Would you turn with me to the
book of Malachi? Malachi chapter two. And I'd like to read the first eight
verses of Malachi chapter two. Excuse me for our lesson tonight. Malachi chapter two, beginning
with verse one. And now, O ye priests, this commandment
is for you. If ye will not hear, and if you
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. Yea, I have cursed them already,
because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed
and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn
feasts, and one shall take you away with it. And ye shall know
that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might
be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with
him of life and peace, and I gave them to him. For the fear wherewith
he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 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. 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. But ye have 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. As we mentioned in another lesson
with regard to these words about the covenant with Levi and Levi,
he was a rascal. He offended his father. He offended
his father's name, and he did many things that were contrary
to what his father would have him do. And yet, we have that
mentioned in here, the covenant with Levi. And if Levi ever had
any ability at all to keep anything of the law that the Lord gave
through Aaron, through Moses and Aaron, it was only because
of what we read about another person in the New Testament,
and it tells us here in the New Testament that Zacharias and
his wife Elizabeth, they were both righteous before God, walking
in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless. The only
way anybody is ever going to be able to do that is in Christ. We cannot keep His law. We cannot
keep His ordinances. We fail on a second by minute,
by hour, by day, by week, by month, by year. We fail all the
time doing that, but there is one that did it all for us and
we trust in Him. Now, going back to the book of
Malachi, my covenant is with Levi. The only person that this
truly could be speaking about is our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
And we mentioned that in another lesson, but I just wanted to
go over it again. My covenant is with him of life
and peace, and I gave them to him for fear wherewith he feared
me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth,
and equity was not found, iniquity was not found in his lips. This
can only be fulfilled by the person our Savior, the Lord Jesus. He walked with me in peace and
equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 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 in verse 8 of this chapter we have that
the Malachi, the messenger of God, the minister, the pastor
of the flock of the Lord Jesus here in the Old Testament. The
prophet's name was Malachi. And as we've said about many
of the books here found in the Old Testament, if anyone knew
Christ, and if anyone knew the gospel, and they lived in this
day and in this time, they would seek out someone like this, because
he is the one that was speaking for God, and he was preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us there in
verse 8, but you've departed out of the way. You have caused
many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant
of Levi. Now, so often as I find it a
blessing to me and I trust you, I wanted to look up some verses
in the Old Testament that use that word corrupted and just
see how it was used in other places. And one or two of the
places are found in the book of Genesis chapter six. In the
book of Genesis chapter six, we find that as God is reviewing
the corruption that's on the face of the earth, as he is preparing
for Noah, it shares with us here in Genesis chapter six, that
he brings out what the world was like at that time, and that
the earth was corrupt before God. Genesis chapter six, and
this same word is used over here that we found in Malachi chapter
2 and verse 8. In Genesis chapter 6 and verse
11, the scripture says, And God looked upon the earth, and, behold,
it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the
earth. That word corrupt means to ruin or to destroy. And truly,
as we read that verse of scripture, it was ruined. The world as God
had created it, sin had corrupted it, had ruined it. And it goes
on in verse 13, And God said unto Noah, excuse me, verse 11. Earth also was corrupt before
God and the earth was filled with violence and the Lord looked
upon the earth and behold it was corrupt all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth. It was a terrible ruin as God
looked upon it and we find there in verse 13 then that God said
unto Noah the end of all flesh has come before me. This is a
word that we find in Malachi chapter 2 and verse 8 the world
is corrupt and the people in it were corrupt and they had
corrupted the world and all flesh had corrupted they'd ruined the
image of God they had ruined the creation and it was so detailed
as it's mentioned here Over in the book of Deuteronomy, this
word is used again. And it's used at a time when
Moses is on the mount and he is visiting with God. And he
mentions here that the whole host of folks that were left
behind, Deuteronomy chapter nine and verse 12, it says, and the
Lord said unto me, arise, get thee down quickly and hence for
thy people Thou has brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves
and they are quickly turned aside out of the way Which I commanded
them and they have made them a molten image In this verse
of scripture we have that word again corrupted themselves and
they've corrupted the worship of God and they've corrupted
though the worship of Almighty God and all these things he corrupted
the gospel they've corrupted the the message of salvation,
and in so doing, by building a calf, a molten image, and said,
this be the God that brought us out of Egypt. How people,
in a natural vein, corrupt the things of God. They corrupt His
word, they corrupt His way, they corrupt His purpose. They cannot
destroy God, they cannot destroy His purpose, but they will interfere
in any way that they possibly can, as we see here. In the book
of the Psalms, Psalm 14, we have the Lord God Almighty speaking
from heaven as He's reviewing the sight that He sees as He
looks down from heaven and He shares with us in In Psalm 14,
verse 1, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They
are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
They are corrupt. The very nature of man is corrupt.
It's ruined. It's destroyed. And the ways
of men are ruined and destroyed. And there was none that did seek
after God. There's none that did understand.
They've all gone aside. They're all together. become
filthy. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. They are corrupt from inside to out. Their manner
is corrupt. Their issues are corrupt. Their
thoughts are corrupt. Their plans are corrupt. By nature,
we're just this way. In the book of Samuel, 2 Samuel,
chapter 2, verse 15, this word has been translated battered.
And that truly is a way to look at this word corrupt, especially
as it's found here in Malachi chapter 2. Malachi chapter 2
it says they have you have corrupted the covenant of Levi you battered
the covenant of Levi you've ruined the covenant of Levi you've tried
to destroy the covenant of Levi so this word carries with it
a lot of weight in the original language as God brings it out
here in the days of Malachi that these priests are Now no doubt
they dressed like they were supposed to, and they had their hats on
like they're supposed to, and they had their linen clothes
on like they're supposed to, probably even had the breastplate
with the stones on it and the shoulder pads with the stones
on it representing Israel, but they corrupted the covenant of
Levi by bringing and accepting and sacrificing lame and halt
and maimed sacrificial animals. They were corrupting the covenant
of Levi by their actions and by what they would accept for
a sacrifice. As in the days of old, it's that
way today. Many have tampered with the Word
of God. The Word of God has been added
to and subtracted from and divided by, and this has happened from
the very, very beginning. Was it not that with Cain he
corrupted the Word of God? There is no way that he did not
have the same instructions, but they didn't mean anything to
him since he didn't have the new birth. He corrupted the covenant. He corrupted the word of God.
The Word of God was that there must be a substitute, someone
to take care of our sin. We must, in all these sacrifices,
we must declare that it is Christ and Him crucified. Abel was not
an anomaly. Abel was one that God had dealt
with. in the covenant of grace. Abel was just like Cain. Abel
was just like the other thief on the cross. Abel was just like
so many we find until God came along and dealt with him and
he heard the gospel in some manner and God saved him by his grace
and gave him the new birth and had the spirit indwell him. And
it was then that it was his purpose was to declare Christ and him
crucified in these activities, this sacrifice that he was performing. Conventional theology we see
in Cain. It is the conventional theology
of natural man. Yet how far from the theology
of Christ is the theology, the conventional theology of natural
man? The best way to correct the corrupting
of the covenant of Levi, the Lord Jesus of the Lord Jesus
Christ is found in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. So
I ask you to turn over there. How are we going to prevent from
corrupting the covenant? How are we going to prevent from
corrupting the covenant of Levi, the covenant of God, the covenant
of Christ? How will we Prevent from corrupting
it and that the Apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit in
the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and there in verse 1 and 2
and I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency
of speech or wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified." Paul means that he did not think it
was fit or his business to know anything for his message beyond
the mystery of God, and the mystery of God is the covenant of the
Lord Jesus. It's the covenant of grace. It's
a mystery to us, but it is so declared by God Almighty. Jesus
Christ, we find in that, is both the person and his office. He
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. But we find that the Christ has always been the
anointed one of God. And so combined, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus, the one born of a virgin, laid in a manger,
the one that had no sin, of any kind, not a thought of sin. He
was a person that was born and grew to 33 and a half years and
never had an evil thought in all those years. Paul was shown
that this is the very center of the gospel. This is the center
for Abel in the book of Genesis. This is the center for Abraham. This is the center for Moses,
this is the center for all preaching of the gospel, and this is what
the brother Malachi was teaching to those priests and to those
around. Now, there were some that were
going to hear that, and this is, this has corrupted the covenant
by seeing these folks bring these broken and halt and maimed animals
to be sacrificed. And the priests were accepting
it and not saying, they never said, oh, we can't accept that.
They went ahead with it, they declared, that they were in league
with the corruption that was going on. Their hearts were corrupted
and their sacrifices were corrupted and their covenant was corrupted.
Paul was acquainted with the Jewish law and the rites and
the traditions with heathen poets and philosophers and then said,
I troubled you with none of these things from the pulpit. My business
was the mysteries of the gospel. My business was preaching Christ
and him crucified. Paul's preaching was not in verse
one of this chapter, chapter two, verse one. When I came unto
you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God, or was it in verse four, my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and a power. He didn't come with
philosophy. Human philosophy has done nothing
for anybody. And salvation has done everything
for everyone of God's elect. We preach Christ and him crucified.
And it is a subject of Paul's preaching was just this, and
he singles out that very circumstance concerning Christ, which of all
others, neither Jews nor Gentiles were able to endure, and that
was Christ being nailed to a cross till he died and being nailed
to a cross on purpose by God and being nailed to a cross and
bearing the sins of his people. He, as he went to the cross,
He had our sins placed on him in such a capacity that when,
as pictured in the Old Testament, those sacrifices were burnt,
we find the Lord Jesus Christ was spiritually consumed on the
cross, and all the sin was burnt and put away, as we read in various
places in the Scripture. We preach Christ and Him crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block. unto the Greeks foolishness but
verse 24 1st Corinthians chapter 1 says but unto them which are
called he is precious 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 24 It says,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. So Christ crucified. This is such an important thing. And all those Old Testament sacrifices
portrayed this. It was a substitute. The substitute
was consumed. The sin that was spoken on that
substitute, pictured on that substitute, that substitute went
under the fire of justice as Jesus Christ went to the cross.
Now there were thousands and there were thousands and there
were thousands of sacrifices in the Old Testament, but we
find in the book of Hebrews that our Savior, by the sacrifice
of himself, once put away sin forever. We preach Christ and
Him crucified. To many, it's a stumbling block.
And to many, it's just foolishness. But unto them that are called,
it is the power, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of
God. God's wrath burned out on the
cross of His Son. Christ died to take away the
sin of the church. He satisfied the judgment against
sin. Jesus Christ refers to the person
and crucified refers to his work. The priests during Malachi's
ministry no doubt dressed properly, said the right words, knew the
history, yet did not declare Christ and him crucified. They
offered faulty scriptures, faulty sacrifices. said it doesn't matter
with what God says, we'll do it our way. And Christ, the Messiah,
the only one that was able to put away sin, we find in this
one, the Lord Jesus. We find in this one, the Lord
Jesus, the one that became a shadow in a dry, thirsty land. We find
in the Lord Jesus that he is the one that puts away sin. He's
the one that saves and keeps us. And over there in the book
of Isaiah chapter 32, will you turn with me there to Isaiah
chapter 32? Isaiah chapter 32, and we read
these words in verse two. Isaiah chapter 32 in verse two,
And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, a covert
from the tempest. Did you notice that with me?
And a man shall be, a man shall be as a hiding place from the
wind. That's this one, this Christ. This is the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus. And in him, he honored the covenant. In him, he held
the covenant most high. I come to do thy will, O God."
He exalted the covenant of grace. He declared the covenant of grace.
Those throughout the Old Testament that put aside and made little
of the sacrifices and eventually got to the point that they would
offer anything that was brought to them. They would never say
anything to anybody about their sacrifices that they were bringing.
They would offer them the halt and the blind and the maimed.
And we're going to find that here in the book of Malachi,
Malachi shares with us to those, those priests, he said, go offer
those things to your governor, go offer them to your, go give
those to your preacher and see how he likes them. Go give them
to your political leaders and see how they like them. And God
said, they're an abomination to me. So a man shall be a hiding
place from the wind and a covert, from the tempest, a shelter from
the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land. He is a covert from the tempest.
There is no greater tempest in all time than the tempest the
Lord Jesus faced upon the cross, and He placed all His children,
all His elect, in Him. And as the tempest came and strongly
bent him, even to the point of saying, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? We find as he endured the tempest
of the justice of God, that tempest will not touch his people. That
tempest, that wind, he's a hiding place from the wind, that wind
of God and justice and that tempest of God and justice will not touch
his people. And as a result of this covenant,
and him honoring it as he did. There'll be rivers of water in
a dry place. We're dry and thirsty by our
nature, but we're given the water of life that springs up to everlasting
life and as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. He's the
place where we hide in this land. It is a weary land. It's a weary
world. It's a weary life that we have
in this world, but we find that there is a great rock and that's
the Lord Jesus. He honored the covenant, he kept
the covenant, he purposed the covenant, he is the mediator
of a new covenant, he's the mediator of a better covenant, and so
it could never be said about him what was said about those
priests in the times of Malachi, that they had corrupted the covenant
of Levi. He honored it. And in honoring
it, he successfully gives salvation to everyone that he died for. He successfully raises them from
the spiritual dead. He successfully honors the covenant
in being successful. So throughout the Old Testament
There's some things said about the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ where we find that in the book of First Corinthians
that the gospel is how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. But all those sacrifices that
we witness as we read through the Old Testament, we can be
just like we're there and see them happen, those people that
understood some things. Abel understood some things.
Abraham understood some things. Moses understood some things.
Aaron understood some things. And every time they took that
sacrifice and the fire of heaven fell upon it, They were saying
Christ and Him crucified is the only way. Christ and Him crucified. So, those priests in the days
of Malachi are no different than most preachers today. They are
destroying. They are ruining. They are corrupting
the covenant of grace. They speak out against it. It's
not right. It's not fair. They are unbelievers. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep. So as we close for this evening,
we see here in this wonderful book of Malachi that the warning
goes out to us even in our day. Be careful about those who corrupt
the covenant of Levi, the covenant of grace, the covenant of God,
the covenant with Christ Jesus. the covenant with the Father,
the covenant with the Son, and the covenant with the Holy Spirit.
They speak out against it, they have no love for it, they have
corrupted this covenant that God has given. But God has held
it up in such high esteem that He said, it is finished, and
He accepted His Son back to glory. As He sat down at the right hand
of the Father, those Old Testament priests could never sit, but
this, our high priest, is able to sit down, waiting. For that
day, when the last sheep is saved, and he comes and gathers his
flock all to himself, and we sit around his throne, worshiping
and saying, worthy is the lamb that was slain. God bless you.