I think the sermon is rebuking religious leaders, rebuking religious leaders, and here we see in Malachi chapter 2,
notice what it says in verse number 1. Remember from chapter 1 that basically God is very angry with Israel.
This was roughly 400 years before the New Testament starts.
There's a 400 year gap between Malachi and Matthew, and God is very angry at Israel because they're not following his ways,
they're not following his commandments. Here it says in chapter 2 verse 1,
And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
And so when God is rebuking here in chapter 2, he says, I'm going to bring it home to the priests, the religious leaders, okay?
Now when it says priest here, we're not talking about a Catholic priest, okay?
This is the times of Malachi, and the priests were supposed to be godly, okay?
And he tells the religious leaders, this commandment is for you.
So not just the normal people, but the people that are the ones leading the religious ceremonies and doing the offerings,
he says this commandment is for you. And when he's rebuking them in this chapter, he's rebuking religious leaders.
He's angry at the priests because they're not doing what the Bible says.
Notice what it says in verse 2,
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts,
I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.
Yeah, I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart.
And he's basically telling them, hey, I'm going to rebuke you, and you've got a chance to turn and do what's right, okay?
This is the method that God has.
If somebody's guilty of something, they get rebuked, and they've got a chance to correct it.
If they choose not to correct it, God's judgment will come upon them.
Now, somebody tell me when Israel corrected their problem of being ungodly.
It never happened. He's going to send a curse upon them.
They're done. That's what this whole book's about.
They're finished. The last book of the Old Testament, if you can read Malachi and say,
man, God just loves, you know, the Jewish religion. No, he doesn't.
They rejected God. That's what you're seeing here.
Chapter 1, chapter 2, he says, I will curse your blessings.
Notice what it says in verse 3.
Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feast,
and one shall take you away with it.
You know, in case you're not sure what this means, dung, it's saying Ty.
There's no nice way to say this.
He says, I'm going to spread poop on your face.
Okay, that's what the Bible says. I'm not saying something crude. That's literally what he's saying.
I mean, can you really think of anything that's more gross than that?
That's pretty disgusting, isn't it?
You can't really think of anything that's worse than that.
And what he says is, I'm going to do this to you.
And he says their solemn feasts are like dung, okay?
Like the droppings from an animal or a human. He says they're like dung.
And so basically the religious ceremonies they were doing, whether it was Passover or whatever they were doing,
church services or offerings, he said it's like dung to him.
That's how disgusting it is.
Look, he's coming up with a term of something that's very disgusting,
and every one of us would say that's disgusting.
Nobody likes to be around it. If you're even near it, it smells awful.
You know, some places here in the Philippines, you're walking, and just being within 10 feet,
there's just that smell, and you're just like, man, that is nasty, right?
And that's what he's saying about their religious ceremonies.
And I realized this, that if God were to be here today, and he were to look at these various churches,
do you know what he would think of these churches?
They're like dung. That's what he would say.
That's what he's saying here in Malachi chapter 2.
You say, why? Because they're not doing what God said to do.
And look, there's no way to preach this chapter.
Maybe I'll have to check out Joel Osteen if he preaches this,
how to preach this chapter in a nice and loving way,
because just when Dustin was reading the chapter, I was like, man, that's like a sermon.
Like, we already heard like a five-minute sermon before I got up here,
because, you know, he's laying down the hammer in here.
And when you're seeing what he's actually saying, he's saying, I'm going to spread poop on your faces,
because that's what your religious ceremonies are like.
You cannot think of anything more disgusting than that.
And he's using an extreme example, and this is what he's saying to the religious leaders, okay?
Now, notice what it says here in verse number 4.
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment on to you, that my covenant might be with Levi, sayeth the Lord of hosts.
And he says, you're going to realize that this commandment was sent on to you.
And in verse 5, when he talks about Levi, my covenant was with him of life and peace.
So God gave Levi a covenant of life and peace.
And we're going to explain that here in a second.
But notice what it says.
And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
And so this covenant that God has with the priesthood, with Levi, with the Jews, it was because they feared God.
That's why they had the covenant.
It was not just this everlasting covenant.
No matter what, the Jews are God's chosen people.
No, because they fear God.
So if they do not fear God today, the covenant's done.
It's gone.
That's what he's saying.
I gave them a covenant because they feared me.
But what if they don't fear him anymore?
It's done.
Okay?
This is what God tells them.
This idea, and look, you're not going to find a whole lot of churches that are going to say this.
Because almost every church is going to say the Jews are God's chosen people.
We're supposed to worship them.
But look, when you read throughout the Old Testament, it was never just this guarantee,
no matter what you do, whether you're committing adultery, abortion, sodomy, it doesn't matter.
You're my people.
I love you.
You're special above everybody else.
No, that's why the gospel was spread to the Gentiles.
Okay?
Now, there have always been people saved throughout the world, but he especially focuses in the
New Testament on the Gentiles because the Jews rejected Jesus Christ.
Now, praise the Lord that at the beginning when Jesus rose again, some did accept.
And guess what?
They became Christians.
Christianity was the same religion as Judaism was here in the book of Malachi because it's
the same God.
Okay?
Now, there were certain things that changed when Jesus rose again.
Some of the things such as the Passover became the Lord's Supper.
We don't follow the Sabbath day anymore, and that's a whole sermon in and of itself because
you enter into that rest when you receive salvation, and Jesus was a picture of the
Sabbath.
But I want you to realize, by and large, they rejected Jesus Christ.
And the reason why this covenant was with them was because of the fear wherewith he
feared me and was afraid before my name.
And look, if people are living wicked and ungodly lives, they can't expect that God's
just going to bless them no matter what they do.
That is ridiculous.
That is not what the Bible teaches.
And look, you could just have common sense about this.
Everybody wants to destroy Israel.
Is that not true?
Doesn't God promise you peace on every side when you're doing what's right?
What did he tell to Solomon?
Hey, if you're doing what's right, guess what?
You've got peace on every side.
Guess what Israel has on every side?
War.
The only country in the world that likes Israel is the United States of America.
And don't worry, that's later on in the sermon.
And it's just like, you know, people don't like them anymore, so how are they living
a godly life?
Because God promises you peace on every side as a nation.
I understand individually we have persecution, but as a nation, if you're doing what's right,
and when you look at Israel, everybody wants to destroy them.
Look, they didn't have this never-ending past no matter what they did.
They're God's chosen people.
It's because they feared him.
Okay?
Now, notice what the covenant was.
The covenant was with him of life and peace.
Okay?
Now, these terms should teach you a few things because you think of life and you think of
eternal life that you receive when you believe on the true God.
And see, eternal life did not start when Jesus Christ was here.
It started in the Old Testament.
My covenant was with him of life and peace.
And you know, some people preach weird things and teach weird things that people that got
saved before Jesus died had to get saved again after he died.
It's like, no, they received eternal life the moment they got saved.
You don't have to get saved again.
You say, how did people get saved in the Old Testament?
They got saved by grace through faith in the coming Messiah.
Now, they didn't necessarily understand everything we do today because the name Jesus was not
revealed in the Book of Malachi.
But they got saved by believing that there was going to be a lamb slain for them.
They believed that God will provide himself a lamb and he would die for their sins.
They didn't get saved by doing the offerings.
They got saved by grace through faith.
And the covenant was with them of life and peace.
Okay?
But I want you to notice it also says peace.
And I want you to understand a few things here.
One, the Bible says when we preach the gospel, it's the gospel of peace.
But I also want you to understand that when it says peace, the promise as a nation, which
is the main application, is that you will have peace on every side.
And he gave them this covenant.
If you do what's right, you're going to have that peace.
If you fear me, they do not have peace.
The covenant is broken, my friend.
It's gone.
It's done.
You say, but throughout the Old Testament, they didn't have a lot of peace because they
weren't very godly.
God was just long suffering with them.
And look, I'm not saying we're godly as a country.
I'm not saying the U.S. is godly.
The whole world lieth in wickedness, my friend.
Trying to figure out what the most ungodly country is, you know, I have no idea.
Trying to figure out the godliest country, I don't think there is a country that's godly.
I mean, every country is wicked, as it is.
The Jews, though, Israel especially, is an extremely wicked country.
And you know what?
God was done with them.
He said, I gave this to you because you feared me.
And you know what?
You don't have any peace because of the fact you're living a wicked life.
Let me turn to Matthew 23.
So the question is, this covenant was based on the fact that they feared God.
So who's the one who broke that covenant?
Israel broke that covenant.
Because the covenant was said, if you fear me, I'll give you life and peace.
But they did not fear God.
And so the covenant was done because they choose to break that covenant.
And even in our lives, we basically have a covenant with God that God in our lives will
bless us if we're obedient in following his commandments.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have eternal life.
You're saved whether you follow his rules or not.
But if God's going to bless you in this life, that covenant's based on the fact, are you
obeying my rules?
And if you're not obeying the rules, then expect God's curse to come upon you.
Because as a believer, you will be chastened when you break his rules and you don't do
what he says.
Now, notice what happened in Matthew 23, because we looked at this last week, but it's just
very clear, the covenant is done.
What if Levi did not fear God and was not afraid before the true God?
Not to say, but they actually had to fear God.
Notice what it says in Matthew 23, verse 37.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sinned
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
with her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
So what he says is, you know what?
I gave you chances and I would gather you again.
They messed up and God says, you know what?
I forgive you.
I'm giving you another chance.
What about the book of Judges?
They're doing what's right.
Then they rebel against God and God says, I'll give you a chance.
How often he gathered them underneath his wings, over and over again.
He kept giving them chance after chance after chance, but eventually they never came back.
If they had come back, then God would have given them another chance.
When did Israel come back?
Who does the Bible say killed the Lord Jesus Christ?
Primarily, the Jews.
They said, let his blood be upon us and upon our children.
All right, you got that curse then.
There you go.
It's upon you and upon your children.
They're the ones.
You say, well, it was Pontius Pilate.
It was the Romans.
No, they were influenced by the Jews, but the Bible specifically says the Jews killed
the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 23 verse 37, he's telling them, you killed the prophets that were sinned unto
them.
This was before Jesus died.
He's like, you've stoned all the prophets.
You've killed them.
You've persecuted them.
As a result, the country's held accountable.
Now, realize this.
If in the next 10 years there was like 100 really great churches that were doing lots
of soul winning and preaching the truth and our country was just as wicked as it was 10
years before, this country would have judgment upon them because they're hearing the word
of God and they're rejecting it.
The Jews heard the word of God and they rejected it and eventually when they did not come back,
God says, you know what?
You're done.
We're moving on to the Gentiles because they're much more receptive to the Gospel.
Now turn back in your Bible to Malachi 2.
Malachi chapter 2, let's look at verse number 6.
Malachi 2 verse 6.
And it says in Malachi 2 verse 6, the law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was
not found in his lips.
And so this is referring back to the priests and it said that, you know what?
The priests, they had the law of truth in their mouth.
The religious leaders, when the covenant was given and at one time when they spoke,
it was the truth.
Iniquity was not found in their lips.
Now, just think about the religious leaders in our country.
When they speak, is it the truth coming out of their mouths usually?
No.
And honestly, this has always been a problem with religious leaders.
Most religious leaders are bad people.
I mean, who did Jesus preach against the most when he was alive?
Was it religious people or unreligious?
It was the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees.
He preached against religious leaders more than anybody.
Why?
Because when you have that position, there's something expected out of you, okay?
And it was supposed to be the law of truth coming out of their mouth and that's not what
was coming out of their mouth.
And it said the law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips.
He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity, okay?
Now, this was what the priests were expected to do to turn people away from iniquity.
This has a two-fold meaning.
Part of it is you turn people away from iniquity in the fact that they believe on Jesus and
get saved.
And part of it is that you preach the truth and it helps people get iniquity out of their
lives.
Now, turn to Romans 10.
We'll look at a few spots.
Romans 10.
And so part of that is soul winning.
And obviously, our church, you know, our number one goal, you know, we are a soul winning
church.
Obviously, getting churches planted, but every church we have planted is about soul winning.
That's why we're here.
And look, if we didn't believe in soul winning, I would have never started a church.
The whole purpose is because you're getting people saved, you're saving them from going
to hell.
And I want you to see that, you know, this was one of the things turning people away
from iniquity.
And when it comes to soul winning, what we see in Romans 10 is that the church is sending
people out to preach the gospel.
Romans 10, verse 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And so you can't call on God to save you unless you believe first, okay?
Now, I've heard some Calvinists that disagree with that, that you can just get saved before
you believe and not even realize you're saved.
But no, I mean, it says how they shall they call on him in whom they have not believed,
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
So obviously, you have to hear the gospel first as well before.
And so somebody's got to actually preach the gospel to you because it says, and how
shall they hear without a preacher?
It is impossible for someone to just pick up the Bible on their own that's never heard
the gospel and get saved on their own.
That is impossible.
You say, how could you say that?
That's what it says in Roman syndrome, sportsman.
And look, if you're in this room tonight and you're saved, you're saved because somebody
preached the gospel to you.
Somebody preached the gospel to me when I was 18.
You say, why does God do that?
Well, I believe one reason why he does that is because it prevents people from being prideful
and arrogant.
You had to have learned the gospel from someone else.
You can't figure it out on your own.
It's impossible.
It says, how shall they hear without a preacher?
Somebody has to actually preach the gospel to you to get saved.
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
And see, here's the reality.
People are not going to preach the gospel unless they get sent.
Okay?
Obviously, God is sending you to preach the gospel whenever you want to go.
Preach the gospel every day if you can.
But the main application there is there's actually some sort of group that's sending
you.
And who does that?
It's the local church.
The church sends you out to preach the gospel.
But realize this, the priest turned people away from iniquity.
So he didn't just send people out to preach the gospel and they turned people away from
iniquity.
He turned people away from iniquity.
Why?
He was preaching the gospel with them.
He wasn't just sending them to preach the gospel.
And look, you know, I go out soul winning several times every single week and the reality
is if I did not go soul winning, everyone would start going soul winning less.
Why?
Because you tend to follow the leader.
And it's hard if you don't respect your leader.
And look, many people in this church, you believed in soul winning before this church
started.
But without having this church, you didn't do as much soul winning.
And I wouldn't have either.
Why?
You have to be part of a great church that's sending you.
It's hard to send yourself all the time.
But when you have soul winning times...
We have our soul winning time on Sundays around 2.10 p.m., okay?
None of us always feel like going soul winning at 2.10 p.m.
There are many times I'm thinking, ah, man, I'm ready to take a nap.
But here's the reality.
When you have a set time and there's lots of people going, what happens?
We all just end up going out.
Look, we don't always feel like going soul winning, but we still do it.
That's why you need to have actual set times, and that's gonna help make things a lot easier.
But the person who's preaching the sermons or leading the church, they've gotta be out
there turning people away from iniquity too.
Otherwise people are gonna stop.
Now turn to Acts 20, Acts 20.
The reality is the Bible says there is a time that kings go forth to battle.
And sadly, it seems like a lot of pastors have missed that.
There's a time to go to battles every single week, and yet they never go out soul winning.
They never go out to preach the gospel.
And you know, it's really a shame in a country where people are very receptive to the gospel.
And I don't know if we always realize how receptive it is here compared to other countries.
Because quite honestly, you know, going soul winning in the United States, I've gone soul
winning for weeks and weeks and weeks with nobody saved.
I've gone soul winning.
I remember I counted it up one time.
It was like around 15 hours of door-to-door soul winning with zero salvations.
You realize how hard it is to be motivated when you know there's a very small chance
I'm gonna get somebody saved in the next two and a half hours.
And you go out, nobody wants to listen.
It's not a waste because you're giving them a chance and you gotta knock every single
door.
But I'm just saying it's a shame in a country where you can literally save people from burning
in hell if you just go out for a couple hours, that people just don't go.
And the problem with most churches is the pastors aren't going.
And they can preach from behind the pulpit to go soul winning.
But if they're not going, people aren't gonna go.
But it's not just that you're going soul winning to turn people away from iniquity.
But when it comes to the priests, they were supposed to preach sermons to turn people
away from iniquity in their lives after they already got saved.
They get saved.
Now to get the sin out of your life, what do you need?
You need hard-hitting sermons.
You don't need some soft-soaked sermon up here that doesn't tell you to change anything.
You need hard sermons, otherwise you're not gonna turn from your iniquity.
Look, if somebody was a drunk, do you really think they're gonna change their lifestyle
unless they get strong rebukes and realize, man, I need to change?
People end up changing because their wife, their son, their cousin says, you've got a
problem.
You gotta fix this.
And if nobody ever does that, they're gonna just be a drunk till the day they die and
oh, I have no problems in my life.
They need somebody to actually tell them that they're wrong.
And when it comes to the person preaching the sermons, that is part of the job.
Look, if these pastors don't want to do that, then they can do some other job then.
If they're not gonna preach the truth, but if you're gonna preach the sermons, part of
that is calling out and crying aloud against sin.
Notice what it says in Acts 20, verse 26.
Acts 20, verse 26.
Acts 20, verse 26, wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood
of all men.
And so why was Paul the apostle pure from the blood of all men?
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God, all the counsel of
God.
You know what Paul's saying?
Every bit of this Bible I declared on you.
There's nothing I left out.
It's like, oh, wait a minute.
They don't like hearing this in today's world.
I'll just skip that.
That's pretty rough too.
No, I can't.
No, he preached everything.
In today's world though, they never preached negative sermons.
And look, we have sermons that are positive sermons.
We preach in the fruits of the Spirit.
We preach sermons on things such as that, but there's also sermons we have to actually...
We preach about being a good father, good husband, good wife, things such as that.
But there's also sermons that are not just about lessons from the Song of Solomon to
have a good marriage.
There's also called how to respond to psychopaths.
There's the combination.
There's everything in the Bible.
And I want you to realize what Paul said is the reason why he's pure from the blood of
all men is because he declared every bit of the Bible.
He left nothing out.
Verse 28, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood.
And what the Bible is saying here in verse 28 is that when you're the one preaching the
sermons, you're the pastor, you're the evangelist, you're the leader, your job is to feed the
flock, spiritually feed the flock.
Which means people come to church and they get edified, motivated, and they learn new
things.
Both those need to happen.
If you come to church and you never learn anything, there's a problem with my sermons
because none of us know everything in the Bible.
And if you come here and you're never motivated to make changes in your life, there's a problem
there.
Those two things need to happen.
You get fed, you learn new things so it stays interesting, and you get motivated on the
things you already know.
You get motivated to get rid of your worldliness, again, because we need that reminder several
times every single year.
We need the reminders on these things to go soul winning all the time because otherwise
we'll stop going soul winning.
We need those reminders.
We need all the counsel of God, otherwise our lives are going to get screwed up.
Verse 31, therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to
warn everyone night and day with tears.
And he says over the space of three years, you know what, I was warning you every single
day.
There was no day where I was not warning you.
And this does apply back to the reprobates that it mentioned, but it also applies back
to everything that's being taught.
He taught everything.
He declared all the counsel of God.
And what I want you to notice here though in verse 31 is he says the space of three
years, which means over a three year period Paul the Apostle was able to say I've taught
everything in the Bible.
That doesn't mean he did a Bible study on every chapter, but it means on all topics
he covered everything.
Now that might seem pretty easy to do until you've been preaching for over a year and
you're like, man, there's topics I haven't really covered.
That's why over the next several months I looked at the loose ends.
I haven't preached on this, this, or this.
And no, you didn't get to avoid it.
It's coming in the next couple months.
Everything that I haven't hit yet is coming in the next few months because I would like
to at least say over a year and a half I covered everything.
So I can at least get through everything twice over the course of three years because quite
honestly there's a lot in the Bible to cover.
So every single part of the Bible needs to be preached and godly priests, they had this
covenant because they feared the Lord and they preached the truth and they turned people
away from iniquity.
Not in today's world though.
Not the religious leaders of this country.
They're not turning people away from iniquity.
They're not preaching hard against their sin.
Turn back to Malachi 2, Malachi 2.
Look I'm not trying to be negative.
I wish that weren't the case.
I wish there were a lot of great churches out there.
It would be nice, and obviously we're happy to have all the people that are at this church
and live within distance, but it would be nice to have other churches, several churches,
like a dozen churches in Luzon that I can say, hey, I don't live in Beko, but man, that's
a man of God in Beko.
And maybe there is someone there.
I don't know.
I'm just saying it would be nice to say there's a real church in these areas instead of saying,
you know, I don't know, good luck.
It would be really nice to know there's someone that's actually preaching the truth and lots
of people going soul winning and doing the work of the Lord.
Sadly though, it doesn't really exist that much in this country, but quite honestly,
this country is blessed compared to a lot of countries that have nothing.
Literally nothing.
Now the United States of America has probably more good churches than any country.
There's more Baptist churches that are doing soul winning, that are right on salvation.
It's not hard to find a pastor that's saved, okay?
But this country has a lot, I mean, go to Thailand.
How many good churches were in Thailand, Brother Timothy?
None, right?
None.
I mean, how many good churches are there in some of these countries?
How many good churches do you think there are in Japan?
Do you really think that there's a list of like 50 good churches in Japan?
Communist China, I'm sure there's so many great soul winning campaigns being done.
I'm sure they have their mega marathon in Communist China every year, whatever, during
the yearly Celebrating the Dragon Festival or whatever.
Look, it doesn't exist in those countries.
It's pretty sad.
And the reality is there's just not a lot of churches.
And here in the Philippines, most of the pastors, they can say they're Christians or whatever,
but they're not preaching the truth and they're not turning people away from iniquity.
Malachi 2 verse 7, Malachi 2 verse 7, For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and
they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
Now the job of a messenger is that you got a message and you give it to somebody else.
That's what a messenger does.
You hear a message from this person, then you pass it along to the next person.
The messenger of the Lord of hosts, you know what the Bible says, God's word, and then
you pass that message on to the people you're preaching on.
That is what the job of them was, the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
That's what a pastor is supposed to do.
He gets the word of God and he spreads it and teaches it to people.
And what it says in this verse is they should seek the law at his mouth.
What that's saying is there should be people saying, hey, I want to go and hear the words
from this man because I'm going to learn something from the word of God.
That's what it's saying.
And yet isn't it true that we've all been in churches and we've learned nothing week
after week after week?
It says you should seek the law at his mouth.
And look, the reality is, and look, I'm glad we have our music ministry, people play the
music and things such as that, we have activities, but the reality is the main reason why most
people come to this church is because of what they're being taught, because of the preaching.
Same thing at Verity Baptist Church.
It's because of the preaching because that just doesn't exist in a lot of places.
And I want you to realize these aren't my words because I'm using a lot of Bible.
I'm not just going on one verse and just going on man's wisdom.
I'm just explaining the verses.
I'm not doing anything really special.
I'm just showing what the Bible says.
There's just not a lot of churches doing that.
It's very rare.
It's extremely rare.
It doesn't exist.
Ask Brother Matthias how many great churches there are in Europe.
Are there a lot of great churches?
Are there any good churches?
That's the question.
That's the reality.
They're just not preaching the truth.
And look, for us that have been to churches before, it's sad because you go to church
and honestly sometimes you go out of obligation.
You're like, man, I really don't want to go to church.
I don't think I'm going to learn anything.
I'm really busy but God commands me.
No, you should actually go to church because he's saying, man, I want to learn something
from God's Word today.
I want to learn something from the Bible.
Now when people are new at church, every single sermon they learn a ton.
I remember when I first got saved and I went to a really lame Baptist church about six
months after I got saved.
But I thought every sermon was the greatest sermon ever because I didn't know anything
in the Bible.
I was like, man, this is like the greatest preacher in the world.
This is awesome.
But then after a year it was kind of like, okay, I've already heard all this stuff.
And the reality is even at a church that's a good church, if a lot of stuff is new to
you, you're going to learn a lot.
And you have to realize after a year or two, a lot of the stuff you say, I already know
that.
A lot of it is going to be reviewed.
Now you'll still learn new things and if you're not learning something new, I'm doing something
wrong.
But you do have to realize that you kind of make a transition in your spiritual life where
you go to being someone who knows more about the Bible.
I mean, look, we don't necessarily have a lot of people up here preaching sermons, but
people will come to you and ask you Bible questions and you can help teach them.
And you do have to realize as you're here for a while that a lot of the stuff you already
know.
Which is why it's important that I can preach on different chapters, different books and
explain things in a different way so it stays interesting, but you still should be learning
something from the Bible.
I guess just go to Bible college.
Isn't that what they say?
It's like church isn't for learning.
It's just for activities and fun.
Just go to Bible college if you really want to learn the word of God.
No, the Bible says church is the pillar and ground of truth.
It doesn't say Bible college is the pillar and ground of truth.
Church is the pillar and ground of truth.
And so everybody, no matter what age you are, we need to be learning the word of God.
And it says they should seek the law at his mouth.
And look, if people are not seeking to hear the person preaching, there's a problem with
the person preaching.
It's not a problem with the people.
And I understand that most people don't really like a church like this.
They're not really looking for this kind of preaching, which is fine, but I'm just saying
if there's nobody that wants to hear the word of God amongst people that love going soul
winning and love the things of God, if nobody wants to hear because they're bored out of
their mind, there's a problem there.
It says they should seek the law at his mouth.
Verse number eight, but ye are departed out of the way.
Ye have caused many to stumble at the law.
Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
And so God is angry at the religious leaders.
He says you're departed out of the way.
You're not following what I said, and as a result, they're causing many to stumble at
the law.
Do you realize here in the Philippines, many people are living their lives and committing
sins and not knowing what they're supposed to do.
They're living worldly lives, ungodly lives.
They're not right with God.
And the reason why is because of the religious leaders.
Some of these people have a good heart.
They want to live for God, they want to do what's right, but they have no idea what they
need to do.
They have no idea what the Bible says.
I mean, the Bible says read therein all the days of thy life.
What's that saying?
Read the Bible every day.
But they don't even teach you that at these churches.
Pray without ceasing.
They don't go specific into the sins you need to get out of your life.
Now we've got a series coming up here in a few months on worldliness, and we're going
to get very specific.
It's a sort of sermon series where some people might say, man, they might get offended.
But you know, we teach everything in the Bible because we're going to give you the option
to make the changes.
You say, why do you do that?
Well, I need sermons like that.
I need those sermons too.
Don't think that I have everything figured out.
I preach hard against stuff, but you know, some of the stuff I struggle with as well,
and we all need this sort of preaching.
We need to know every single thing in the Bible.
And as a result of these religious leaders departing, they have caused people to stumble.
And so when you look at the mess our country is in, whose fault is that?
Religious leaders.
That's the reality.
You can always trace it back to the religious leaders.
The religious leaders aren't doing a good job.
And look, we are a country that has some Christians here.
There are saved pastors here in the Philippines, okay?
There are saved Baptist pastors, there are saved Bible Baptist pastors, I'm sure there's
some saved non-denominational pastors, but the reality is they're not doing their job
by and large.
Look, praise the Lord for the ones that are doing their job, because I'm not preaching
against them.
They have no reason to be offended if they're preaching the truth and going soul winning
and doing what's right.
But the ones that are saved and aren't preaching the truth, there's a big problem there.
Look at verse number nine.
Verse number nine.
Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according
as you have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
And he says he makes them base, basically rejected, and people looked at them as being
phonies and the reality is, at many churches, people look at the pastoral leaders and they
think they're a joke.
They just don't know where else to go, they have nowhere else to go.
He said I've made you base among all the people, okay?
Verse 10.
Have we not all one Father?
Hath not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our
fathers?
For Judah hath dealt treacherously and an abomination is committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem.
For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the
daughter of a strange God.
And he says that Judah basically departed and went after other gods.
You've married the daughter of a strange god, basically committing spiritual adultery on
the Lord, on the true God.
And you know what, honestly, when you look at the religion of Judaism, past the book
of Malachi, because we don't really know what happened for 400 years.
They obviously didn't get godlier, though, because when Jesus was here 2,000 years ago,
they killed him.
They rejected him.
John the Baptist was beheaded.
They didn't like the religious leaders.
They were sent one after another and then finally he sends his son, they'll honor him,
they'll respect him.
Nope, they crucified him.
They killed him.
They mocked him.
They tortured him.
They didn't just kill him, they mocked him.
They rejected the Lord and that's why God ended up rejecting them.
Verse 12, the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar.
What does it mean to be cut off?
Well, we're not going to go there for sake of time to look at other verses, but it means
to be killed.
That's what cut off means in the Bible.
God will kill the person that does that.
So how does God feel about these spiritual leaders that are departing out of the way
and not doing what's right?
He says the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar.
God is not a respecter of persons.
The master, the scholar, the Pharisee, the scribe, they're going to be destroyed.
That's what he says.
They're going to be cut off.
And look, this chapter is still dealing with Israel.
It's dealing with the Jews and they're very clearly rejected.
It's not hard to see.
The priests went out of the way, they departed, God's done with them.
They never came back.
That was the thing.
The covenant was if you fear me.
They rejected God.
When did they come back after the book of Malachi?
It's really not hard to see.
And honestly, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me because I've never been
at a church that taught the Jews were God's chosen people, which is, I guess, very rare
because every other IFB person I know, I guess in West Virginia, was just unique because
they never taught that.
And it's good because it's not in the Bible, but it's like, how could you read when they
killed Jesus and God says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.
How could you think they get like some sort of free pass into heaven because of who their
parents are, because of what their bloodline is?
That's ridiculous.
That would be basically saying that God's a racist and that's ridiculous.
Notice what it says here in verse number, actually the end of that verse, out of the
tabernacles of Jacob and him that offerth an offering on to the Lord of hosts.
Verse 13, and this had be done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping
and with crying out in so much that he regardeth not the offering anymore or receiveth it with
good will at your hand.
Now, I want you to understand something that in the Old Testament, you'll see this word
come up a lot, altar.
And I'm not going to talk too much about this because it's going to be a part of a sermon
series coming up.
But I want you to realize that there's a lot of Baptist churches and if you're not familiar
with this, it might seem very weird because it is very weird.
But most Baptist churches at the end of the service, they're going to have something called
an altar call.
That's what they call it.
Okay?
Now, an altar call, and for some of you, you're familiar with this, some of you maybe you're
not, but basically at an altar call, once the pastor's done preaching, he'll say, all
right, everybody, head down, eyes closed, and then he'll start talking.
And depending on the pastor, they'll say different things, but it kind of has a twofold approach.
One, they try to get people to walk down to the altar to get saved.
And basically they'll say, hey, if you know for sure you're going to heaven, please raise
your hand.
If you're not sure, please raise your hand.
I don't want to embarrass you.
I don't want to point you out.
I just want to pray for you.
Just come on down to this good old-fashioned altar.
And so sometimes in churches, the pastor will see somebody raise their hand that they're
not saved, and nobody preaches the gospel to that person, not a single person, and they
walk out as an unsaved person.
And it's just like if you know somebody's not saved and you're the pastor, and you're
basically preventing anybody from preaching the gospel to them.
But it's not just the fact that they have everybody come down.
Like I said, I'm not going to go into too much detail because we'll talk about it later
on here in the next couple of weeks in a sermon, a whole sermon on the topic.
But then they'll also say, basically, if this sermon helped impact you in some way, raise
your hand.
And so what the pastor's trying to do is get himself to feel better.
So basically ask these questions until he can get people to raise their hands.
And it's like after hearing this sermon, do you want to live for God more?
And I always felt weird when I was at my seat because I don't agree with the altar call.
It's not in the Bible.
But I was like, if I don't answer these questions with my hand, am I lying?
Basically, if you don't raise your hand, you're saying that you're perfectly right with God.
But he'll ask you to raise your hand, and then afterwards, I want you to come down to
this altar to get right with God as well at the end of this service.
Just come on down.
The music's playing.
And then all of a sudden, just people will come down and supposedly get right with God.
And what do they do at the altar?
They get down there on their knees.
They're crying and weeping.
Oh, I'm such a bad person.
I committed adultery last week, but you know what?
I want to get things right, God.
I'm not going to do it again.
And what happens next week?
The same person comes down.
Oh, I committed adultery again.
And what does God think about that?
Because when you—and look, if you're not familiar with this, I'll have a whole sermon
on it because it's really kind of a complicated topic if you're not used to this.
Because we don't have that at this church where you close your eyes for like ten minutes
and you're like, what's going on?
Okay?
But I want you to realize that it's the same people that come down every single week.
Now, realize in the Old Testament—this is not an altar, okay?
That's ridiculous.
And that would be part of the sermon.
This is not an altar.
But if you're going to claim that in the New Testament the altar is the altar of the Old
Testament, then I'm going to claim Malachi chapter 2 verse 13.
And Malachi 2 verse 13 says, And this have ye done again.
Is he happy or upset?
He's upset.
He's angry.
Notice again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying
out.
So is God happy or upset?
He's angry.
In so much that he regardeth not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with good will at
your hand.
What is he saying?
Quit coming down to the altar.
Quit coming down and getting right with God again and doing the same sins.
These churches that have an altar call—look, in Malachi 2 verse 13 he says, quit coming
down.
I'm sick of it.
Look, when somebody is guilty of major sin—think of David that committed adultery.
Nathan rebuked him.
What if he did the same thing the next week and then came down to the altar again?
Does the same thing and comes down.
Is God going to be happy with him?
God forgave David because he got right with God.
And yet people that are coming down to the altar, every single week they're guilty of
the same things over and over and over.
And look, we're all sinners.
I understand that.
But when it comes to grievous sins, you need to get those out of your life and you'll never
see the concept in the Bible of having this altar where you come down to get right with
God at the end of the service.
This is the most important part of the service.
Right now is your chance.
You've heard the Word of God preached.
It's come to you.
You have the opportunity to respond to God's message here today.
What are you going to do?
Are you just going to stay in your seat?
Are you going to get right with God?
That's literally what they say.
And depending on who the person doing the altar call is, the pastor, they will really
make you feel really guilty and like a really wicked person if you don't come down to the
altar.
And it's an emotional thing to try to get you to come down.
Here's the problem with this.
People don't make major changes in their life usually based on a big emotional decision.
Whenever you hear a sermon against a sin you're guilty of, all of us want to make the changes
in our life.
But the proof of whether or not you have godly sorrow is if there's a change.
And God's saying, look, just get right with me.
Quit coming down every single week and crying and covering the altar of the Lord with tears.
He says, I don't want to see it anymore.
And that is exactly what an altar call is in Baptist churches.
It's literally people coming down to the altar and covering the altar of the Lord with tears.
Literally what God said not to do in Malachi 2 verse 13.
Sometimes you read the Bible and it just blows your mind.
Have people not even read the Bible?
Look I'm sorry but I don't believe in Catholic confession and I don't believe in Baptist
confession either.
And all the altar call is is this big Baptist confessional.
Literally in churches a pastor will preach a sermon on like pornography, getting pornography
out of your life.
And it's like if you're in the room, I don't want to embarrass you but if you struggle
with that sin and you want to make changes here today, it's like what is wrong with you?
It's like that's a pervert saying that.
It's like why do you want to know what everyone's doing in their personal life?
We're not Catholics.
We don't have confession.
But yet that is what the altar call basically is.
It's basically like Baptist version of confession.
And look, it doesn't work because the same people come down and the ones that don't come
down to the altar, they may feel like really miserable persons and the ones that don't
come down are the ones that go soul winning and read their Bibles and they're living much
more clean lives.
Now look, obviously I would love it if you hear a sermon and in your own personal time
at home where you're not making a show, you go to your closet or your private place and
you say, you know what, man, God forgive me.
Because I've had sermons like that.
I've had sermons where I was like, man, I need to get right with God.
But you know what I don't do is just do it in front of like a thousand people to make
a show.
I go home and I pray to God, I read the Bible and say, man, God forgive me.
I need to make that change.
Please help me to make that change.
Because I'm not trying to do it for show.
And I hope that when you hear sermons against something that you're guilty of, because we
all have those sermons, we decide I'm going to make that change.
But that's not something you do to be seen of man.
That's something you do at home between you and between God.
Malachi 2, verse 14, Malachi 2, verse 14, we're going to be starting here in a week
and a half our old paths question mark series.
So we're going to be going through all the Baptist traditions, you know, the things that
are part of the old fashioned faith, the old paths, as they say.
Malachi 2, verse 14, yet ye say wherefore, because the Lord hath been witnessed between
thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou has dealt treacherously.
Yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant.
And what God is doing in verse 14 is he's using a physical example to explain the spiritual.
We're supposed to be married to God, so to speak.
And basically they departed from God to worship the daughter of a strange God.
Okay?
They're worshiping a false God.
And he's using a physical example to explain the spiritual, that when you get married,
you're supposed to only be with your spouse, husband and wife, and it would be very wicked
to depart from your wife and go to some other woman.
Now, obviously the opposite applies, but he is using a guy to represent, as he's saying,
you know, you went to another woman, the daughter of a strange God.
Okay?
Ephesians 5.
Turn to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians chapter 5.
We'll just look at a few more places here tonight.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25.
The Bible reads, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it.
And so this is a commandment in the Bible as husbands that we are to love our wives.
And obviously the opposite is true as well.
Wives are commanded to love their husbands.
And obviously, you know, when you're married to somebody else or you commit adultery, you're
obviously going to a big extreme on that.
But even just in general, you're not supposed to put other things before your spouse either.
Okay?
You think of many things in this life, and some are committing adultery is obviously
very wicked.
Pornography, things such as that, are very wicked.
But even just like your time, for example, you're supposed to love your spouse.
And so he uses this physical example, and this is something a lot of us can relate to
because many people in this room are married, and the reality is that when you get married,
there's a lifestyle change that must take place.
You don't have as much free time as you used to have.
And look, you know, when I was younger, I would go and play basketball all the time,
you know, back in college and even after college, you know, at the places in Morgantown.
But the reality is once you get married and you have a son, I don't just leave my wife
home with my son and just I'm out till 10 o'clock at night playing basketball.
That'd be doing a bad job as a father if I'm just choosing to forsake my family to just
go after my hobbies.
Come back to Malachi 2, Malachi 2.
And so that's the example he's giving, and basically I want you to realize God demands
our worship.
He expects us to worship Him and to be a living sacrifice for Him, and you have to realize
there are a lot of commandments in this book.
God expects you to do these things, and none of us are doing these things perfectly.
But that's why we can never, you know, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, rejoice in our
success and think, we've got everything figured out, because none of us are even close to
following what the Bible says.
We're expected to follow and do everything that the Bible says, okay?
Now look at what it says in Malachi 2, verse 15, Malachi 2, verse 15, And did not he make
one?
Yet had he the residue of the Spirit, and wherefore one, that he might seek a godly seed.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of
his youth.
For the Lord the God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away.
For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
I want you to notice here in verse 16 where it says, The Lord the God of Israel saith
that he hateth putting away.
The context of putting away is in the context of departing from your spouse, basically divorce.
God hates divorce.
That's what he's saying.
He hates putting away.
Now turn to Matthew 5, Matthew chapter 5.
Now look, as of now, divorce is illegal in this country.
Along with Vatican City, which I don't know how you can be a city and a country at the
same time, we're the only country that divorce is illegal.
I will say this though, that people have come up with their own forms of divorce since they
can't get a divorce.
Some people can be married for several years and it's not easy to do and it's expensive,
but some people can get an annulment after being married for years, which is essentially
divorce.
There's really not a change.
And you say, why are you saying that?
Because you don't see annulment in the Bible.
You see divorce.
You're either staying married till death do us part or divorce.
God hates putting away.
Now annulment is just like a modified version of divorce.
Or just choosing to separate from your spouse and just live somewhere else and you're technically
married but you're not together.
You're essentially acting like you're divorced.
God hates that.
Now notice what it says in Matthew 5.
Because even though this is illegal here in this country now, it will not be illegal forever.
Within the next 10 years, before 2030, divorce will be legal in this country.
I can almost guarantee that.
You say, why?
Because this world is waxing worse and worse.
And because there are going to be many people in this country that say, I want to get a divorce.
That's the reality.
And it's going to become legal.
It isn't every other country.
You just think we're the one country.
We're just so godly, we would never make it legal.
I mean, look at all the guys running around in dresses.
We're not a godly country.
It's going to become legal.
Notice what it says in Matthew 5.
And we need to know what does the Bible say about this.
Matthew 5 verse 31.
It hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
This is how we know putting away is divorce, because putting away is linked with a writing
of divorcement.
Now, I do want you to notice in verse 31, it talks about a writing of divorcement.
And so marriage should be something that is legal.
It's not just something where you say, oh, the two of us decided we're married.
No, it actually has to have some legal aspect to it.
For example, for some people, like when they get a civil wedding, once you're done signing
those papers, you do those I dos, even if you don't have like a public ceremony, you're
already legally married, okay?
You made the writing that you're married, and to get a writing of divorcement, you'd
have to write to get a divorce, because you're already legally married, okay?
And notice what it says here in verse 32.
But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, comitteth
adultery.
And the Bible says that if you marry somebody who's divorced, you're committing adultery.
Why?
Because when two people get married, it's till death do us part.
Look, people say those words or something very similar when they get married, and it's
like they don't even think, take it very seriously.
You made a vow to God till death do us part.
When you make that vow, you're married, okay?
It's done.
And if you end up marrying somebody else, you're basically committing adultery because
you're expected to stay married, okay?
But I do want you to see something here in verse 32 where it says the one way you're
able to give a writing of divorcement is it says for the cause of fornication.
For the cause of fornication.
You say, what exactly does that mean?
Well, you have to understand that fornication is when people are involved before marriage,
not after marriage.
If I were to cheat on my wife, that is adultery.
That's not fornication.
Fornication is when you're physically involved before marriage.
Adultery is when you're married and you cheat on your wife or when you cheat with someone
who is married, even if you're single, okay?
Adultery is when somebody's married.
Fornication is before marriage.
The Bible says the only way you're able to get a divorce is due to fornication.
You say, that doesn't make sense.
But the Bible's stating is this, that basically if you get married, and I'll show you an example
in Matthew 1 that will prove this, that if you get married with the understanding that
the person you're married has stayed pure until marriage and you expected that and they
lied to you and you find out that they lied to you, before you end up coming together
as husband and wife, you're able to get a divorce.
Because basically you were tricked into it thinking it was something that it wasn't.
Now when it comes to marriage in the Bible, what you're gonna see is there's kind of two
aspects to it.
There's the legal part, and we'll see this in Matthew 1, where you legally get married
and that can vary depending on what country you're from.
Different customs, different rules, different laws.
Whatever the law of the land is in your area, you do what's legally to be married and then
actually the moment that you come together, it's like you cannot get a divorce for any
reason after that.
You've already made that decision, okay?
So sometimes, and you see this in turn to Matthew 1, I'll show this to you, but sometimes
basically two people would kind of get married, but they didn't necessarily immediately come
together as husband and wife because perhaps the husband was saving up money for his house
or something such as that.
And so in today's world, oftentimes people get engaged for like six months, and so sometimes
in the Bible they might get married but not immediately be like husband and wife together.
He might still be saving up money, and an example is with Joseph and Mary, okay?
And we'll see an example of this.
Matthew 1 verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother
Mary was a spouse to Joseph.
So Mary is the spouse of Joseph, a spouse to Joseph.
Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
So basically Joseph and Mary, before they were actually together, they were married,
they said their vows, but before they came together, of course, he thinks that she's
her.
And before they come together, all of a sudden she's pregnant.
Now generally there's not a better sign that somebody has cheated on you than if they end
up being pregnant.
And so all of a sudden Mary is pregnant, so his logical conclusion is she must have been
with some other guy.
And realize that in these times, this was considered a very wicked thing to do.
What you see in the Bible very commonly is people marry multiple people, but fornication
was considered really terrible.
And God actually kills people for fornication in the Bible.
But before they come together and they're actually husband and wife in that way, all
of a sudden she ends up being pregnant and he's saying, hey, I don't want to get married
to her.
I thought that she was pure, and now she's pregnant with some other guy's child.
Notice verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her
a public example, basically meaning he's doing this privately, he doesn't want to embarrass
her, was minded to put her away privately, would be divorced.
And so since Joseph was a godly person, even though he's been embarrassed because he assumes
that Mary cheated on him, he was going to do it privately and not embarrass her.
Now obviously we know that Mary ended up being with child, and I don't have time to go into
it, but basically Joseph finds this out and then he ends up marrying Mary.
But of course he assumed that she had been with some other guy.
And he was legally allowed and biblically allowed to get a divorce because of the fact
if she had actually cheated on him.
Obviously that didn't happen, but that's what he assumed took place, that she had been with
some other guy.
So the only way you're able to get a divorce, according to the Bible, is for the cause of
fornication, not for adultery.
You say, why are you not able to get a divorce for adultery?
Well God has a punishment for adultery, and it's called the death penalty.
Now we don't follow that in our country, and we're not taking the law under our own hands,
but that is what God's law is.
Thou shalt not commit adultery, and that is in a long list of things that has the death
penalty.
Now realize we don't follow these things in today's world, but I want you to understand
that if God's perfect laws were here, that would be what the law was, and the result
would be people would not commit adultery because it's in the law.
See having strict laws causes people not to get into trouble.
So give me an example of this.
Look, when my son gets spanked for doing things, he stops doing those things.
Why?
When there's a punishment on the other side, it's not worth it.
It's not worth it to touch the electrical socket when I know dad's going to spank me.
So he doesn't do that anymore.
At least I hope he doesn't.
I haven't seen him do it in a while.
But he used to do that all the time, and when he didn't listen to me when I said no, he
got spanked, and guess what?
My son doesn't do it anymore.
Why?
He knows the punishment.
And if God's laws were here, it would cause the Philippines and other countries to be
holy and righteous.
Those were God's laws.
But realize that since we don't live under that, if you're married, if my wife cheated
on me, I would have to stay married to her.
I would never write to get a divorce because God doesn't give you a provision for divorce
in that manner.
And vice versa, you should stay married to that person.
The only way you're able to get a divorce is for the cause of fornication.
If basically you get married with the expectation they're pure and it turns out they're not,
you say, Brother Stuckey, how often would that situation actually occur?
Very rarely.
I mean, Joseph and Mary is the only real example we have because it would be an extreme thing
where all of a sudden, oh wow, my wife's pregnant.
It's like, I thought she was pure.
It's an extremely rare thing.
So you say, what does God think about divorce?
God's against divorce.
He hates putting away.
You don't see it in the Bible.
And the Pharisees try to make all these loopholes like, you know, Moses commanded a divorce
for every cause.
No, there's one specific cause, which is an extraordinarily rare, once in a million sort
of situation.
It's not something that would really take place very often.
And so that is the only way you're able to get a divorce according to the Bible.
Now turn back to Malachi 2.
We'll look at one last verse, Malachi 2.
Now, look, I haven't really preached on divorce much because, in reality, in this country,
people aren't divorced, okay?
So it's not really exactly a topic I'm going to cover a lot, but when the Bible talks about
it, I'll talk about whatever the Bible's talking about.
I'm not going to skip over it because it's not really a problem here because one day
it will be a problem in our country, okay?
Malachi 2, verse 17, Malachi 2, verse 17, it says, Ye have wearied the Lord with your
words, yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him?
So God says, basically, you know, you've worn me out.
Weary basically means to make somebody tired, okay?
For example, if there's a boxing match, you know, one way you tire out your opponent is,
you know, you get him to chase you a lot, or you keep jabbing him, takes away his energy,
and you're wearying him, you're tiring him out.
So in the eighth round, you can try to knock him out.
You don't go for a knockout usually in the first round, especially at the lighter weights.
You're not going to be able to do that.
But if you tire them out and they don't have enough strength to put their arms up to defend
themselves, they're just going to keep getting punched in the face until they go down, right?
And so you tire out your opponent to the point he can't defend himself.
And what God says is, Israel is wearing out the Lord with their words, basically saying
things against God.
And yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him?
When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth
in them.
Or, Where is the God of judgment?
Now, notice what it says that they say here.
What is God so angry with that wears him out to the point where he's done with Israel?
He's so tired of them, he says, Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord.
So basically, Israel was justifying wicked people and saying they were good.
It kind of reminds me about the LGBT and just about every pastor here in this country.
I mean, that's the exact example I think of.
Every pastor is like, Oh, just bring them in, they're good, and everything, bring them
in and everything.
It's like you're wearing the Lord with your words.
I mean, that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches they're wicked in the sight of God.
It's like, have you read Genesis 19?
Do you remember why God destroyed Sodom?
You say that was just the Old Testament.
It was not just the Old Testament, it's in Romans 1, it's throughout the Bible.
And God's law doesn't change, okay?
And everyone's saying they're just good and everything like that.
No, they're not.
How does God feel about that?
He's angry with them.
He's mad at them.
He's mad at them always saying this.
And look, the religious leaders in this country, what do they say about the LGBT?
They don't say anything really negative.
And you know what's really disgusting is when you have Baptist pastors who you expect to
be the ones to stand up for the truth.
And you know what they do is they pretend to preach against it, but they're not really
preaching against it.
They're preaching in a way where basically nobody will be offended, but it seems like
they're conservative and taking a stand.
Isn't that true?
They'll seem like they're preaching against it.
Well, we still believe sodomy is a sin in 2020, bless God.
I hope you still think being a homosexual is a sin in 2020.
I mean, because wouldn't it be a sin for a guy and a girl to commit fornication before
they're married?
I would hope if two guys or two girls were together before they're married you would
say that's still a sin.
That's not hard preaching about the topic.
We still believe it's a sin in 2020.
Nobody who believes in the Bible still believes that's a sin.
That's not hard preaching, and that's not what the Bible says.
Of course it's a sin, but that is not what God says.
It's a lot stronger than that.
We're already kind of out of time.
I don't want to go into like another 20-minute rabbit show.
I preach on enough anyway, but that's exactly what I think of where it says everyone that
doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord.
And you know what?
I hope that churches would never do this because they're starting in this world to justify
pedophiles as well.
But they're starting to say now because it's so bizarre and disgusting.
It's like, yeah, you know when somebody's like eight years old they have a crush on
an eight-year-old girl, or an eight-year-old girl has a crush on an eight-year-old boy.
But what they're saying now is that basically all of us are like this.
It's just with the pedophile as they get older, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 25, 35, they just
never changed who they're attracted to.
That's what they're teaching now.
That is like the new thing for pedophilia is basically just like, well, we're all attracted
to like eight-year-olds at some point in our life.
It's just like with a pedophile as they become 40, 50, 60, they're still attracted to the
eight-year-old.
And it's like that's how they're trying to justify pedophilia.
You say, are they actually going to do that?
Yes, that's how they're trying to justify it.
They're trying to make it where it's not a criminal offense.
And it's like, you know, now in this country it's not really a shock because look at the
Catholic priests.
Of course they don't want it to be illegal.
I mean, just pick up the paper in whatever province and it's going on all the time in
our country.
And everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delighteth in them.
Or where is the God of judgment?
And they're basically mocking God saying God won't really judge us.
Where's the God of judgment?
God is just love, peace, love, peace, charity, joy, you know, just all the good things in
life.
God's angry at that.
Where is the God of judgment?
Because didn't we see in Malachi chapter 1 that His name is dreadful among the heathen?
He's supposed to be feared.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And so what do you see in Malachi 1, Malachi 2?
What do you see that God's done with Israel?
I think that's pretty clear.
And He's angry at the religious leaders and they're the cause of that.
And look, when a country turns away from God and becomes wicked, it's primarily the fault
of the religious leaders.
If they were doing their job and preaching what they need to behind the pulpits and doing
the soul winning, those countries would not become wicked like they are.
Let's close in with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to be here today in Your house and I ask
You to help us to apply this sermon to our lives and Malachi is a great book.
It's very interesting, God.
Help us to understand these topics.
And I know in this room, by and large, you know, people do not believe that Jews are
God's chosen people anymore today like most people in this world do or most churches teach
God.
But help us to understand why we believe those things and, you know, a book like Malachi
to really pay attention to all these verses and everything that's being taught in the
Word of God.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.