Episode for Friday September 18th - Malachi Chapter 1 - Part 2

0:0066.6640. Your future lies in 6640. 66 books by 40 authors, and yet we now discover it's an integrated message system from outside our time domain. Welcome to 6640, the Ministry Outreach of Coenania House and Coenania Institute. Today's Bible Teacher is Chuck Missler, connecting the Bible to your life and the world around you. In today's study Chuck completes his teaching on the book of Malachi, chapter 1. Later on, once again, they're dry, they're thirsty, they need water. The first time he was to strike the rock with the rod and water came for the second time he said to speak to the rock and we'll bring forth water.

1:01Moses was exasquerated with the people and so he goes out there and scolds them and he strikes the rock like he did the first time. Wasn't what God told him to do, told him to speak to the rock. And the shocking thing as you read that passage in the Scripture is that God calls Moses aside and says, you didn't do what I told you to do. So you're not going to enter the promised land. Now here's a guy that was 40 when he went to Midian to live with the Vanna Carla there for all those years. Then he was 40 years on the backside of the desert. So this guy's getting on. Now he's wandered 40 years in the wilderness with these people to do what, to enter the promised land. Because he screwed up that one time it would seem. God says you're in the penalty box, you're out of it guy. You can go up in the hill and see it but you're not going to enter in. And of course, this left for the rest of them to go in later.

2:03You say, what's going on here? Well, several things. First of all, Moses was not a faithful witness. God was not angry at the people but the way Moses presented that to the people, you got the impression God was angry. No, Moses was angry. God wasn't. He was not a good witness. But there's something else that few people notice is those two incidents of the water coming out of the rock. It would seem, may have been intended by God, to model the first and second comings of Jesus Christ. Where the first one is, he was smitten. You see, in 1 Corinthians 10, the rock that followed in the wilderness was Christ. Paul draws the analogy of that rock. It refers to Jesus Christ. The first time he was smitten, but not the second time. There was a distinction. You could preach quite a sermon from that. Had Moses not screwed it up. Follow me. Every detail in the Old Testament, every detail is there speaks of Jesus Christ. So, any time that they offered a blemished offering, it's a direct insult to the gift of redemption that God has provided for us.

3:10And so, each one of these was an act of sacrilege and blasphemy. And the question that should be lurking in your mind right now, are we guilty of a comparable thing in our lives and our attitudes? And you ask yourself, first of all, how did the priests allow this? These people bringing the blemished offerings weren't doing it. It wasn't a one-way street. The priests said to accept it, and they were accepting it. They lowered their standards, which they shouldn't have done. And so, it was a discount religion. They were shaping their practices by a market analysis of what the people wanted. I wonder how many churches planned their programs? By reading polls and designing the services for the people rather than by what God has ordained. Now, in verse 8, it says, Tom, but these inadequate acts sacrifice. And he says, offer it now to thy governor. Now, by the way, the word governor in the original is a Persian term.

4:12It does corroborate the fact that Malachi was writing about the days of Nehemiah. They were still under Persian rule in those days. But he says, offer it now to thy governor. See, in other words, they're offering God these blemished animals. Presumably animals, you probably couldn't even sell them marketplace. They were lame, they were blind, they were wrong with them. So, they were fulfilling their technicalities at this temple by giving them offerings. And Malachi says, give it to the tax collector. See if you'll take it. You see, it's a very, very facetious sarcastic kind of remark. Offer it now to thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person, say the Lord of hosts? You think it's good enough for me, God, but you know, it certainly isn't good enough for your local tax collector, in effect, with their signs. It's interesting, speaking of tax collectors, that I wonder how far we would get by paying our taxes with marked-down goods. And yet, we're paying what, over 50% of our income in taxes in this country.

5:12Our sales. People say, well, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Remember that? They cornered him. They confronted him. He says, well, give me a coin. They give him a coin. He says, whose image is this? They said Caesar's. Then he said, render under Caesar the things that are Caesar's. The part of that, you know, we always hear that banded about so loosely, rendered under Caesar the things that are Caesar's. What Jesus was really saying wasn't just that. The question is, whose image do you bear? In Genesis, Scripture tells us we were created in whose image? Gods. So we too are to render the Caesar the things that bear Caesar's image,

6:14but to gods the things that bear gods' image. Jesus was saying far more than just this business of G-Due Appear taxes there, as an aside. The question that you and I need to think about is, are we presenting authentic images? Or are we counterfeits? Verse 9 continues, and now I pray you, besiege God that He will be gracious unto us. This hath been by your means. Will He be guard your persons, say, at the Lord of hosts? See, there's no reason for you and I. There's no legitimate reason for you and I to have any doubts about God's love. You can tack that in so many, many ways in terms of how you deal with that. God's love for you and I. The first half of this chapter hits that head on. But in our indifference, our carelessness have hardness that blocks our privileged position too, just like Israel's. Israel's privileged position, Israel was chosen, elect by God, for knowledge, all of that. And yet their privileged position was blocked or encumbered by their indifference, their half-heartedness.

7:15We have a gift of God that's far more precious than they have. And yet we're in the same position. Getting back to these gifts, God judges a gift by what the gift cost the offerer who placed it on the altar, not by its intrinsic worth. And of course, we're all familiar in Mark 12 and Luke 21, the widow in her mites. That was valued far more than all the other things but they're why, because it was measured in terms of what she actually gave. Wasn't much, but it was everything. In other words, God looks at the heart. So we're called upon to be authentic. We're called upon to be authentic in our gifts. We're called upon to be authentic in our service. Let's look at verse 10. Malachi continues, who is there even among you that would shut the doors for not? Neither do ye kindle fire on my altar for not. I have no pleasure in you, say, at the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. This is one of those places where the King James does seem a bit obscure.

8:18I tend to lean to the King James, but there are values in looking at some of the other versions. The authorized standard version would read this verse slightly different, more accurately. Oh, that there were one among you that would shut the doors that ye might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, say, at the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. The NIV comes close. It says, oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors that ye would not light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you, say, at the Lord Almighty, and I will accept no offering from your hands. See, these profane sacrifices that were permitted by the priests were so distasteful that Malachi or God through Malachi and I'll make this outrageous suggestion. Lock the double doors of the temple and block all access to the altar of God. No worship at all is better than a perpetuation of cold, negligent, worthless worship.

9:26And I can hear it already. Well, that's just that harsh language of the Old Testament. Jesus would never say something like that. Well, Jesus did, by the way, but let's get at another point. First of all, remember the seven letters to seven churches in the book of Revelation. Everybody says, well, there's, you know, 21 epistles in the New Testament, wrong, they're 28. Everybody overlooks seven of them or pinned by the Lord Himself. Or I should say dictated by the Lord Himself. John pendant. The seven letters, seven churches. By Jesus Christ Himself. What's fascinating about those seven letters is that every church was surprised. Every church got a report card and none of them, all of them, if you read the letter carefully, are obviously taken by surprise. Some are doing not as good as they thought they were. Some are actually doing better than they thought they were. But it's interesting, a very sobering thought. As first of all, most churches don't really know where they stand. It didn't then, at least. Jesus had to straighten them out. But the church that lay it to see, remember where He says then?

10:28I would that you were cold or hot, but I, because you were lukewarm, I'll spew the out of my mouth. Pretty strong language. And yet, very analogous to what we have see here. That's in Revelation chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 for those of you who want to check it out. Can you imagine a church with the doors locked in a great sign over the door saying, closed, scandalous, a sure sign of a decadent society? Interesting. You know, this very chapter in Malachi opened with Malachi's declaration that I have loved you. It's interesting that, in the letter to lay it as he, Jesus is on the outside of the church, looking at the door to come in. In all the other six letters, it's a little different situation. But in the verse 20, it's often quoted, behold, I stand at the door knock, a bayman opened the door, and so forth. You've all heard it as an evangelist's call to the altar. And it's very eloquent for that. It works for that. It's fine. And yet, if you really understand the situation there, all the other letters have a call to the church.

11:33Do this or that. I'll just over come with you in this or for it. Here, things are so desperate that Jesus is outside the church knocking to get in, and His plea, His call, is it to the individual, not the church collectively. I stand at the door knock. If any man, hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and step with him. It's an individual call. That's a beautiful call for an altar call and evangelist. In the context it's placed, it's a scathing indictment to the condition of the lay of the city in church. What the whole idea here is, it's better to have no sacrifices than vain ones. They pollute the altar and the insult the God of the universe. And I'm going to suggest that this type of infamities worse than tasteless or careless speech, and pretended orthodoxy does not cover polluted gifts, services, sacrifices, lives or hearts. Now, verse 11, it gives us a burst of good news to break this dirge by malachyces,

12:37from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same. My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and the pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen, say, at the Lord of hosts. See, God is not powerless to rescue His holy name. Now, to the Jews that are listening to malachyces' message, this is a two by four right across the forehead. Whoa! From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same. My name shall be great among Israel. No, that's over to saying. Not that it won't be, but I'm going to point out, among the Gentiles. Boy, that's guaranteed to get their attention. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among whom? The heathen, say, at the Lord of hosts. Now, the rising up and going down of the sun, of course, obviously, is a way of referring to the extremities of the earth. We see that often here. Four other times when the Bible is used to refer to the comprehensiveness of God's reign.

13:40It's sort of a confirmation of verse 5, we talked about, beyond the border of Israel, in a broader sense. It's interesting that God says He, as far as the east is from the west, so far as He's separated or ascends from us. It's interesting He didn't say north and south. You know, you and I think, well, Jesus, one is as good as the other. No, because you can only go so far north, you get to the north pole from which all are used to use their south. There's a limit to north and there's a limit to south. There's no limit to how far west you can go. East and west are without limit with me. How interesting these terms are. They're very, very skillfully chosen and perhaps subtle, but nevertheless an interesting question of God's own authenticity. Now, this verse should not have surprised Malachi's listeners because remember, of course, that they should have been told that three Abrams seed all the nations of the world would be blessed. And that's in Genesis, when Abrams called in Genesis 12, verse 3.

14:40In Psalm 67, it hammers that God has purposed to bless all the ends of the earth. And all the prophets do testify to the conversion of the nations. Isaiah 2, Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, 39, on it goes. Now, of course, these prophecies, by the way, there's not prophecy of something in our church age. I believe these prophecies here are having viewed the millennial kingdom. Malachi's going to talk much more about that. It's interesting, more people come up to me and they're puzzled by the fact that there are going to be sacrifices in the millennium. One of the things, if you start studying the millennium, this thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth, first of all, it's amazing how many churches denied that, they allegorized that. They don't take Gabriel seriously when she promised Mary that Jesus was going to take the throne of David, a literal political throne on the platter. And so forth, I won't hammer that to death. It's interesting, many people have studied the millennium, still are puzzled that there are offerings. I thought Jesus died once and for all.

15:41Why are they giving offerings after the cross? See, when people raise that question, it demonstrates that they don't really understand the offerings of the Old Testament. The book of Hebrews hammers away on the fact that no sins were ever covered by the blood of goats and calves and such. They were memorials in advance of the offering that would cover sin. So the only difference between the offerings of the Old Testament and the offerings of the millennium is one of whether they're commemorative in advance or commemorative behind sight. In each case, they are nothing more than memorials of that event that God has chosen to measure the entire universe by that will determine the outcome of every issue in the entire universe. By a cross that was erected in Judea some 2000 years ago. But Israel, first of all, does have a destiny despite their failures that Malachiah is hammering away on and rest of it.

16:42They have a destiny which will be fulfilled. What Paul says in Romans 11.25, when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. When Jesus was rejected by Israel, Jesus when He wrote the donkey says, now these things are hidden from the eyesight. Are they hidden forever? No, Paul tells us in Romans 11.25. They're hidden until the fullness of Gentiles be come in. We're in this peculiar parenthesis where God is choosing to call a people out of the Gentiles for His name. But when that's complete, God has a destiny for Israel. It's all laid out in both the Old and the New Testament. And the God is going to be extolled in every place, it says. And that's exactly what He told the woman by the well in Samaria in John 4. So anyway, moving on verse 12 to continue. But you have profaned it in that you say the table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof, even this meat is contemptible. This repeats the reproof that Malachi had said in verse 7. And the error of the priests was to accept substandard items on behalf of God.

17:49Well, boy, that's a scary idea. How many of you have had the opportunity to be astured of things done for the church? And have accepted substandard performance? Ooh, that's a little scary. Usually you're scratching around for all the help you can get. And yet, there's a disturbing analogy, if you will, and priests accepting substandard items on behalf of God here in Malachi. And some of the predicaments you and I find ourselves in from time to time when there's something being done for God. Do you impose standards that glorify God? Or does He have to satisfy Himself with second-rate goods? Interesting question. Well, we said that we should be authentic and our gifts authentic in our service. I think we really should conclude the last few verses, think by being authentic. I can remember once in the Pentagon, General was giving a lecture about a certain program,

18:54or going to be famous right now, but he had a chart. How to be serious about X? Step one, have a chart on X. Step two was to have some staff positions on X. And the last one, item 12 on the list was be serious about X. And there was all those other things we're forming about substance. But Malachi included this as a be authentic. Verse 13, he said, He said also, behold what a weariness is it. And you have snuffed at it, say, at the Lord of Hosts, and you brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick of us, he brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hands, say, at the Lord? Where is Simon Burden some? See, the hearts were not in it. The priests' heart were not in it. They snuffed at it and they treated their jobs with contempt. Boredom, weariness, dull routine, drudgery, burden. Those are familiar terms, I think. We've all heard them with respect to services, churches, church things.

19:54You see, the blemished offerings were not because of poverty, it was because of greed. It was the offerer, not just the offering that was polluted. And the question is, are you and I stewards of God's resources? And do we demand a high standard? Or do we accept substandard performance on behalf of the King? How about in our private life, what is your table grace like? Is it routine? Is it form? Or does it have substance? How do we begin our day? What's the first thing we do under the day? Does the Lord get the best of us? For some of us, the morning is the best time of the day. Do we give to the Lord? Or at the end of the day, the day is done. In other words, are you and I really being authentic? Verse 14 contains, but cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrifice unto the Lord for a corrupt thing, for I am a great King, say, at the Lord of hosts,

20:55and my name is dreadful among the heathen. See, the curse is pronounced upon a deceiver who thinks he can vow, in such cases, what was promised of God, a proper sacrifice, and then he fulfilled the vow with an unsuitable animal, in such where an insult to the majesty of God. You make a promise to do one thing, you compromise it. Among other things, you're insulting God. They were actually trying to swindle God. Do any of us try to do that? God means what He says and says what He means, and I think He expects us to do the same. Many of the things they're dealing with here were voluntary vows, and yet they're voluntary, and they still didn't keep them. Sadly, God wants us to tell them anything unless we mean it. It's interesting that throughout the entire scripture, you can't find a place where God calls a believer a hypocrite. You speak so hypocrite, so you speak so believers, but He doesn't lump them together. It's interesting if the standards that were applied to Ananias and Sapphira and Acts chapter 5

21:59apply to us, this place would probably be empty. Someone asked Mahatma Gandhi, the famed leader of India, he asked him, what's the biggest obstacle to Christianity in India? His memorable reply was Christians. Christians. One of the things that I'm hoping will ask ourselves, do our lives reflect the name, reputation, characteristics, and majesty of our king? You might in your notes put Psalm 129 in Isaiah 40, and at your leisure read those passages and see if our lives authentically reflect Him. So here's the model of excellence, reality, and authenticity to which men and women are being challenged. And to the degree to which we grasp the greatness of His person, the character and attributes of God, in other words, His name.

22:59To that degree, our own inadequacy, falseness, and deluded worship take on credibility, substance, acceptance, and posture. So we need to heed Malachi's call to be authentic. You and I can sit through a three-hour entertainment, and yet we get restless when the Bible study or sermon or whatever approaches an hour. Yet when a sporting event goes into extra innings or rejoice over, don't we? Yeah. Do your sacrifices, whatever they are, not just in money, but in services or whatever else, do they reflect your estimation of His majesty, or if they do, then you are authentic. Can we continue to claim our status as His sons or His children? Do we render Him, the honor that is due?

24:00See, it's not God that needs defense or credibility. All these apologetics, all these people, is the Bible credible, all that. That's not the issue. The real issues are we credible. We're the one that need to be more real, more authentic in our profession, in our gifts and our service. And His supreme love has given us our most precious treasure, the most precious treasure you have, the desire of the King of Israel to deem her a men. One of the questions, of course, that you can ask me is, how do we actually go about becoming authentic? How do we go about it? I don't think there's any simple answer. I can offer you some steps that make sense to me. It happens by the grace of God that my wife just published a book called Be Transformed. And it's incredible how that's being received already. And I think that's one of the reasons I think people are hungry to know how. How do I go about this? And it's a very practical step by step analysis.

25:02How do you become more authentic? How do you become transformed? So I encourage you to take a look at that. But also take a look at Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23 and 24. Thus say of the Lord, let not the wise man glory in His wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glory, if glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, say, at the Lord. You want to please God, what pleases the most is to get to know Him personally and let your actions and your response to Him be authentic, not hypocritical, not following formulas or forms, but of the heart.

26:02It's time for all of us, I think, by the grace of God and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit to become more authentic. You've been listening to 6640, the ministry outreach of Coenania House and Coenania Institute. Today's Bible teacher was Chuck Missler, teaching through the book of Malachi. Download the new K-House TV app to access an ever-growing collection of free resources. Visit the Apple or Android app store or search K-House TV on your Roku or Fire TV streaming device. Thank you for listening to 6640 and for your continued prayerful support of this ministry. Until next time, as we continue this series, may God bless you with the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ, as you study His Word.