The title of my message tonight
is a message you don't want to hear. A message you don't want to hear.
Before I read my text, let me introduce the message with a
hymn. John Newton, that great Anglican
preacher who died 200 years ago, wrote Amazing Grace, How Sweet
the Sound, and so many, many more wrote this hymn. I asked the Lord that I might
grow in faith and love and every grace. Might more of his salvation
know and seek more earnestly his face. T'was he that taught
me thus to pray and he, I trust, has answered prayer. but it has
been in such a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped
that in some favored hour at once he'd answer my request and
by his love's constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart. He let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part and more. With his own hand,
he seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all the fair
designs I schemed, blasted my gourds, and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembled
and cried. Will thou pursue thy worm to
death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I
employ from self and pride to set thee free, to break thy schemes
of earthly joy that thou mayst find Thine all in me If the Lord will enable me I
want to blast our gourds All of them Lay us low Break
every remnant of pride in our hearts That we may look to Christ
our Savior and find our all in him Turn with me to Malachi chapter
1. Malachi's name means God's messenger. He and Haggai and Zechariah were
God's messengers to the children of Israel after their return
from the long years of Babylonian captivity. During the days of
Haggai and Zechariah, The temple of God was being rebuilt in Jerusalem. The city was being rebuilt. The
worship of God was being reestablished in the land of God's people.
By the time Malachi comes along, the temple is finished. The city
has been rebuilt. The worship of God has been reestablished,
at least it so appears. Men were again worshiping at
God's altar. offering sacrifices in God's
house, worshiping in God's name with God's priest. But things
were not as they appeared. As we read this chapter together,
I want you to read it. Ask God to let you read it as
his message to you. Don't read this prophecy as a
message that God's prophet gave to the children of Israel better
than 2,500 years ago. You say, well, Brother Don, but
it is a message God gave by his prophet to his people Israel
more than 2,500 years ago. That's exactly true. There's
no question about that. But if that's the way you read
the prophecy, David Coleman, it will be to you nothing but
a piece of history. with no effect on your soul.
That's not the reason God wrote this book. This is God's word
to you and to me. After all, we are the Israel
of God. We are his royal priesthood. We are those who are made priest
under God in and with and by Christ Jesus who worship in his
house, who do business in the holy place, who live in his presence
all the time. So let's read this prophecy,
this word of God from Malachi, a word of God by Malachi to us
and read it to ourselves. The burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel. You sons of Jacob, you tricky, conniving, wretched
sons of Jacob, whom the Lord God has made princes with God
by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou
loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Yet I love Jacob, and I hated
Esau. What does that mean? How many
times you had somebody ask you exactly what it means when God
says, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated? Well, he tells
you exactly what he means by it. I hated Esau. And because
I hated Esau, I laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom, that is Esau, Esau
saith, proud Esau saith, we are impoverished, but we will return
and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall build. But remember, I hated Esau. I
will throw down. And they shall call them the
border of wickedness, the people against whom the Lord hath indignation
forever. And your eyes shall see, and
ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of
Israel. Verse six. A son honoreth his
father, and a servant his master. If I then 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. I told you this is a message
you don't want to hear. Ron Wood is talking to you. He's
talking to me. O priest that despised my name,
ye 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. See if he'll have it. Will he
be pleased with thee? Will he accept thy person, saith
the Lord of Hosts? Verse nine. 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?
All this evil has been by your means. Will he regard you for
all this that you've done? Sayeth the Lord of Hosts, verse
10. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for
naught? Neither do you kindle fire on
mine altar for naught. 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 unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered
unto my name, prayer offered to me, and a pure offering. For
my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of
hosts. 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. He said also, behold, what a
weariness is it. And you have snuffed at it, saith
the Lord of Hosts. And you brought that which was
torn and lame and the sick. Thus, he 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 boweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For
I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is
dreadful among the heathen. Now, in the light of this solemn
message from God to us, I want to make four observations. These
four observations are things by which the Lord God has sharply
reproved my own heart, broken the gourds of my own joy, and
laid me low before him. If the things I have to say don't
apply to you, then I apologize for wasting your time. I hope
you'll forgive me. But I hope they apply to you. I suspect you will not escape
the pointed arrows. I pray the Lord God will wound
you deeply with well-deserved wounds. And he will heal you by his grace
that you and I may grow in faith and love and every grace and
more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face. Here's the first thing. No matter what we do or fail
to do. No matter what we do or fail
to do. God's sovereign eternal purpose
of grace in Christ shall be accomplished. God's elect shall be saved and
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be glorified
in and by all things, especially in the salvation of his people.
In other words, God who uses means doesn't need us. God doesn't need us. He uses
men to accomplish his purpose. He uses men to save his people,
but he doesn't need men for anything. I said to the man last Tuesday
night, I think it was last Tuesday night. We were a little late
coming out chatting. We we tend to look upon the worship of God
in these days. with too much contempt. And I'm
not talking to folks down the road. I'm talking about you and
me. We tend to look at it as too casual a thing, as something
that can be had or given up lightly. In the Old Testament, once a
year, the children of Israel gathered around God's altar with
God's priest, Aaron, in his gorgeous priestly garments. and they had
an all day long ceremony in which a lamb that had been shut up
for 14 days was brought to Aaron and he slid his throat and he
offered him as a sacrifice to God and went into the Holy of
Holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat and he came out
and he took another lamb and put it in the hands of a fit
man and sent it away. And thus, every Passover atonement
was made. And these people understood.
They understood until they grew so accustomed to the ceremony
that it became meaningless to them. Larry Brown, Aaron understood
what was going on. He understood what was happening.
The children of Israel understood this speaks of redemption by
God's Son who's coming in human flesh, the seed of Abraham. And
I'll guarantee you they were up early in the morning to get
there. And I'll guarantee you they observed the whole day long
service with great concern, with great reverence, with great care. And I'm here to tell you that
the preaching of the gospel in this place and in every place
where men faithfully preach the gospel is just as important. It is just as important. James,
this is the means by which God saves his people. This is the
means by which God comforts, edifies and strengthens his people.
This is the means by which God teaches and instructs and guides
his people. I know I hear folks, well, it'd
be nice to go to church, but I can get along all right without
it. I'll tell you what, if you can
get along all right without it, you're in bad shape. You're in trouble. I'm concerned
for you. I'm concerned for you. Well,
we can study the Bible on our own and learn on our own. All
you'll learn is foolishness on your own. God instructs his people. Be as those noble Bereans and
search the scriptures. Be certain that what I say is
so. You are responsible for that. But God won't teach David Peterson
anything apart from the preaching of the gospel. Now you can mark
it down. You can mark it down. He won't do it. He hasn't done
it and he won't do it. But having said that, he doesn't
need me. And it doesn't need you. God's
pleased. He is ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's the means he
uses. But if we don't perform the work, if we don't devote
ourselves to him, if we don't preach the gospel to all men,
if we don't carry the message around the world in this generation,
God Almighty can raise up jackasses to preach again, just as he did
in Balaam's day. He doesn't need you and he doesn't
need me. His work will be done. His will will be performed. His people will hear the gospel
and he will call them from the four corners of the earth. Look
at verse five. Your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord will
be magnified from the border of Israel. The Lord will be magnified
upon the border of Israel. Here's all this world. Jacob
have I loved. Esau have I hated. And the whole
world is divided into those two groups of people, Jacob and Esau. And the Lord will be magnified
upon the border of Israel in the saving of his people. Verse
11. For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down
of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And
in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and
a pure offering. For my name shall be great among
the heathen, saith the Lord. God's will, God's purpose will
be accomplished. Whether we serve him or whether
we don't. Whether we serve him willingly or don't. Whether we
devote ourselves to him or don't. Whether we worship him or don't.
His will will be done. His purpose will be accomplished.
He will save his people. Number two, our great God, our savior, our
father, our master is a great king. He's a great king. He's a great king. As such, he deserves our best. He deserves the best, the best
of everything from us. If they were sitting here, they
would be embarrassed. I've been bragging to you about Brother
Fred Evans and folks down there in Louisville, so happy with
him. Let me tell you about Fred. Let me tell you about Cheryl.
They're both schoolteachers. Good careers. Good careers. In Houston, Texas, making good
money. Making good money. And God sent him to Louisville,
Kentucky. pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church,
and gave up his career. His wife gave up her career,
brought the children up here. Why would a man do that? Because
we serve a great king. We serve a great king. We serve
a great king. Well, look what they're going
to lose. You won't lose anything by honoring
God. I promise you. It won't happen. I know lots of people who think,
well, one of these days when I get all the money I need, or
at least the rest of my life, and I've got my retirement fixed,
and my house is paid for, and everything's secure, if the Lord
will let me live long enough, I'll start doing this. And I'll
serve him, and I'll preach. No, just go ahead and Keep shining
shoes. Something meaningful. You know,
like ruling the world. Just go ahead and stay with your
business. God won't have it. God won't have it. God deserves
better, and we ought never think of serving him in such terms.
Brother Fred's family, I've known them for, oh, 35 years, I reckon. for the first time in his life.
For the first time in his life, his family needs him. His mom
and dad need him. And he moved away. Our Lord Jesus said, let
the dead bury their dead. Do you know what his mother,
her mother and daddy did a few years ago? Do you know what her
mother and daddy did? They sold everything out in Tennessee
and moved to Houston so they could be close to the grandbabies.
And they packed up and left. Oh, what cruelty? No, no, no. Nothing cruel, nothing cruel. Our God's a great king. He's
a great master. He's a great savior. And he deserves the best. He
deserves the best. And I'll tell you what God will
do. He'll take folks who honor him. and he'll honor them. He'll take folks that devote
theirselves to him and prove himself devoted to them. He'll
take folks who are willing to make sacrifice to him and he'll
use their sacrifice for his glory and for the good of his people,
for the furtherance of his gospel and the building of his kingdom. God deserves the best. Sons ought
to honor their father and servants, reverence their master. We ought to give them the best
of service, the best of praise, the best of devotion, the best
of worship, the best, the best. It's an utter reproach, an utter
reproach for a preacher, this one or any other, to come to
God's house and pretend to preach to folks half-prepared. It's
a reproach. It's a reproach. It ought not
be done. Use whatever excuse you want
to when I was tired. Well, get untired. Well, I had family visiting. Well, tell the family goodbye.
It's a reproach. God deserves the best. Not only that, We understand
he deserves the best, not just because of who he is, but because
of all he's done for us. He chose me. He adopted me as his son. He
redeemed me with his precious blood. He's called me by his
grace. Saved me from myself and saved
me from hell. He kept me. He's taking me to
glory. And maybe, above all, He deserves
the best because He did it for me. Such things as I am and you
are. Such worthless pieces of human
garbage as we are. He chose us. and redeemed us
and called us and saved us and keeps us by his grace. Here's the third thing. The Lord God, our savior, our
great king. Deserves the best of everything
from us. but he usually gets leftovers. He usually gets leftovers. In
John chapter 7, verse 7, you don't need to turn there. I plan
to preach to you from this passage next week. The Lord Jesus said
to his disciples, or to those men there, not his disciples,
those who were arguing and fussing with him, He said, the world
cannot hate you. The religious leaders of the
day, the world can't hate you. It cannot hate you. It cannot
hate you. The world embraces religious
leaders. Loves them. Promotes them. Exalts
them. Pays them good. Take good care
of them. He said the world can't hurt you. It hateth me. And then he tells why. Because
I testify of it. That their deeds are evil. He's not talking about murder
and adultery and fornication and drunkenness. He's not talking
about theft and lying and deceit. He's talking about the religious
activity. I testify that everything you
do in the name of worshiping God is evil. Therefore, the world
hateth me. John tells us in 1 John 1 verse
9. If we say We have not sinned. We make God a liar. We deceive
ourselves. And his word is not in us. You
remember that harlot woman described in Proverbs chapter 7? That old
harlot Babylon. That old harlot, the religion
of this world. She entices men to her bed, and
when she's done with them, she wipes her mouth and she says,
I've not sinned. I've not done anything wrong.
I've done good. I'll tell you who thinks they
are good and do good. Folks who aren't and folks who
don't. The only people in this world
who imagine that they are good, the only people in this world
who imagine that they've done something, something to please
God and to honor God and to magnify God, the only ones who ever think
like that are people who don't have a clue who God is. Those
who are indeed righteous, those who indeed serve Him and seek
His honor, In the day of judgment, the master will say to them on
his right hand, I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and
you put clothes on my back. I was sick and imprisoned and
you visited me and you comforted me. And they'll look up and say,
Lord, when did I ever do anything like that? When did I ever do anything like
that? I never did that. So maybe you won't be too offended.
when I read this list of charges that God makes against our service. Here are 10 charges laid against
you and me in this chapter. How I wish I could escape them,
but escape them I can't. In verses 2 through 5, the Lord
God charges us, his chosen people, with despising his electing love. despising it, and that we constantly
fail to truly appreciate it. He says, were not Esau and Jacob
brothers? Yet Jacob I loved and Esau I
hated. Well, wherein didst thou love
us? What's so special about your
love for us? We would never say such a thing. But our thinking of God's election
so commonly with such little joy, with such little turning
of our hearts to him is nothing less than despising it. The Lord
God says, take a look at the rest of the world. The only reason
they exist is for you. The only reason Esau is around
is because I love Jacob. The only reason I gave him being
is for the benefit of Jacob. God Almighty raises up men and
tears them down. He raises up nations and He tears
them down. He raises up kingdoms and He
tears them down at His will for you, for me. And we say, where in this thou
loved us? What's so special? I called Merle
the other day going to Louisville. I said, I've got a reading assignment
for you. He had already read it, but he
went back and read it again. For June the, was it the 13th or
14th, Merle? I can't remember, 12th maybe.
Shelby and I had read it the day before where the Lord was
a pillar of fire by day and a pillar of cloud by night. He still is. to protect and guide his own.
And he causes us always to walk in the light of that pillar above
us, guiding us. And that very same God turns
the children of Egypt and the sons of Pharaoh into darkness
and confusion. Uses the very same thing. He
sends rain and benefits his people. and the ungodly get the same
thing and are destroyed. He sends his son on the just
and the unjust, but he sends it for the just, and it will
be to the damning of the unjust. Second, he says in verse six,
you've despised my name. Well, how have we done that?
Here's the third thing. In that you offer polluted bread
on my altar, verse seven. Where did we do that? When did
we do that? How did we do that? He gives
another charge, verse 7. You say that the table of the
Lord is contemptible. That the fruit of the table,
this table of showbread, where it is spread, that which typifies
Christ, the bread of life, and all the fruit that comes from
it is contemptible. When did we say that? Look again,
verse eight. He says, you offer to me that
which is worthless to you. The blind, the lame, the sick. Going to go worship God today?
Well, I had planned on it, but something came up. You're going
to go down and worship God today? Yeah, it's raining. I can't go
fishing. I believe I will. Just go ahead and stay at home.
Just go ahead and stay at home. No, you're not. No, you're not.
You offered me what cost you nothing. He says in verse 10, the fact
is none of you would lock the door back there if you didn't
get something out of it. You wouldn't even kindle a fire
on my altar if it didn't profit you in some way. It's so. I've never done a selfless thing
in my life. Not one. I benefit by everything
I do. By everything I do. Verse 12. Here's the 7th charge. You profane my name. How? Verse
13. You say with regard to the worship
of God's name. What a weariness is it? Number nine, you snuffed at it. You snuff at the great privilege
of worshiping at my altar. How do we snuff at it, Lord?
Here's the tenth thing, verses 13 and 14. He said, you bring
me for sacrifices. Not sacrifices required by the
law, by the way. Not sacrifices that are sin atoning
sacrifices. No, you bring as sacrifices to
me of a vow of consecration. Sacrifices of gratitude. Sacrifices
of praise. Sacrifices of thanksgiving. We're
going to go worship God. And we're going to devote ourselves
to him. And we're going to stand up and
sing, my Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine. Oh, how
I love Jesus. And this is what we're bringing.
Have we got a lamb over there about to die? Have we got something
in the field that's useless? Have we got something that will
cost nothing? Let's take it to God and show
how much we love Jesus. He calls it a corrupt thing. As I look at these past 43 years
since God called me by his grace, these 43 years in which I've
attempted to serve and worship and honor him, I have to confess
to my shame The whole of it is a pile of
manure. Filthy rags, piled up before
God, stinking to high heaven. Worthy not even of hell, much
less of God. God says, offer it now to thy
governor. Will he be pleased with thee?
Will he accept thy persons? The obvious answer is no, but
look at verse nine. Oh, blessed be his name. Our
God is not a man whose favors men can earn. Our God is not a man whose favors
men can destroy. Our God is not a man whose favors
you can purchase. He is not a man whose favors
you can forfeit. Look at verse 9. And now I pray
you, the prophet says, beseech God, beg God that he will be
gracious unto us. This hath been by your means.
This is your doing. This corruption, this evil, this
neglect, this despising, this nothing, this profaning, it's
been by your means. You've done it. Will He regard
your persons, saith the Lord? Yes, He will be gracious to us,
though we deserve nothing but the outpouring of His wrath.
Yes, God will accept us and even accepts our polluted sacrifices. Our worthless, corrupt efforts
at honoring him because he accepts us in the person of his son,
the Lord Jesus, from everlasting. Turn back and look again at Ecclesiastes
chapter 9. God will never accept. He will
never be honored by. He will never receive the polluted
bread of our polluted hands. But, blessed be His holy name
forever. He accepts us in his son. And he accepts our service to
him in his son by the merit of his son through the blood of
his son as the righteousness of his son. He accepts us in
the totality of our lives. He says concerning you and me,
as I live by the Father, you live by me. As I live in the
Father, you live in me. As I live with the Father, you
live with me. As the Father lives in me, I
live in you. Oscar Bailey, that means that
you, you, your whole life, Your whole being is one with Christ,
wrapped up in him. And he accepts us not for our
sakes and what we do. He accepts us in the totality
of our existence because we have perfectly obeyed him and we are
perfectly, completely worthy of his approval in Christ the
Lord. Now, the wise man Solomon says
here in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 7. You want to read nonsense,
read commentaries on the book of Ecclesiastes. The bulk of
them, the bulk of conservative commentaries have the notion
that Solomon is here just ranting as a depressed old man who's
gotten everything a man could want and he's just, he found
no satisfaction in anything. He's giving us expressions of
his great frustrations with life. Oh no, this is the preacher.
You read it back there. Preacher giving words of wisdom.
This preacher writing by divine inspiration. And he's instructing
God's people in how to live in this world and how to properly
view this world. Go thy way. Eat thy bread with
joy. Sit down. Have a meal with your
family. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Eat your
bread with joy. Drink thy wine with a merry heart. Somebody ought to embroider that
and stamp it on the back of the wall of every teetotaling Baptist
preacher church building in the world. Drink your wine with a
merry heart. It didn't say go get drunk. It
said drink your wine with a merry heart. It's all right. Enjoy
anything in God's creation with moderation. It's yours. He made
it for you. Drink your wine with a merry
heart. Why should I do that? For God now accepteth thy works. Phil, he's talking about eating
bread and drinking wine. God accepts that, your works. Works worthy of God. Works approved of by God. Works honoring God. Read on. Let thy garments be always white,
and let thy heart, let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully
with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy
vanity. What? Live joyfully with your
wife whom you love All the days of this life that soon come into
nothing. You get done with a long hard
day's work and you go home and your wife has fixed dinner and
you finish with your dinner and you sit down in your easy chair,
got your pajamas on and you pull your wife over and sit on your
lap and you drink your wine and talk about how good God's been
to you and enjoy life. Enjoy life That's exactly what
it's a how come we're gods We're gods, you know This is that which
he hath given thee under the Sun all the days of identity
Looks to me like that's about the only thing here worth anything Just enjoy your family goal life for that is thy portion in this
life. And in thy labor, which thou
takest under the sun, in your labor, in that which God puts
in your hands to do, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with all thy might. Oh, if God gives you something
to do for him, if God gives you something to do for him, Do it
with all your might now, for there's no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. God has cast off the nation of
Israel for less evil than I've committed against him. But the Lord hath not cast off
his people whom he foreknew, and he will not. Your eyes shall see and you shall
say the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. Now
I have one more word. Inspired with gratitude, constrained
by his love, overwhelmed by humility before his throne of grace. Let
us, from this day forward, give God our best. No more leftovers. Nothing else worthless. David
said, went on and said, I'll give you a place to build God's
tabernacle. David said, I don't want you
to give it to me. For I will not offer God that which doth
cost me nothing. No more leftovers. God deserves
better. God deserves better. Let us give
it to him. You're not your own. You're not
your own. You're bought with a price. James
Jordan, God Almighty, owns you and Don Fortner, lock, stock,
and barrel. You're not your own. Therefore,
you don't have any rights over anything you call yours. Not
your life, not your family, not your wife, not your son, not
your daughter, not your husband, not your mother, not your father.
Nothing is yours. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body and
in your spirits, which are God's. I began by telling you this is
a message you don't want to hear. Well, maybe you did. Thank God for the wounds. And
thank God for the balm of his grace. Amen.