is our father. We can call him Abba. Right, we are close to him, yet he is also God. And I remember one of the, when I was a young Christian, one of the most profound or one of the most it stuck with me the most. I don't know how to say that. One of the sermons that stuck with me the most was by R. C. Sproll, and he told this story about, you know, how do we revere God and yet be close to him? And he told this story of how none of us in this room can go and barge into the president's office and declare that we want something right now or declare that we just want to be with him or something like that. But the president's daughter could do that, right? She could go into his office and maybe she'd be disciplined. But you get the picture, right? And he told the story way better than I could. But you can go into his office if he's your daddy. And he's still the president, so he has that reverence and that fear, but he's also your daddy. So he has that closeness. And I think that we have to find that balance as well: that yes, he is our father, and we love him and we're close to him, but yet we also revere him and worship and we honor his name. We're not trying to hide things from him, we're not trying to disdain his name among the nations. We are revering him and loving him. I think a lot of people. And some of us have grown up in churches like this, emphasize this closeness aspect without ever emphasizing this fear and respect aspect. And it can become a very kind of self-centered or casual relationship when we need to keep both. Any other thoughts?

52:57All right, let's wrap it up. Pray with me. Father, we're grateful for this text. We're thankful that we get to read and look back and that you were so gracious to communicate these things to your people, to patiently explain how you have loved them, to patiently explain that you are expecting obedience and honor. And I pray, Lord, that we would be people that show that honor, that fear and that respect. I pray that you would help us be people that are eager to be obedient, that are eager to be honest about our time and about what we have.

53:52Convict us, Father, where we need to change and help us honor your name. In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah.