WHEREIN HAVE WE POLLUTED THEE? (Mal 1:7-2:16))
Nov. 23rd, 2003
1. We now come to the third striking question in this little book.
2. Consider several ways in which men have polluted the Lord.
I. BY CONSIDERING THE SACRIFICES OF LITTLE IMPORTANCE.
A. THIS CHARGE CAN BE LEVELED AGAINST MANY TODAY.
1. The “table of the Lord” (ver. 12) is the altar, on which were laid the sacrifices, regarded as the food. of God, and to be eaten by the fire.
a. (Ezek 41:22) "The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD."
b. (Ezek 44:16) "They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge."
2. They showed that they despised the altar by offering the blind and lame for sacrifice.
a. (Lev 22:19-25) "Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats. {20} But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you. {21} And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein. {22} Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the LORD. {23} Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted. {24} Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land. {25} Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you."
3. Liberals stand in the pulpit every Lord’s day and offer a blemished Saviour.
a. By denying his Virgin birth.
b. By denying his Divinity.
c. By making light of his “blood atonement”
d. By denying his bodily resurrection.
e. By denying his absolute Sovereignty in Salvation.
f. By denying the Inspiration of His blessed Word.
4. Joseph Parker: “This is the charge that is levelled against all men to-day. Why patter with incidental errors, why not. lift up the impeachment to its proper dignity, and charge men with having left the Lord, with having turned their backs upon the Lord?"
II. CONSIDER WHAT THE LAW DEMANDED OF THE WORSHIPERS
A. THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE OR PERSONAL OPINIONS
1. Biblical Illustrator: "The law demanded that God should be honored with the sacrifice of a man’s best. Every oblation was to be free from spot or blemish. Such laws had their symbolic and spiritual meaning. They asserted God’s right as first and supreme."
2. (Deu 15:21) "And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God."
B. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE TODAY
1. R. W. Evans said: “If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?”
2. “They had plenty of cattle without blemish to offer to the Lord. But they wanted these for themselves.
3. “The Christian has a body given him which he may present a living sacrifice unto the Lord, without blemish of sight.
4. “In it he has an eye to read the Word of God, an understanding to receive it: an eye to lift up to heaven in prayer, an understanding to offer prayer and praise in the name of the Lord.
5. “The eye should be withdrawn from all unholy sights; it should be single and pure.
6. “Instead of this, to what service is the eye and understanding commonly devoted!
7. “The true and living sacrifice of the body in this particular is the growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
8. “Never forget that growth in grace and growth in knowledge go together. Instead of using their eye and understanding in the spiritual service of the Lord, men waste their light in the pursuit of vanity and sin, until at last there comes the appointed hour of their departure from earth.
9. “Then at length — and often in vain — they turn their eye and their thoughts unto God."
C. MEN TODAY, LIKE ISRAEL OF OLD, WANT TO MAKE THE WORD OF GOD FIT THEIR SCHEME OF THINKING.
1. Pulpit Commentary says: "It is more forceful to read this: "It is not evil", which was the way they felt.
2. Such unconcealed irreverence and greed in God’s service could not pass unrebuked.
3. Professing Christians might sometimes be addressed in the same terms.
a. We give God our spare time and spare talent and spare change.
III. THE LORD DELIVERS AN ULTIMATUM. (Vr. 10)
A. SOME SCHOLARS RENDER THIS ‘SHUT THE TEMPLE DOORS’
1. Wrong worship is worse than no worship at all.
2. Wrong worship will one day be practically repudiated.
3. Wrong worship is sometimes rendered even by the religious teachers of mankind.
a. These priests made worship appear contemptible and burdensome.
4. Wrong worship always incurs the just displeasure of heaven.
B. CONSIDER THE SIN INVOLVED IN THEIR ILL WORSHIP
1. Biblical Illustrator: "They performed solemn duties hypocritically.
a. “Malachi would show them their folly by asking them to test their conduct by the way in which the (Persian) governor of the land would regard it."
2. Biblical Illsutrator: "Men often act towards God as they would not act towards an earthly ruler.
3. Pulpit Commentary: "The priests would not even shut the temple door nor kindle the altar fire unless they were paid for it; or else it means that, though all the officers of the temple were remunerated for their most trivial services."
4. Pulpit Commentary: "God threatens that the temple services shall wholly cease.
a. “ It would be better to have no pretense of worship at all than to have it profaned as they were doing."
5. Pulpit Commentary: "It would be better if the Temple was shut up as it had been in the days of Ahaz; for no offerings would any longer be accepted at their hands, and “Ichabod!” “No glory!” was written on the altar."
C. CONSIDER HOW MANY SERVE GOD TODAY.
1. Many stand in His presence and profane His name. Let them offer that to their governor.
2. Many treat His authority and disregard His commands.
3. Many pretend to make sacrifices for His cause, and yet give only that which is worthless, or what they think will bring the man equivalent in temporal good.
4. Many render heartless homage and selfish service. Men act in these ways sometimes through
5. God has a right to all that we possess.
6. Osborne Lilley said: "Our holiest acts need examination. Our sacrifices may be worthless. It is a great sin to act niggardly towards God."
D. ISRAEL CALLED IT A WEARINESS TO SERVE THE LORD. (Vr. 13)
1. A woman recently said: "She just didn't believe it was needful to attend church every week."
With lip we call him Master,
In life oppose his Word,
We ev’ry day deny him,
And yet we call him Lord!
No more is our religion
Like his in soul or deed
Than painted grain on canvas
Is like the living seed.
2. We are to “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” (Rom 12:1)
3. We are to serve in “newness of the spirit,” and not in the “oldness of the letter.” (Rom 7:6)
E. NOTICE THE “BESEECH” IN (Vr. 9)
1. BESEECH GOD: "This is not a serious call to repentance, but an ironical appeal. Come now and ask the favor of God with your polluted sacrifices..."
2. Stay out of church week after week—get sick and then call on God for his blessing!
3. Rob God of his tithe week after week and then ask Him to supply your every need.
F. GOD DEMANDS A “PURE” OFFERING (Vr. 11)
1. PURE OFFERING: "Christianity does not remove from us this obligation, though Christ has offered Himself without spot for us.
a. “He offered Himself that we may be able to offer ourselves through Him. Ourselves are the best offerings we can give."
2. A pure offering must come from a purified heart.
3. A pure offering must come from an obedient spirit.
a. The disposition of the offerer will be regarded more than the offering.
b. Gifts separated from the inner life are of no value to God.
3. A pure offering must come from a consecrated worshiper.
G. ISRAEL “SNUFFED” AT GOD’S REQUIREMENTS IN WORSHIP.
1. Ye have snuffed at “it” or "Me" The phrase expresses contempt for the Lord.
2. They brought that which was torn, and the lame and the sick. (Vr. 13)
a. The LXX renders this: "That which was torn; rather, that which was taken by violence — that which was stolen or unjustly taken."
b. How many steal all week and then offer of it on Sunday!
c. (1 Cor 11:22) "What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not."
IV. NOTICE GOD’S WARNING TO THE PRIEST. (Mal 2:1-3)
A. SUCH A WARNING MAY BE EXTENDED TO THIS GENERATION OF PREACHERS.
1. Ordaining women for the ministry.
2. Ordaining Homosexuals for the ministry.
3. Taking Homosexuals into the membership.
V . NOTICE THE LORD’S COMMENDATION OF LEVI (Mal 2:4-6)
A. SUCH A COMMENDATION SHOULD BE SOUGHT BY ALL PREACHERS.
1. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity. (Mal. 2: 6)
2. F. B. Meyers said: “THESE inspiring words, especially the last clause, might well hang in the secret chamber of every servant of God.”
3. This covenant dates back to the righteous zeal of Phinehas for the honour of God (Num. 25).
4. What a contrast between that noble ancestry and the degenerate successors of Malachi's days!
B. CONTRAST TODAY WITH 100 YEARS AGO
1. The requirements for the Priesthood.. (Mal 2:7)
2. The failures of the Priesthood. (Mal 2:8)
3. The curse of God upon the Priesthood. (Mal 2:9)
4. The call for self-examination. (Mal 2:10)
VI. CONSIDER THE BAD EXAMPLE OF THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS.
1. With the bad example of the religious leaders, the people also became corrupt. As the result of a broken covenant with God, they began to deal treacherously with their brothers.
2.. The great abomination in their social life, as in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, was the marriage with the daughters of the heathen.
3. These were considered unholy alliances and forbidden by the Law.
4. They were even putting away their Jewish wives to marry the heathens and thus desecrated the covenant of their fathers, the covenant that God had made with them when He chose them to be a separated people.
5. God said that a breach of this covenant meant that they would be cut off.
6. We have a description of the weeping and the tears of the abandoned Jewish wives, a condition that had grown worse from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
7. How permissive we are today with our divorce courts.
8. Only God knows the untold misery because of it.
9. The Bible is explicit about this in both the Old and New Testament.
10. This one factor alone can destroy our nation.
11. It is the sign of a very rapid degeneration of our nation.
12. The people in Malachi’s day were so hardened that they asked another, “In what way?”
13. They could not see that they were to blame.
14. God in the marriage relation makes of two one flesh.
15. Why should there ever be any consideration to act independently of each other?
16. The warning is given, “Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.”
VII. CONSIDER THE SHAME OF JUDAH. (Vr. 10-12)
A. NOTICE HOW THEY BROKE THEIR MARRIAGE VOWS
1. It was a direct violation of the covenant to marry foreigners, but they were doing it.
2. One reason for the command not to marry foreigners would be to avoid introducing the worship of foreign gods into Israel.
3. Solomon’s wives did that.
4. Jezebel is another classic example.
5. They married “daughters of a foreign god,” (Vr. 11)
6. Like America where most people are a mixture of several different nationalities and after only 200 years, few know their ancestry.
7. The fact that most Jews are distinctly Jewish and know their lineage is a testimony to how God has set them apart as a distinct people.
B. GOD THREATENED TO CUT OFF THOSE THAT BROKE THIS VOW. (Vr. 12-16)
1. Violations of marriage laws seriously disrupted family and social life.
2. Divorce, rampant in the time of Malachi, had far-reaching consequences:
3. It broke the pledge made at the time of marriage (Mal. 2:14).
4. It violated God's original intention of one woman for one man (2:15).
5. It denied protection due the wife (2:16).
6. "I hate divorce" (Mal 2:16).
C NOTICE HOW NEHEMIAH HANDLED THIS PROBLEM
1. (Neh 13:22-25) "And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. {23} In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: {24} And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. {25} And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves."
2. Does the problem of Nehemiah’s day remind you of America?