It is our business as the people
of God in this world to do what we can to glorify God, to honor
him by the preaching of the gospel. Our Lord Jesus commands us to
go everywhere preaching the gospel, teaching all nations. the gospel
of the glory of God. That is the glorious gospel of
God, our savior. We're to declare it to all men.
Carrying this good news of redemption and grace in Christ to the four
corners of the earth for this honors God. And this is the means
by which God has ordained that he will save his people. We are
to go forth with the word of the gospel seeking a godly seed
to worship and serve him. Now that's the title of my message,
Seeking a Godly Seed. In Malachi chapter 2 verse 15,
God the Holy Spirit tells us that the reason God created all
the human race in one man. The reason he didn't create us
one here and one there, then another one at a time, as he
easily could have done. The reason he created all humanity
in one man is that he was seeking a godly seed through that one
man. Indeed, the reason God does everything
he does, everything he has done, and everything he shall do in
predestination, in creation, in redemption, and in providence,
is he is seeking this godly seed. Malachi chapter 2, verse 15. And did not he make one just one man, just one man, Adam. Yet he, that is this one man
Adam, yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore
one, why was it that he did it this way? That he might seek
a godly seed, that he might seek a godly seed. There is in this
world a chosen people who must and shall be saved. God's elect. Who are referred to throughout
this book as God's seed. God's seed. His seed. Let's look at a couple passages.
Turn to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. The psalm of the crucifixion. Our Lord Jesus is being portrayed
here prophetically as he speaks from the cross as our substitute,
bearing the wrath of God in our room instead when he was made
sin for us, that he might make us the righteousness of God in
him. And here's the result of this. Psalm 22, verse 30. Don't lose your place in Malachi.
We'll be back there in a minute. Psalm 22, verse 30. A seed shall
serve him. It shall be counted to the Lord
for a generation. Here's this young man, 33 years
old. He's never been married and he
is put to death. What's going to happen to him?
Will he have no seed? Will he have no posterity? Oh
yes, a seed shall serve him. And this seed that shall serve
him shall be counted to the Lord for his generation. Verse 31. They shall come, this seed. It's one seed. but they shall
come and shall declare his righteousness each one as they are brought
from the four corners of the earth brought to life and faith
in Christ Jesus come declaring his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born that he hath done this that is he calls Larry
Brown to be gathered to him as his seat to declare his righteousness
to somebody else. And he calls that one to declare
his righteousness to another, and that one to declare his righteousness
to another, and thus, he continually seeks his seed in this world. Psalm 89, verse 29. This psalm,
again, speaks of our Lord Jesus, that one set up from everlasting
as our great covenant head and surety. Psalm 89, verse 29. His
seed also will I make to endure forever. And His throne as the
days of heaven. Verse 36. His seed shall endure
forever. And His throne as the sun before
me. He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days. And
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. Now look
back here at our text again. Here in Malachi 2.15, this chosen
people are called a godly seed. Now those words might be translated
just as accurately, God's seed, a seed of God, or a seed for
God. But I think our translators rightly
translated it as they have, considering the context. He's seeking a godly
seed. A godly seed. In Ezra chapter
9, and in Isaiah chapter 6, this godly seed is called a holy seed. The Lord God, out of fallen humanity,
is seeking His seed, which is a godly seed, and a holy seed. Not he is seeking a seed that
he shall make godly. Not that he's seeking a seed
that he shall make holy. He's seeking a seed that's already
godly, that's already holy. How can that be? This is his
seed who were justified and sanctified and accepted in the beloved by
the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation
of the world. Now, the reason that Adam didn't
perish from off the face of the earth when he ate that forbidden
fruit, whatever it was, Adam shoved his fist in God's face,
said, God, get out of the way. I'm taking over. You got no right. You got no right to destroy my
wife. She's mine. And the reason the
only reason God didn't wipe him out right there. So, well, but
Adam died. Yeah, he did, but he didn't.
He hung around a long time. Why? Why did God not kill him
right then? Because the Lord made one. in whom he put this godly seed,
who must and shall be called by his grace. And he preserved
Adam in the fall and through the fall, not because he cared
for all humanity, but because this godly seed must be called
by his grace. God made all men in that one
man Adam, yet had he the residue of the spirit. How often do you
ask yourself, maybe you don't think like I do, why hasn't the Lord come? Why hasn't he? Scoffers say,
where's the promise of his coming? He made the promise 2,000 years
ago. Where's the promise of his coming? Well, in a sense, Merle,
that's a fair question. Where's the promise of his coming?
Men have been looking for him for 2,000 years. We live on the
tiptoe of faith, looking for the mercy of our God unto eternal
life. We look for him to come all the
time. Where's the promise of his coming?
Lord, how long? Enoch, way back before the flood,
prophesied of his coming, his second coming. Job, Way back
in the days of Abraham prophesied of the Lord's second coming and
the resurrection of the dead. Well, where is his coming? Why
hasn't he come? Because there's a godly seed. There is a holy seed. chosen
and redeemed and accepted of God who cannot and shall not
perish with fallen humanity. A godly seed that must be saved.
That's precisely the meaning of 2 Peter 3.9. The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward. Not longsuffering to everybody.
People have the notion that because God doesn't send folks to hell
immediately, he's longsuffering with them. Read the Psalms. He stalls them up like an ox
being fattened for the slaughter. That doesn't sound like long-suffering
to me. Well, God has a general goodness toward all men. No.
No, the book never speaks of such stuff. Well, there's a sense
in which God loves everybody. The book never talks like that.
God is long-suffering to usward, to this godly seed. Ron Wood,
the reason God didn't send the world to hell a long time ago,
cause long-suffering to you. Long-suffering to you. He preserves
the whole race for this godless seed. For he's not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and
the knowledge of the truth. Well, how do you know that's
what Peter means in 2 Peter 3, 9? Because he tells us so in
verse 15. He says the long-suffering of our God is salvation. It is
salvation. Now, turn back to Malachi chapter
2, and learn what the Lord God tells us about his great work
of seeking a godly seed. When the Lord opened this passage
before me, my heart began to bubble up with joy, and I had
to cry out with the psalmist, Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things. He doesn't do anything else.
He doesn't do anything ordinary. He doesn't do anything that's
to be looked at as common. He doesn't do anything just every
day. He only doeth wondrous things. Wondrous things. Now, here are
six things set before us in these 17 verses. Number one, and it is a warning. What a warning
it is. Blessings neglected, despised,
abused, and misused are made by God to be a curse to the very
people that should have benefited. This is the story of the nation
of Israel. God gave them his word. He sent
them his prophets. He gave them his ordinances.
He gave them the tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, the
sacrifices, the holy days. He gave them and them alone the
revelation of his grace. Them and them alone the revelation
of his purpose. and they despised it, and neglected
it, and abused it, and misused it. And God says in verses 1,
2, and 3, I'm talking to you priests, this is my commandment
to you. He says, if you will not hear, if you will not lay
it to heart to give glory to my name, I'll send a curse upon you. Look
at this. I will curse your blessings. What's he talking about? You're
going to see it just a little bit. The altar. That altar we've
been talking about on Tuesday nights. That mercy seat. Those sacrifices. That priesthood. I'm going to curse that. No. Look at verse three. Behold,
He says in verse 2, Yea, I have already cursed them. Verse 3,
Behold, I will corrupt your seed. I'll corrupt your seed. What's
happened to the children of Israel? God corrupted their seed. In
spite of what Herbert W. Armstrong has been trying to
get folks to believe, ain't nobody knows who the 12 tribes of Israel
are. Nobody. Nobody knows what tribe
they belong. He's corrupted their seed. Corrupted
their seed permanently. Corrupted their seed because
they corrupted his altar. Read on. I'll spread dung upon
your faces. Now perhaps the Lord is saying
literally, that is going to smear their faces over with the manure
that fell from the bowels of the sacrifices they brought.
But I don't think that's what he's talking about. He said,
I'm going to take your religious exercises, which is just dung. I will spread it on your face
and send you away in shame because you've despised that which should
have been a blessing to you. Oh, hear these words and be warned. The words, the last words in
this third verse, one shall take you away with it. Refer to the
sacrifices and solemn feast. The Lord says these things are
going to destroy you. Here's the second thing. Look
at verse four. God's purpose, God's purpose
is not frustrated. It is not overturned. It is not
thwarted. It's not even slightly hindered
by the rebellion and unbelief of ungodly men, but only fulfilled. Men only fulfill God's purpose. Men only fulfill God's purpose. It matters not how vile their
hatred of God is. It matters not how base and corrupt
their behavior is. Men only fulfill God's purpose. That is his purpose of grace
in the saving of his people. Look at verse four. And ye shall
know that I sent this commandment unto you. When I get done spreading
dung, the dung of your solemn feast on your faces, embarrassing
you before yourselves and one another, you're going to know
that I sent this commandment to you. And I did it. This commandment to corrupt your
seed. This commandment to destroy this
nation. this commandment to destroy you as a people from off the
face of the earth. I sent this commandment unto
you. Watch it now that my covenant
might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Let me show you
a couple of similar passages. Hold your hands here. Turn to
Romans chapter three. I know I don't have to believe
what I keep trying to tell you, and I'm sure you don't either.
The God of glory only uses the wrath of men. I mean by that, there is never
any residue of wrath that God does not use just as fully, just
as absolutely as he uses the most loyal, faithful, loving
obedience of the highest angel of heaven. There is nothing God
doesn't use exactly as he will for the saving of his people.
Nothing thwarts his purpose. Nothing frustrates his purpose.
Nothing overturns his purpose. Nothing even causes a little
snag. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
It's Romans chapter three, verse three. What if some did not believe? I experience that every day.
Preach the gospel somewhere about every day. And some don't believe. Well, that was a waste of time. Not hardly. What if some did
not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith the faithfulness, the dependability, the veracity of God without effect. God said, my word shall not return
to me void. It shall accomplish that which
I please. It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Shall a man's unbelief make that of none effect? Nonsense. Read on. God forbid. Yea, let
God be true. But every man a liar. It is written
that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome
When thou art judged turn over Romans 9 Well If you have one of those
Bibles has been messed with by these prophecy nuts You can read
notes from Romans chapter 9 through Romans chapter 11 and most of
the rest of the New Testament as well that will tell you that
The Lord Jesus actually came down here because he wanted to
be a king over that little bunch of Jews in Palestine, and they
wouldn't let him be king. So as plan B, God had a backup
plan, and the backup plan was this church age. The backup plan
was the gospel. The backup plan was redemption.
The backup plan was God's saving grace. And since the Jews wouldn't
let Jesus be king, then he died on the cross and did second best. Anybody with half an eye and
half good sense ought to know better than that. Well, what's
happened? If God's cast off the nation
of Israel, if God's shut them up in darkness and in blindness,
what's going on? Has God changed his mind? Romans
9 verse 6, not as though the word of God had taken none effect. Don't ever imagine the word of
God's meaningless. For they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Just because they were born over yonder and they
have Abraham's physical characteristics and they're descended from Abraham,
that doesn't make them Jews. That doesn't make them Jews.
Not inwardly, not spiritually, not according to promise. Look
at Romans 11, verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that
you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in
your own conceits. Blindness in part has happened
to Israel. Until. God sent blindness, not
to all the Jews, but to the nation as a whole. Brother Jerry Salzberg
comes up here. Our conferences has been for
years. He's a Jew, inwardly and outwardly. But God not cast off
all the people. But in great part, he's cast
them off, sent blindness to them until. until all his elect are
saved. That's what the next words mean.
Until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Verse 26. And so,
when God's gathered all the fullness of his elect, all this godly
seed, all the holy seed out of all the world, all Israel shall
be saved. There shall come out of Zion
the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
their sins. As concerning the gospel, they,
that is the physical seed of Abraham, the nation of Israel,
are enemies for your sakes. But as touching the election,
they are beloved for the father's sakes. Had they not despised and neglected and abused
and misused all the blessed privileges God gave them until God smeared
the dung of their religion on their faces and cast them off. Bob Duffield had never heard
the gospel. Oh, thank God. for his wise and
good providence. Read on. For the gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. Here's a third thing. Look at Malachi 2 verses 4 through
7. God's covenant of life and peace. We read a lot in this book about
a covenant. It was typified by all the covenants in the Old
Testament. The covenant God made with Adam, the covenant God made
with Noah, the covenant God made with Abraham, the covenant God
made with Isaac and Jacob, the covenant God made with Moses,
the covenant God made with David, the covenant God made with Solomon.
All these covenants were typical in one way or another of this
one great covenant called here a covenant of life and peace. This covenant of life and peace,
sure, and unalterable is a covenant made with one man. A covenant
all of which is dependent entirely upon one single man. One man whom the triune God trusted
before the world began as the surety of the covenant. And that
man is Christ Jesus, the Lord. He's here typified by that man,
that son of Judah named Levi. Oh, blessed be God, the man Christ
Jesus is and has proved himself to be entirely worthy as God's
covenant surety and God's covenant messenger. Listen to how God
describes his worthiness for this position as the covenant
surety and covenant messenger. And you shall know, he says in
verse four, that I sent this commandment unto you that my
covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Now,
we're going to read some things about Levi in the next verses
that just weren't true of Levi. Go back and read how Judah described
Levi. Levi was a good son by and large,
but Judah, his daddy knew, or Jacob, his daddy knew Levi. He
knew him. And I expect he knew him about
as well as Lindsay knows Michael. He knew him pretty good. That
means he didn't know everything. He didn't know everything. Levi
wasn't fully known to Jacob. But the man that's spoken of
here is a perfect man. This is a perfect man. This is
a perfect man. That's not Levi. That means that
Levi only represented him. Moses gives us a hint of this
in Deuteronomy 33, when he speaks about the Urim and Thummim being
with Levi, only with Levi. All right, and look at verse
5. My covenant was with him. my covenant was with my son the
Lord Jesus covenant of life and peace Oscar Bailey nothing gives peace like sure
life eternal life life that is beyond the reach
of harm, beyond the possibility of hurt. Oh, now that's peace. A covenant of life and peace.
I gave them, that is, I gave life and peace to him. I gave it to him to give to my
people. Gave it to him as the covenant
surety whom he trusted before the world began. I gave it to
him to give to my people. Now, here's the reason. For the
fear wherewith he feared me. Now, you might read that the
reverence wherewith he reverence me, the honor wherewith he honored
me, except for the next phrase. And was afraid. Before my name. Do you mean, Lord, back before
the worlds were made, all that he suffered in the days of his
flesh when he began to suffer our reproach and all the horror
he endured in Gethsemane, and causing him with broken hearts
to call on you and was heard in that he feared. All of this
was already done? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Brother Don, I just
can't understand that. I can't either. I'm going to
tell you something. I'm tickled to death to tell you I cannot
understand God's works. Cannot describe everything about
God with detailed explanation that will cause many women to
see well now I understand how God works when you do call me
God's infinitely bigger than us for God to will it is for
God to do it He says I have given this man my covenant because
of the fear of wherewith he feared me when he cried not my will
thy will be done and was afraid before my name now watch this
the law of truth was in his mouth he's the revelation of God he's
come here the word made flesh and iniquity was not found in
his lips I don't hardly think that's talking
about Levi. No, no, that's talking about the blessed Savior. In
Him is no sin. He walked with me in peace. Now that might be talking about
a man. But this man, Bill, walked with me, God says, in peace and
equity. He walked with me in peace, exactly
like he ought to have walked with me and did turn many away
from iniquity. And one day he took away the
sins of many. For the priest lips, this one
Levi, this one great priest, the priest lips should keep knowledge. They should seek the law at his
mouth. For he is the messenger of the
Lord of hosts, God's covenant messenger. All these things Christ
has done. Perfectly as that one with whom
God says I give my covenant of life and peace In fact, he says
I have given you for a covenant to the people so that the whole
covenant Stands with Christ and is given us with Christ Jesus
Here's the fourth day Let me just summarize verses 8 through
17 the Lord God is never fooled by religious hypocrisy. He sees right through pretense. He sees right through it. He
won't tolerate the attempts of men to corrupt his covenant. You're not going to corrupt it.
but men try with all their various things they would seek to add
to Christ's finished work. As he made Israel contemptible
and overthrew that nation, let that nation stand as a glaring
beacon to you and me. Paul makes this conclusion, for
if God spared not the natural batches, take heed that he spare
not thee look here Malachi 2 verse 11 Judah hath dealt treacherously
and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem I reckon that word treacherous
is just about the most loathsome word that could be used to describe
the actions and motives and character of a man. Judah hath dealt treacherously
with me. An abomination is committed in
Israel and in Jerusalem. Well, how is that? For Judah
hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved. and hath married the daughter
of a strange God." What did Judah do? Judah embraced along with
the worship of God. I remember when I was in school,
in Bible college, they kept telling us all the time, Judah never
really went into idolatry. That was just the Israel portion.
Judah never did. Judah was always loyal. Oh no, Judah dealt treacherously. Judah embraced and sought to
incorporate with the worship of God the idolatry of the heathen. God says Judah married the daughter
of a strange God. Judah took to himself while pretending
to worship God, while pretending to honor God, while pretending
to adhere to the Word of God in order to get along with the
ungodly who lived among them. Judah said, well, I'll marry
your daughter and we'll become one family. The Lord will cut
off the man that doeth this. The master and the scholar He'll
cut off the teacher and the one who follows him. He'll cut him
off out of the tabernacles of Judah and him that offereth an
offering to the Lord of hosts. And thus ye have done again. That is, this is how you have
profaned my name. This is how you have profaned
my holiness. try to fake worshiping me in
my house. Watch it. You've done this again, covering
the altar of the Lord with tears and weeping and crying out. Did any of y'all happen to watch?
I know a few of you did. I did. I never watched Mr. Swaggart. Well, once in a while I did,
but the day he got caught fooling around with a prostitute, I wanted
to see the next thing he was going to say. Oh, the crocodile
tears. Oh, so sorry because he got caught. Just exactly what God's talking
about here. Faking it with God. He said, You've covered my altar
with tears, with weeping, and with crying out in so much that
God says he regardeth not the offering anymore or receiveth
it with goodwill at your hand. He won't have you and won't have
your gifts. Number five, look at verse 15. The Lord God in the midst of
all his judgments and by his judgments. We've been reading through Psalms
the last couple of weeks. Have you noticed how often the
Psalmist sings God's praise for his judgments? His judgments
in the earth. Well, who would do that? Only
somebody who knows God. Or to somebody who worships God.
You mean when God sends hurricanes and floods and earthquakes and
tornadoes and famine and pestilence and disease and war? When God
disrupts life for people? When God destroys nations? People are to sing to him? Read
the Psalms again. True and righteous are thy judgments,
O Lord. How thankful we are for your
judgments, oh Lord. Why? God in the midst of his
judgments and by those judgments he performs in the earth is seeking
a godly seed. That holy seed that he promised
to his son. And did not he make one? Yet
had he the residue of the spirit and wherefore want that he might
seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your
spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. Come
back to Isaiah 62. The Lord willing, I'll come back
to this matter of dealing treacherously with the wife of your youth.
Everything I've read on the second chapter of Malachi seems to be
more concerned about dealing with divorce than they are about
dealing with grace. I'm more concerned about dealing
with grace. And I'm not reluctant to deal with divorce. Horribly
evil thing. Horribly evil thing. Children
of God, don't be treacherous with one another. Not with your
brothers and sisters in Christ, not with your wife, and not with
your husband. Don't be treacherous. Don't be. Some of you have experienced
it. What do you do? Let me tell you
what to do. Let me tell you what to do. Forget
the past and move on with life. Forget the past. and move on
with life. I promise you, you won't hear
about it from me. But that doesn't make any difference.
If you're God, you're not going to hear about it from Him. He is a great forgiver. Now, let's see what else is here. Isaiah 62, verse 10. All God's doing in this world,
even in all His judgments, is seeking this godly seed. This
godly seed he promised to give to his son. He said, ask of me
and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. Isaiah
62, 10. Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway.
Take away all obstacles. Gather out the stones. Lift up
the standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold,
thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. And they shall call them. Who? Everybody else. They shall call them the holy
people. Oh, that's it. Your neighbor's
going to look at you, and he's going to see that you don't mow
your grass on Sunday, and you wear your hair a certain way,
and you ladies look kind of homely and don't wear any makeup, and
you wear your skirts down to your ankles, and you look like
they haven't been washed in 100 years. Oh, now those are holy people. What stupidity. No. Who are these holy people? They
were holy. before they were sought out.
They were holy in Christ from eternity. And now they come to
experience this holiness brought home to themselves of godly people. The holy people. Who are they?
The redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called sought
out. A city not forsaken. When we went astray in our father
Adam, God was just seeking out his seed and he wouldn't forsake
them. When we came forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies, God was just seeking out his seed and he wouldn't
forsake it. When we lived all the days of
our godless rebellion, hating God with every fiber of our being,
Alan, God was just seeking out the godly seed. And he wouldn't let me go to
hell because of this sixth thing revealed in our text. He hateth
putting away. He hateth putting away. He hateth putting away. And I'll tell you what, what God hates, God won't do. He accepted me in Christ before
I had any being except in Christ. He accepted me in Christ in eternity,
knowing full well everything that I would be and do by nature. He accepted me in Christ and
declared me to be His holy seed. In the beloved before the world
began, knowing full well all the unbelief and sin and
corruption and violence that would accompany me to my dying
day, and he'll never put me away because
of it. He hateth putting away. Amen.