Malachi chapter 1 and I'd like
to read verses 6 through 14. There's much to be said in this
passage of scripture about the way things have been ever since
the fall. The discussion through much of
this passage of scripture is the polluted sacrifices that
the priests were offering there in Jerusalem and they went somewhat
by the letter but nothing by the spirit of the law. And so
they were out. The Bible was their classroom
book. It was their, they did their
homework from it. They read from it. They studied
from it. It was their textbook. And then for them to come to
this point so many years later and be doing this thing that
they're doing in this book of Malachi, and Malachi is bringing
this charge against them on behalf of Almighty God. He's not speaking
for himself. That's one thing a gospel prophet
never did. They never spoke for themselves.
They're only delivering what God delivered to them. And that's
the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi is
chapter one in verse one. So in verse six, a son on earth,
his father, and he's just bringing up what naturally took place
among a Jewish household of son on earth, his father at a servant,
his master. If then I be a father, where
is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is
my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto
you, O priest that despise my name. And you say, wherein have
we despised thy name? Now last week we brought up the
issue that a person that knows something about the gospel, someone
that God has brought to Christ, when they are, something is brought
to their attention. Now, it may pinch us at the moment,
but God's people will take reproof. If it's scriptural reproof, they
will take it. They will think about it. They'll
consider it, just like we find Apollos. They explained the things
of the gospel more correct, whatever it was, and he went on his way
instructed. And yet we find that these folks,
when they were reproved by this gospel prophet, this gospel preacher,
they said, when did we do that? We didn't do that. And it goes
on, you offer polluted bread. And that word bread is more than
just flour and salt and whatever, yeast and whatever it was. Excuse
me, it would not have been that because it would be unleavened.
But it's more than that. It has to do with the offerings,
all of the offerings that were taking place. You offer polluted
bread upon mine altar. And ye say, wherein have we polluted
thee? In that ye say, the table of
the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and
sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor,
to your mayor. Pay your taxes with it. Will
he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of
hosts? And now I pray you, beseech God, that he will be gracious
unto us. This hath been by your means. Will he regard your persons,
saith the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you that
would shut the doors for naught?" In other words, the doors of
the temple really should be shut. The way you're treating the temple
and you're treating these sacrifices and you're treating this in a
contemptible way, and offering polluted sacrifices, you have
no right to even go in there. Neither do you kindle fire in
my altar, for not I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising
of the sun, even to the going down of the sea, my name shall
be great among the Gentiles. In every place, incense shall
be offered unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name
shall be great among the heathens, saith the Lord of hosts. The
Gentiles, when they hear the gospel, honor me much greater
than you are, and you have been called my people. And yet we
find among them there are many Esau's, and among the Gentiles
there are many Jacob's. And so they're honoring me and
you are not. You are called by my name and
you're not even honoring me. But when the gospel goes to these
Gentiles that have been appointed before the foundation for salvation,
they hear the gospel and they honor me with their prayers.
They honor me with their sacrifices. They honor me. And it doesn't
necessarily mean that they offered meat offerings or bread offerings
or sacrifices. God is more pleased with a sacrifice
of Thanksgiving. But ye have profaned it, in that
ye say, the table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof,
even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, behold, what a
weariness is it. Why should I take the time to
do this? Levites, priests, preachers,
why should I do it God's way? My way's just as good as anybody
else's. Why should I do it that way?
And you have snuffed at it, you've stuck your nose in the air over
it, saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought that which is
torn, and the lame and the sick, thus you brought an offering.
Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? But cursed
be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth,
or promised to offer it, and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt
thing. So what a liar it is. I will
offer this, and then turn around and offer something that he can't
sell. For I am a great king, saith
the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles,
among the heathen. So as we pass down through here
in this passage of scripture, we can see how the gospel has
been polluted in every generation. It was polluted outside the Garden
of Eden. When we read about Cain offering
a sacrifice that God had no joy in, had no command in. If you'll
turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter four, God had no respect
it. Just like these sacrifices, these
offerings, these polluted offerings, truly Cain's offering was a pollution. It was a polluted offering. When
Abel offered of the firstling of the flock, when he offered
that without blemish and without spot, he was telling that he
trusted a savior, he trusted a God that was without blemish
and without spot. That that is all his hope and
all his salvation. He needed a substitute. He's
declaring that. And God had revealed to him that
the only substitute is the Lord. And here's a picture of him.
The only substitute is the perfect Son of God. In Genesis chapter
4 and verse 5, we find these words. It says, but unto Cain
and to his offering he had not respect. What does it say in
verse 4? And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of the flock, and the fat thereof, And the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. The Lord was
pleased. It honored him. It delivered
to those who observed it that this one is dependent upon a
substitute. And blood is necessary for the
redemption of God's people. And it's not the blood of bulls
and goats, which cannot take away sin, but it's the blood
of Christ. So Abel understood that this, by faith, it tells
us in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, He offered a more excellent
sacrifice. God had revealed these things
to him. You can't educate the truth into
something, someone. You can't educate the gospel
into someone. It's a revelation. It comes by
the Holy Spirit. So as we read there in Genesis
chapter 4 and verse 5, it says, chapter 4 and verse 5, it says,
but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain
was very upset, wroth, and his countenance fell. Why doesn't
God respect me like he respects my brother? I've done all that
I want to do. So this kind of thought has come
and gone all through the ages. Now in the book of Exodus chapter
20, there was a verse of scripture that caught my eye that I want
to go along with this. Because it speaks of pollution.
In the book of Exodus chapter 20 and verse 25, we have this,
that if you're going to make an altar. Now, someone asked
me today as I was visiting with them, is there any description
of how to build an altar in the Bible? And I can't think of one.
But I do have information like this. It says, Exodus chapter
20, verse 25, and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou
shall not build it of hewn stone. You shall not take an instrument
and carve on it. You shall not do that. That is
not going to be an acceptable altar. For if thou lift up thy
tool upon it, So if you add to this, if you add to this stone,
if you get involved in forming the size, and if you get involved
in forming the shape of this stone that's gonna be used in
this altar, God said through his minister Moses, thou hast
polluted it. Now through Malachi chapter 1
there, the last 8 verses, we have a lot of words that God
shared with His priests about polluting things, polluting the
sacrifices. The heathen, the Gentiles, who
you have no respect for at all, when the gospel comes to them,
there is going to be more gladness in their hearts over the gospel,
and they will show due reverence to an almighty Lord of hosts. So this idea of pollution It's
throughout the scriptures, it's throughout human history, no
human tool is to touch that stone that you're going to make an
altar of. No human tool. If you touch it to shape it,
form it, do anything to it, now we're just going to step from
that point to the gospel. If we apply any human improvement
to the gospel, We've polluted it. We've changed it. We've made it unuseful, unacceptable. God has no respect on it. And so as we look into this,
the gospel in a similar manner is used without human alteration. And I don't know how many times
was brought up in the Bible class over the last year in reference
to different passages of scripture in the New Testament of warnings
to the church about the possibility, the high possibility of people
wanting to come in with an alteration to the gospel, to make it more
palatable, to make it feel better. All sorts of things were brought
in. And we find that in the books of the Apostle Paul, the books
of Peter, the books of John, that these warnings went out.
Don't touch the stone with your tools. Leave it as you found
it. Now that's caused a problem continuously
through human history. Because almost everyone wants
to raise their tool against the gospel. Now, there is a reason
for this. And would you turn with me to
the book of Ezekiel chapter 16? Ezekiel chapter 16. In this great
prophet's writings, I can't help but say, if we lived in the days
of Ezekiel, and we lived in the area of Ezekiel, or we had the
ability of traveling a few miles, or walking a few miles, we would
want to go listen to this guy, because he is God's spokesman
in that time. He is God's preacher in that
time. And he's unpopular, no question
about it, just like Isaiah or Jeremiah was, or Malachi was. Can you imagine this man who's
not accustomed, it's not in his interest to go start an argument
with someone, but he brings this word of God to the priest and
they are really indignant to this preacher for what he's bringing
up, and in reality, they are upset with the priest. not the postman, but they're
upset with the bill that's being delivered. And God's delivering
the bill and the preacher is the postman that's delivering
it and getting upset. I suppose our postman had a number
of times, why'd you deliver this bill? Well, that's what we do. When God comes and he's commanding
to the preacher that we must bow to Almighty God and we get
upset with the deliverer and not the one who it's about. Well,
here in the book of Ezekiel, we have the reason for the problem.
Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 6, and when I passed by thee,
I saw thee. Now, this is what God said about
Israel, about us. You are naturally polluted. And
if we have a natural pollution, we cannot present anything but
pollution. That's why we have to be able,
we have to be brought, new birth has to be brought to us. We cannot
offer. We are so interested in our natural
stance. of carving on that stone. Now,
it's just a little bit. There's just a little niche over
here that just really rakes on me. Every time I go buy it, it
rakes on me, so I'm just going to cut it off a little bit and
make it better. Well, once we've done that, God
said, you have polluted it. I cannot have it in my altar.
It will not be acceptable. So here, the reason for that
is we're born in pollution. In Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 6, and when I passed
by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Now that's the only change
that can take place, is that God must do it. He has to call
us out of that pollution, and he calls us to a perfect unpolluted
Son of God. God the Son did not pass through
the generation of natural man. It was not passed on to him by
Joseph, because Joseph was not his father. His purity as God
was not interfered with when Joseph was spoken to by the angel
and said, you take this woman to be your wife, because that
which is in her is of the Holy Ghost. He is not corrupt, He
is not polluted, He is holy and harmless and undefiled. He will
be that from eternity past to eternity future and He never,
ever, ever will become a sinner. He will bear the sins of His
people. He will be imputed our sin, but a sinner, no. Perfect
Son of God. So this is the problem that we
face. We can never get out of this problem because we're born
in pollution. We have this sin that was passed
on to us from the ages. Now, the world tells us that
all we have to do, the religion of the world tells us all we
have to do is assent to some facts. I can remember hearing
that by preachers. All you have to do is believe
that Jesus is the Savior. That's all you have to do. Just
consent to that. Just consent that Jesus can save
you from hell. That's all you have to do. And
yet we find in the scriptures that it must be a work of the
Spirit. We're not assenting. God demands
pure worship, and the only way that we can give pure worship
is through the Spirit of God. Join me, if you would, in John
chapter 4. Those polluted offerings that
those priests were offering are assuring that they had no knowledge
about the true God. It was just what they heard. And they ascended to the... I'm
a Jew. I'm of the tribe of Levi. I have
been asked to offer these sacrifices during January, February, March,
and April. And when that's over, I'll go
back to my other job and everything will be fine. Well, God sends
a preacher to them and says, this is not right. I will not
accept these sacrifices. If you think so much of them,
go offer them to the governor. And they knew. In their own heart,
that's not going to work. They do not know the Lord of
hosts. King of kings and Lord of lords.
All right, John chapter 4 and verse 23. John chapter 4 and
verse 23. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. It's
more than an assent to facts. It's more than a consent to facts. It is taking us from our polluted
life and hearing, live. And that's the act of God. These
folks that were offering these polluted sacrifices had no knowledge
of that God. They're in their pollution, and
they can't help but offer polluted sacrifices. That's the problem
we face. That's why works are not sufficient.
They are polluted works to begin with. Only the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit can work unpolluted works. There's no pollution in
it. It's pure. And when it's imputed
to us, we have the purity of the Godhead on us. Over in the
book of Romans chapter 10, I have a Bible that my dad and mother
gave me. And one day I was sitting in
church, sitting by my dad, and I was probably dinging off a
little bit. And he probably rapped me a little bit and caused me
to stop doing that. And he grabbed my Bible and underlined
these verses. He never went to the prior passage,
earlier verses, or later verses, it was just this, because this
is his formula. My father had a formula of how
people were saved. Once you mention I have a formula
for how people are saved, we're already offering a polluted sacrifice,
because it isn't a formula, it's a person. It's not a formula. It's not if you do this, and
this, and this, and then God will be pleased. It is God will
only be pleased with His Son. And all those that the Son is
revealed to. Romans chapter 10 verse 8, Romans
chapter 10 and verse 8 says, but what saitheth? The word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth. And here's the important part,
in thy heart. Can't get there from here unless
it's revealed to us. We have no knowledge of it unless
it's revealed to us. Our heart is desperately wicked,
can't get there, it's polluted. Don't even think about giving
your heart to Jesus because he doesn't want it. He gives a new
heart. Romans chapter 10 verse 8. What
saith it, the word is in thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine
heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, this is not
the formula. This is the results. Thou shalt
be saved. If you have that, thou shalt
be saved. Don't ever do this to get there. This is what happens
when they're there. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. The gospel is polluted when men
put anything in the place of Christ. The polluted gospel attempts
to make dead birds fly, dead horses pull. and dead people
serve God. It's not going to happen. You've
heard the account, riding a, beating a dead horse. That's
all the law could ever do, beat a dead horse. But the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ Jesus can give life and then
real worship begins. Once we touch anything about
the gospel with our own inferences, our own thoughts, our own practices
that are out of line with God, God said, it is polluted. And
this is not pleasing to me. Cain proved it. It's polluted. I'm not happy. Anybody else does the same thing,
offering their own works of righteousness. It is polluted. You're trying
to make the gospel fit you. And that will not work. In 2
Timothy, chapter 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. 2 Timothy,
chapter 4. And there in verse 3, 2 Timothy
chapter 4, verse 3. For the time will come, and I
cannot help but think that Paul didn't see that at that time
too. If Moses had wrote it, it's here. If Abraham wrote it, it's
here. If Noah had written it, it's
here. If Abel had written it, it's here. It's all around us.
The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers
having itching ears. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. And if
we turn our ears away from the truth, we're exercising a polluted
offering. It is terribly polluted. when
we take, have, or believe anything but the blood of Christ and His
righteousness. In Romans chapter 15, would you
back up there a little bit in your Bibles to Romans chapter
15. In Romans chapter 15 and verse
19, through many signs, Romans chapter 15 and verse 19, through
many signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, So
that from Jerusalem and round about Iconium, I have fully preached
the gospel of Christ. He preached to people in everywhere
he went that believed in a polluted gospel. Because everyone by nature
has an idea of some kind of works that's going to get them in God's
good favor. a polluted gospel because we
start this world polluted and we have no other offering to
make but polluted offerings until we're born again. And that's
the only time that we can start to offer Holy offerings, true
offerings, proof of the, as we see here, the power of the Spirit.
So that from Jerusalem and round about Iconium, I fully preached
the gospel of Christ. I didn't try to change it. What
did he do with Stephen's gospel? The gospel of grace that Stephen
preached. He did everything that he could
to change it. And in that, he polluted it.
He said, I believed I was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Jew,
a tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and that was
enough. And by the grace of God, he was shown this is not enough. We must have the grace of God.
The polluted gospel perverts the order of God. Why? The order of God, well, The world, the gospel of the
world, the polluted gospel believes that the sinner elects God, then
God elects the sinner. I chose God, and then he chooses
me. I love God, and there he loves me. Well, we find this
is exactly opposite of the gospel. That is a polluted gospel to
have that order. God is not going to be attracted
by or interested in us at all by our works of righteousness.
He's only interested in us because of grace. And that grace was
given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19. 2 Peter 1 verse 19 We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that take heed, as of a
light that shineth in a dark place. Now, the polluted gospel
says we're already light. The gospel says we're already
in darkness. And this light shines in a dark
place until the day dawn and the day star, Christ, arise in
the hearts. So we're already dark. We've
got it mixed up. We think we're in light, but
we're in darkness. We need the light, and the light
is Christ. The claims of the polluted gospel
is that the sinner elects God, and we find that is so contrary
to Scripture in so many places. In fact, we find in the very
beginning of the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, these words that the
Apostle Paul wrote to our friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
They're in Ephesus, and it's recorded for us in the book of
Ephesians. My Bible says the Epistle of
Paul to the the apostle to the Ephesians, I should say the epistle
of the Holy Spirit to the Ephesians. Paul was just a secretary. He
would agree with that. Paul wrote by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. We read over We love him because
he first loved us. So the gospel has been polluted
in every era, century. The polluted gospel really lets
people down. There's no up with the polluted
gospel. And this polluted gospel lets
us down now and lets people down later. Because there's nothing
in it. It's non-God honoring. It is un-God honoring. It cannot honor God. And only
the gospel gives hope for eternity. Brother Bruce Crabtree's father
pastored for 50 years. And he and Bruce were contrary
over the gospel. Bruce believed that God's gospel
is from the Lord, and his dad believed and preached that the
gospel is in us, and we elect God, and then God elects us.
And in his dying days, he comes to his son and says, oh Bruce,
what am I going to do? No hope in it. There's no satisfaction
in it. So if you turn with me to the
book of Galatians, this gospel, it just lets people down in time
and in eternity. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians
chapter 5. A lot of writing here by inspiration
to those saints in the area of Galatia, the churches of Galatia
that he spent a lot of time in and preaching. And here in Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 4 it says, Christ has become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. You have no, there's no
peace in this. When you're without Christ, He's
become of no effect to you. There's nothing. You can't offer
a decent sacrifice. You can't offer a decent prayer.
You can't offer a decent thanksgiving without Christ. It's unable. And then we find in Matthew chapter
7, later, this polluted gospel. Matthew chapter 7. The names are there. In Isaiah
chapter 7, it talks about seven women marrying one man and says,
we don't want your bread and we don't want your clothes, but
we want your name. And that is really what the polluted
gospel is about. I want my righteousness, and
I'll feed myself on whatever I choose, but I want the name
of Christian, because it is palatable. Or I want the name of Muslim,
because it's palatable. Or I want the name of whatever. Well, here in the book of Matthew
chapter 7 and verse 23, Matthew chapter 7 and verse 23,
the Lord Jesus with the polluted gospel that these people are
depending upon for time and eternity. He says, and then will I profess unto
them. Now who, verse 22, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works. The opposite is true of
the sheep. When did we serve you? To the goats, we've done all
of this. Shouldn't that be enough? And
the Lord spoke through the prophet, preacher, man of God, Moses,
that you touch this stone and you've polluted it. And these
guys have touched it time and time again, trying to make it
fit them. And it tells us there in Matthew 7, verse 23, then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. So the polluted gospel just cannot
lift anybody out of the pit. It only is going to let them
down in time. What's the use? I just can't
work enough. And here, in eternity, instead
of hearing, welcome thou good and faithful servant, and everybody
that hears those words, when was I that? And on the other
side, depart from me, ye workers of Nicodemus. I never knew you,
even in all this that you did. The truth of the gospel declares
the power, glory, and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Modern
Christianity is really big business. Success is measured not by gospel
preaching, but by how many people we can attract. The numbers and
dollar signs. And Peter mentions in 2 Peter
chapter 2, making merchandise out of you. Making merchandise
out of you. You're nothing more than, well,
the gospel truly sets the saints free. Turn with me there again
to the book of Galatians chapter 5. Those guys, those priests, they
had all their credentials. They were not like a group of
those that came with Ezra back to Jerusalem and they got there
and they started looking through the books and you're not even
a Jew. You've been pretending all this
time that you're a Jew over there in Babylon. And the priest, you
don't have any priesthood in your line. You don't have a genealogy
of a priesthood. We can't use you. And here, this
gospel is, we can't use you. God says, it's just not going
to be of any effect. But here, in Galatians chapter
5 and verse 1, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Stand fast in the liberty. Christ is everything. Our faith is everything in Him. He's created that faith, and
that is His work in His people. And we have that faith because
He's put it there. So stand fast there within the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. And you know what? When God's
people hear God say, this is the sacrifice that's acceptable,
and that sacrifice is the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Why? Thankful
for grace. Thankful for grace. Thankful
for grace. Because if God should keep track
of sin, who can stand? One other verse found in the
book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 34. Jeremiah chapter 34. In the book of Leviticus, we
looked at that year of Jubilee, every 50th year. If you were
a slave, you were set free. If you sold yourself into bondage,
you're set free. If you sold your property, it's
back in your hands. Every 50th year, this took over.
And it's such a picture of what we have in Christ. And in that
time, and as time went on, people would say, OK, you're free. And
then they would say, oh, man, who am I going to get to do the
work? And Jeremiah brings this up. Jeremiah chapter 34 and verse
16, it says, but you turned and polluted my name and caused every
man his servant and every man his handmaid whom ye had set
at liberty at their pleasure. What's this? You polluted my
name by saying there's liberty and then to return and brought
them into subjection to be made unto you for servants and for
handmaids. You promised them liberty and
you didn't give it to them. And that's exactly what the polluted
gospel does. It binds. There's no peace in
it. There's no comfort in it. It's
walking along and saying, I hope I can make it. And God will be
pleased with what I'm doing, and then find out God is not
pleased at all with what we're doing. He's pleased with what
Christ has already done. So these guys here in the book
of Malachi, they're just the tell-tale, it doesn't matter
what level you reach. They'd reach Levitical priesthood.
High order. Doesn't matter how high of order
it is, they offered polluted sacrifices. It doesn't matter
whether it had been a servant offering the same sacrifices,
God would have been just as unpleased with it. He's only satisfied
with the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all
those that He had in Him. That's His only satisfaction. There's one thing about the polluted
gospel too. There's always someone ready
to tell others that they're not doing a very good job. You're going to have to come
to our Friday night Bible study. You're going to have to come
to our Monday night Bible study. You're going to have to come
to our Tuesday night Bible study so we can get this corrected.
Well, God takes care of that in regeneration. And God's people
worship God all the time. We get together because we enjoy
each other's company, we hear the gospel, but we get to be
around people who love God. Well, Lord willing, next time
we'll pick up in chapter two of the book of Malachi.