In Malachi chapter 2, I've entitled
this message, The Curse of the Broken Covenant. The Curse of
the Broken Covenant. And I've divided these ten verses
into three sections. The first section is God's curse
upon the priest. God pronouncing a curse upon
the priest of Israel. Look at verse 1. He says, And
now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. This commandment,
this admonition, this pronouncement, this burden, remember he started
off, the burden of the word of the Lord, from the Lord of hosts,
the God who cannot be defeated. the God who is sovereign over
all the universe. This particular message is for
the priest. Why is it so important that he
deal with this issue? Well, because the priest were
set up by God in the Old Covenant now from Sinai. They were set
up by God to be the spiritual leaders of the people. just like
pastors of churches and elders and teachers and evangelists
in whatever capacity of ministry we serve. These priests were
the daily, everyday spiritual leaders of the people. They were
to lead the people in the ways of the Lord. They were to lead
the people in the truth. They were to be examples before
the people of true ministers of the covenant, ministers of
Christ, ministers of God. But here these priests, in this
particular time in Jerusalem, these priests were profaning
the name of the Lord. They weren't glorifying God.
They weren't telling the truth. They were leading the people
in a corrupt worship. You remember last time how we
talked about how they were bringing blemished sacrifices to the altar
of sacrifice. The priest taught them and allowed
the people to do that. Some commentators even go a little
bit further. I don't know how they know this. Maybe they have some historical
evidence, but they say that the priest, if anybody would bring
in an unblemished sacrifice, the priest would keep that and
substitute a corrupt, a blemished sacrifice for it. and use the
unblemished either to make money or use it for themselves. I don't
know if that's all true or not. But apparently there's a serious
problem going on here. You can see that. There's no
doubt that what these priests were doing in their leadership,
in their teaching, that it was profaning the name of the Lord,
misrepresenting God. And as these people brought blemished
sacrifices, whether they switched them or not, the priest accepted
them. It was, again, it was a religion
from the top, from the leadership on down through the people, religion
with no truth, religion with no heart, religion with no grace,
and most importantly of all, religion without Christ. And
any religion That is described that way is a false religion. It's a corrupt religion. It's
iniquity. When I read this, I preached
on Matthew chapter seven up and down in Ruston last week. I think
about these false preachers standing before the Lord saying, haven't
we prophesied in thy name? Haven't we cast out devils or
demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? I'm sure the priest of Malachi's day were saying the
same thing. thinking they were doing the
right thing. And it's like people today who go to church, who try
to do their best to be good citizens, good church members, but they're
sitting in congregations where there is no gospel preach, no
Christ preach. You may think that's too hard,
but it's not. It's just true. Somebody said,
well, you think you're the only one preaching? No, I don't. I
don't think I'm the only one preaching it, but I'll tell you
what, the Bible teaches us that in the last days and as we get
closer and closer to the second coming of Christ, it's gonna
be scarce. It's gonna be fewer and fewer.
The priesthood and the services. Now, this is another thing you
have to understand why this is so important that he addressed
this issue with the leadership, with the priest. The priesthood,
of the old covenant and the services of the temple and that's what
they were to be involved in that was their life you see well that
priesthood and those services of the temple they were the center
of the old covenant and jewish worship in life let me show you
something over in hebrews chapter seven turn over there with me
and i want you to notice this he talks about this you know
you know the theme of the book of hebrews is is how much better
Christ is than the old covenant and that
ministry of the law. He opened up chapter 7 talking
about Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ. He was a priest. He was a king and a priest, but
he was not a priest of the tribe of Levi. He came before Levi.
Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And it says here that in Hebrews
chapter 7, look down there in verse 11. He says, if therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, now perfection there
means righteousness. It means perfect satisfaction
to God's law and justice. It means salvation, complete
salvation. It means being able to stand
before God accepted. That's what that perfection is.
That's what we have to be in order to stand before God. We
have to have perfection. Now, he says, now if that perfection
were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received
the law. Under the Levitical priesthood, the people received
the law. He says, what further need was
there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek?
That's talking about Christ. Christ must come. And he's a
high priest, but not after the order of Levi, but he's after
the order of Melchizedek. And what he's saying here is
this, he said, and not be called after the order of Aaron. If
the Levitical priesthood could have brought in salvation, eternal,
perfect salvation, then why would Christ have had to have come?
He wouldn't have had to. If righteousness come by the
law, Paul wrote in Galatians 2.21, then Christ died in vain.
And righteousness coming by the law, that's what he's saying
there in verse 11 of Hebrews 7. Well, look at verse 12. Now,
listen to this very carefully. Don't let this language slip
by you. He says, for the priesthood being changed. Now, when was
the priesthood changed? When Christ said, it's finished.
And the veil was written, too, from top to bottom. When Christ
came and did his perfect work, that was the abolishment of the
Old Covenant. Listen to how it says, For the priesthood being
changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. In other words, that priesthood
was the center and foundation of that law, that Old Covenant.
So that if that priesthood changed, that whole covenant changed.
You couldn't say, well, you can keep this part of it and get
rid of this part. You know, people want to do that.
Let's say, well, the ceremonial law is gone, but now the moral
aspect of it is still in effect. Oh no, if the priesthood changed,
there's a change also in the law. So that's how important,
you see, this priesthood, go back to Malachi 2, this priesthood
was the center of the law. And then thirdly, as I said,
these priests now, they were to be the spiritual leaders of
the people and they were profaning the name of God. They were to
preach the truth. And this priesthood was the,
secondly, it was the center of the law and the Jewish life and
worship. Thirdly, this priesthood, mainly
the high priest, was a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So whatever they did, whatever this, for example, whatever the
high priest did, whatever he said in leading the people spiritually
now, it must represent honor and picture aright the Lord Jesus
Christ in both his person and his finished work. And if he
didn't do that, he failed. You know, the high priest was
a picture of Christ. The other priest That's a picture
of the people of God. We're made priests unto God.
So that whole priesthood and all the sacrifices, the altar,
the temple, or the tabernacle, it was all a picture of Christ
and His church and how God saves sinners by His free, sovereign
grace and mercy in Christ. Now, you think about that. The sacrifices of the altar typified
Christ, our perfect lamb. They were bringing blemished
sacrifices, but even the priests themselves were profaning the
name of the Lord. That whole covenant was to show
them their sin and their condemnation, and it was meant to drive them
to Christ by promise, the promise of the Messiah to come, God's
grace in him for salvation, for righteousness, for forgiveness,
for eternal life and glory. Now look down at verse two. Now
he says here, he says, if you 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 you do not lay it to heart. Now right here, we have
the three elements of true worship spelled out. We have three elements
to submission to God. Number one, hearing God's word. If you don't hear God's word,
you're not worshiping. That's why in a lot of churches
today where they don't preach the Bible, they don't preach
God's word, they don't preach the gospel, they just entertain,
they're not worshiping. It may feel like they're worshiping,
but he says if you will not hear, hear what? What God has to say.
not the opinions of men, not the theology of men, and not
the definitions of men, but what God has to say, then you're not
worshiping. That's why it's imperative that
for us to worship God, we have to be born again, because we
have to have ears to hear and eyes to see. You remember Christ
told his disciples that in Matthew chapter 13, when they asked him,
why do you speak in parables? And he spoke about the people
who rejected him. He said, for they seen, they
see not. Hearing they hear not, but blessed are your ears for
they hear. Now this hearing there means
more than just an audible sound. You can hear a lot of audible
sounds and not even respond, not even care, not even notice
them. So here's the second thing. He says, if you will not lay
it to heart. There's the second thing. laying
it to heart. Now we know that only God, the
Holy Spirit, can write the Word of God upon our hearts, our minds,
our affections, and our will. But this laying it to heart means
to think about it, consider it, digest it. It means to obey it
willingly, submissively. It's service to God with a sincere
heart. What does the Bible tell us a
sincere heart is? It's a heart cleansed by the
blood of Christ. It's a heart that's convicted
of sin, that's the broken in the contrite heart, broken over
our sin, realizing that if God gave me what I deserved and what
I've earned, it would be eternal damnation, and I'm talking about
based on my best, and that I have no hope of salvation but Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. I must have Christ. If you ever lay at the heart,
that's what you'll say, I've got to have his blood to wash
me clean from all my sins. I've got to have his righteousness
to justify me eternally and unchangeably before a holy God. And I don't
need anything else but Christ for those purposes. So he says,
lay it to heart. And then the third thing is to
give glory unto his name. That's worship. That's giving
thanks unto the Lord. That's thanksgiving and worship
and obedience that honors God and exalts Christ and humbles
ourselves. That's what it is. And it's more
than just looking up in the air and saying, thank you, Lord.
It means a life committed to Christ. That's what it means.
That's what honors him. He said, my son, give me your
heart. That's what it is. Give glory
unto his name. His name identifies and distinguishes
him from all idols. His name is the name of power,
for in his name, and not just a magic word now, for in his
name we see every attribute of his nature honored and magnified
in my salvation in your salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we're
complete in him and notice here he says in this
he says if you will not in verse two if you will not well that's
man by nature he's a will not You know, many boldly proclaim
whosoever will, but the Bible teaches us plainly that man is
a whosoever will not. That's what Stephen said when
he preached that message of his in Jerusalem, after he'd finished
and they rose up against him, he says, oh ye unstiff-necked,
which means rebellious, unbending, unsubmissive, that's what that
means, proud, O ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears. Because if you were made humble
by the sovereign power and mercy of God in Christ, if you were
given ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts and minds to know
and understand, you'd bow to God's word. We must be made willing
in the day of his power. That's what the scripture teaches.
And how does that take place? By the power of the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the word. And you know what he's
saying? He says, if you will not, if
you will not, he says in verse two, he says, I will even send
a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed
them already because you do not lay it to heart. Now you know
what this is showing? It's something very important
here that we need to understand. And that's this. that there is
no hope of salvation for any sinner in a broken covenant. This is the curse of a broken
covenant. Our only hope of salvation, the
only hope of salvation for any sinner is another covenant that
cannot be broken. And any covenant, now turn to
Jeremiah 31. Any covenant that cannot be broken cannot
be conditioned on man. Now that old covenant was a conditional
covenant towards the people of Jerusalem. Now there were unconditional
aspects of it. God choosing them and joining
himself to them and all of that. But their prosperity and God
giving them the land of promise, that was all unconditional. But
you know, their prosperity in that land and their peace within
that land and their staying in that land was conditioned on
their obedience from the leaders to the majority of the people.
And anytime they broke the covenant, what happened? Well, their crops
didn't grow. They had famine, they had locusts,
they were sometimes conquered and taken into captivity. Now
God kept bringing them back for a period of time, for a period
of time, but then that was over. They continually broke the covenant.
What was that teaching? It's teaching that there's no
eternal salvation, there's no righteousness, there's no justification,
there's no forgiveness, there's no eternal life for a sinner
under a conditional covenant towards the sinner. If God makes
a covenant with you of salvation that's conditioned on you, it'll
fail. That's what I'm telling. The
only hope for me and for you is a different covenant. One
not conditioned on me, but conditioned on somebody else who is appointed
of God, who is able to meet the conditions, and who's willing
to do so. Well, look at Jeremiah 31, and
look at verse 31. He said, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, a new covenant. Not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which my covenant they break. They broke it. If you'd been there, you'd have
broken it too. If I'd have been there, I'd have broken it too.
Why? Because we're sinners. That's what this message is about.
The curse of a broken covenant. Of the broken covenant. But he
said, I'm going to make a new covenant. Although I wasn't husband
to them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that
I will, now notice all the I wills of God here, I will make with
the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts. You remember he said,
if you won't lay it to heart, if you won't hear and you won't
lay it to heart, well, that's not gonna be the case. They didn't
do it, you see. And he told them that in Malachi
chapter 2 and verse 2. He said, I've already cursed
your blessings. They'd just come out of captivity 125 years before
Malachi. And they were about to go into
400 years of silence as far as revelation is concerned. And
eventually the whole nation was going to be destroyed in AD 70. He'd already cursed their blessings.
But he's just reminding them what the problem is. The problem
is with our sin. He said, I'm gonna put my loan
there in reparts. I'll write it in their hearts.
And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord. Why? For they shall all know
me from the least of them unto the greatest of them. Sayeth
the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember
their sin no more. Look back at Malachi 2. You see, our only hope is another
covenant, a covenant of grace, not conditioned on the sinner,
but conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. He's the
one God appointed before the foundation of the world and laid
all the conditions and requirements and stipulations of the salvation
of God's elect upon Him. He's the one who's able. He's
both God and man in one person. He's the one who's willing. He
loved his own until the end, the finishing of the work, the
meeting of all the conditions. He didn't break any covenant,
and he won't break any covenant. But you notice here he said,
I will curse your blessings. Isn't that an interesting statement
to make? It's almost frightening, isn't
it? I will curse your blessings. Turn to Psalm 37. Look at Psalm 37 with me. Now
what does he mean by, I will curse your blessings? Well, there's
several things here. Do you know, and I've said this
quite often from the pulpit, that the next breath you take
is a gift from God? It's a blessing. It is. The clothes on your back The
homes you live in, the cars you drive, the family you have in
every way, we can look around and we can think of bad things
and good things. All the good things, they're
a gift from God. Now what are we gonna do with
them? Look at Psalm 37 and verse 16. Psalm 37 verse 16. He says, a little that a righteous
man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Now who is a
righteous man in the scripture? He's a sinner saved by the grace
of God in Christ. There's nobody else righteous
in God's sight. If you're not in Christ, you're
not a righteous person. Because Christ is the only righteousness
there is. I don't care what anybody tells
you. I mean, you can walk around the world 50 times and give away
everything that you have and help everybody you can help.
It will not make you righteous before God. Now that's so. So whenever the Bible speaks
of a righteous man, that's a person who is saved by the grace of
God. And a little that he has, and
he may have little, think about Lazarus, had very little, almost
nothing. is better than the riches of
many wicked." Now the world looks at those riches and they say,
bless, bless, bless, oh that man's blessed, he must be doing
something right. And then they look at that righteous
man who has little and they say, well he must be doing something
wrong. God says it's not that way at all. He told Israel I
will curse your blessings. You think about all the privileges
that Israel had as a nation under the old covenant. Paul listed
them in Romans chapter 9, you remember that? They had the oracles
of God, the word of God, they had the covenants, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, the covenant of David, the covenant of Levi, he's going
to talk about that later on here. They had all that. They had that
land given to them. They had the power of God. Think
about their blessings in the wilderness. They had manna from
heaven, water out of the rock, all of that. And their enemies
were destroyed. And yet, what did they do? They
complained and murmured and rebelled and went after other gods. They
grew proud and indifferent to the things of God. You see, like
Israel, though, we need to realize that all the blessings of this
life will mean absolutely nothing in eternity without Christ. In
Christ, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. The whole theme of the book of
Ecclesiastes is about this. If God blesses your labors and
He blesses your family and He gives you all the good things
of this life, what are you to do with them? We're to glorify
and honor Him. That ought to be the most important.
That ought to be everything to us. Honoring Christ. Honoring Christ. Turn to Psalm
69. Look at this. This Psalm 69 is
a messianic psalm. It speaks of Christ under the
justice of God's law, suffering for our sins. He was made sin. It's similar to Psalm 22 in that
way that starts off, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And what it's talking about in Psalm 69, there's a historical
application to the affliction of David, but it's David as a
type of Christ. the son of God incarnate suffering
for our sins and the world's rejection of him. And listen
to verse 22 of Psalm 69. Look over at verse 22. And look
at verse 21 first. It says, they gave me also gall
for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
You remember when the soldiers put the vinegar on the stick
and put a cloth around it and put it up to Christ on the cross?
See, that's what this is talking about. Well, look at verse 22.
It says, Let their table become a snare before them, and that
which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Now, their table there refers
to their worship. Some say it refers specifically
to the altar that God gave them, gave Israel. And instead of being
a blessing to them, to lead them to Christ for all salvation,
he says, let it be a snare, a trap. like trapping an animal. Verse
23 says, let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their
loins to continually shake. Quaking in their boots, that's
that kind. Paul quoted this over in Romans chapter 11 when he
was talking about the importance of understanding who we are in
light of God's holiness. We're sinners and the only way
we can be saved is by grace. That's what that old covenant
really was all about in its essence because it brought sinners in
guilty before God by their best efforts to keep the law. You
think about today. Now think about it this way.
Think about how many Bibles are published and sold today. Yet
men will not receive the love of the truth. Look over in 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. What
is this cursing your blessings? Well, here it is. In 2 Thessalonians
2, he's talking about the working of Satan through the spirit of
Antichrist here. And he says in verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians
2, he speaks of him whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, deceptive wonders. This is religion now. This is
false religion that comes in the name of Christ, but denies
the truth, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of his person, the
doctrine of his finished work, the doctrine of his righteousness.
And he says in verse 10, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. Now, I'm running out of time
tonight, so I want you to mark in your Bibles there beside that.
Now you see that verse 10? Write this down in your Bible.
It says, and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness in them that
perish, write down 1 Corinthians 1.18. 1 Corinthians 1.18. And you know
what 1 Corinthians 1.18 says? It says the preaching of the
cross is foolishness to them that are perishing, but it's
the power of God to them who are being saved. And if you want
to find it, you might read a verse like that, and you might ask
yourself this question. You might say, well, am I deceived?
Could I be deceived? We've asked that before. I have.
Well, read your Bible. Stay with the book. Don't go
to some preacher and say, what do you think? Well, you look
all right to me, or you look like you're headed for hell to
me. Don't do that. And listen to
me. 1 John chapter, I think it's
chapter 3 or chapter 4, I can't remember which one. Might be
chapter 5. But 1 John says don't even trust
your own heart in those issues. You say, well then where can
I turn, Pastor? Turn to the Word of God. Now
listen to what he says in 2 Thessalonians 2 10, he says, with all deceivableness
and unrighteousness in them that perish. Now who are those who
are perishing? The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them that are perishing. Now let me ask you
this question. I'll ask myself this question. What is the preaching
of the cross to me? Is it foolishness? Oh no. It's everything to me. It's the
power and the wisdom. That's all I want to hear. It's
my life. Well, if it's true, the preaching
of the cross as it is in the scripture, if it's your life,
if it's the power and wisdom of God, I'll guarantee you, you're
not perishing. You're not perishing. It's the
power and the wisdom, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
Now look at 2 Thessalonians 2.10. He says, because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Now, you
think about how many people have a Bible today. They read their
Bibles, memorize their Bibles, but just like the Pharisees,
Christ told them in John 5, 39, you search the Scriptures, in
them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
of me. They just don't see Christ in
His Word. And some, and they refuse to
see Christ. And look at verse 11, he says,
and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. That's God's judgment against
them. You know what he's doing there? He's turning that blessing
into a curse. It's a blessing to have this
book. Stan, you said you've been reading Martin Luther's commentary
on Galatians. Well, they didn't have a Bible
back then, except unless you were a member of the clergy,
whatever they thought that was. And they were brought up on charges
for wanting to translate the Bible into German and then English
and all that. It's a blessing to have this
book. But my friend, if you don't see
Christ, and Him crucified in the glory of God in Christ and
the salvation that He freely and sovereignly provides through
Christ for sinners like us, this blessing will be a curse. That's
what He's telling them in Malachi 2. Look back there. Like Israel,
people today corrupt the Word of God with self-righteousness
and human logic and rationalization. Well, he says here in verse 2,
he says, Yea, I have cursed them already because you do not lay
it to heart. They just come out of captivity.
And look at their history. Their history was one of rebellion
and sin and idolatry. Still is. And what's the problem? Because you don't lay it to heart.
You don't believe it. You don't rest in Christ. You
don't love the truth. You don't think about it, believe
it, act upon it, live by it, feed upon it. That's what it's
all about. Let me read this verse 3 and
then I'll quit tonight and we'll pick up there. He says, Behold,
I will corrupt your seed. Now that word seed in the Old
Testament can refer to their children, their offspring, or
it can refer to the seed of their crops, where they plant seed
and grow crops. In the New Testament, there are
two different words for seed. One is one that definitely means
children, offspring. The other means something you
sow in the ground, like the parable of the sower and the seed. But
in the Old Testament, it's the same word and context determines
its meaning. And there's some commentators
who believe that this means he will corrupt their children in
the sense of their children will be cursed too. And what he's
talking about there is this. If you teach your children a
salvation by works and the will of men, and they believe it,
where's that gonna leave them? In the same boat you're in, lost
in your sins. You see? In other words, without
hearing this gospel, and without laying it to heart and glorifying
God there's no hope for us or our children now other commentators
say this refers to their actual crops and they were going through
a drought here because of God's punishment God's chastisement
on them and that may be a more proper way to understand this
in the context but either way truth is truth he says I'll spread
dung upon your faces even the dung of your solemn feast what's
that talking about Well, just as their work and labor in the
field will not grow to a full harvest because of their disobedience,
the dung of the beast that they offered for sacrifices will be
spread on their faces. In other words, it'll be a stench
in their nostrils and in God's nostrils, it'll be to their shame.
He says, the dung of your solemn feast. God will cast both them
and their sacrifices away. He will not accept it. And he
says, and one shall take you away with it. Which simply means
that it's going to be cast out. Now you have a spiritual illustration
here of men seeking to establish a righteousness of their own
before God. That's why I believe Paul in Philippians chapter 3
and verse 7 when he said, that which I thought was gained now
I count but loss and do count it but done that I may win Christ. and be found in him. I want to
tell you something in closing tonight. We need the God of all
grace who lifts beggars off the dung heap, don't we? Hannah prayed
that. And when it comes to being saved,
when it comes to being made righteous, when it comes to worshiping God
and serving God, Everything and anything without Christ, without
His blood and righteousness, there are not enough negative,
shameful, expletives to describe it, how bad it is. He says it's dung. In another
place, in Isaiah 64, he called it filthy rags. And you say, well, that's pretty
graphic language. Well, that's the language of
God. That's what it is. My friend, why would we want
to come before God in our own righteousness, which is filthy
rags, rather than the righteousness of his dear son? Nothing, nothing could make a
sinner want to do that but pride and self-righteousness. And what's
Malachi telling us? You go through these religious
ceremonies and everybody's a little bit, you know, we're all, you
know, we're all okay. But you've missed Christ. You've
missed him. He's the reason you're even existing.
And you've missed him. And I'll turn your blessings
into a curse, he says. Let's pray that the Lord will
make our blessings to continue to be blessings in leading us
to Christ. All right. Let's sing as our
Closing hymn, hymn number 318. That's a good hymn for this message. I need thee every hour. I need
Christ every hour. Hymn number 318.