Malachi was another one of those
prophets sent of God to speak in his name as his voice to the
children of Israel after a time of great, great darkness and
confusion. At the time Malachi was sent
to the children of Israel, they had already returned from those
long seventy years of Babylonian captivity, and the rebuilding
of the temple in Jerusalem was now complete. The sacrifices
had resumed. The priests were offering sacrifices
again on God's altar. The people met together at the
appointed times of worship, and everything appeared to be completely
perfect. It appeared that the worship
of God was restored. The sacrifices at the altar of
God were honored, and God's word was revered. were not as they seemed on the
surface. Malachi spoke for God during
the days following Haggai and Zechariah, apparently just a
little after the time of Nehemiah. It was an era that corresponded
in many, many ways to the day in which we live. Among those
who named themselves as people of God, people who claimed to
worship God, people who were called Israel. They were circumcised
in the flesh, not in the heart, but in the flesh. They were involved
in religion, active in the services. They came to the house of God,
observed the ordinances of God, kept the feasts of the Lord.
But unbelief was evident everywhere. Coldness, indifference, indifference
toward God, indifference toward his word, indifference to his
law, indifference as they came to the house of God. They came
out of duty. They came because it was the
thing to do. They came because it was expected.
But they didn't worship God. No one, neither the priests nor
the people, seemed to believe God. They maintained a form of
godliness, but they knew nothing about the power of God in reality. Religion, with these people,
was nothing but a ritual, an outward exercise, a bodily exercise. And the way they performed their
ritual demonstrated that they were a people altogether given
over to their own lust. They performed their duties but
only half-heartedly, and they demonstrated an utter disregard
for God, showing themselves to be a people who drew near to
him with their lips, but inwardly their hearts were far from him.
Paul describes them this way, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God. had in a form of godliness, but
denying the power. Now Malachi was just the man
for the hour. He steps in at just the right
time as God's messenger. In fact, that's what his name
means, and that's what he was, God's messenger. ministry just the other day. I want so much in this generation
for you to be God's messenger. God's messenger. I'd like to do just one thing.
Oh, just one thing. I'd like to speak for God, God's
message." Well, Malachi was. We don't know anything else about
him. He hid everything else about himself. He was a man sent of
God with a message for his people in the hour when he was needed
and that message was needed. Now, the book of Malachi is unique
from the other books of the Old Testament and the other books
of the New Testament as well, for that matter, in three specific
areas. First, obviously, Malachi is
the last book in the Old Testament. He brings to a conclusion God's
revelation of himself up to this time in the days of the Old Testament.
After Malachi, God would not speak again for 400 years. In judgment, God shut up the
heavens, and he would not speak. The next time God spoke from
heaven, he would speak by the voice of one of whom Malachi
speaks in the very last chapter of the book, by Elijah, by John
the Baptist. Malachi's prophecy concludes
the Old Testament with a call from God to repentance. And the
next word from God is that same call from God Almighty to repentance. John the Baptist appeared on
the scene, this great Elijah, and he says, repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. is the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. But then second,
Malachi is unlike the other prophets, because his message is delivered
as a dialogue. I couldn't help noticing, as
I was preparing this message, the emphasis that some of the
commentators gave to this, some of the modern commentators particularly,
and I suspect there was a reason. There is a form of preaching
these days that appeals to folks. It's called dialogue preaching.
One fellow stands over here, and another stands over here,
and they will discuss a matter. Or the preacher will come and
discuss it with the people. Now what do you think? What's
your opinion of this? That's not the kind of dialogue
preaching matter that I'd be. God's servants are not sent to
carry on a dialogue with men. God's servants are sent to proclaim
God's message to men. But Malachi gives his message
in the form of a dialogue in this regard. He raises questions
and answers them according to the revelation of God. And he
does it throughout the book. He raises questions that he knows
the children of Israel are thinking inwardly. They would not say
them, but they're thinking them inwardly. And their behavior
displays what their inward thoughts are. And so he speaks by revelation
from God Almighty, and he speaks in this dialogue manner, but
the dialogue is all one-sided. It's God speaking. And as he
speaks in this manner, it gives another unique quality. almost
the entire prophecy of Malachi. What is there? Fifty-five verses
in these four chapters. Fifty-five verses. Do you know
how many of them are given as a direct word from God? Not what
Malachi says God says. Not reporting what God says.
A direct word from God. There were forty-seven verses
out of the fifty-five. direct word from God. Now that's
not to suggest that other words in the Old Testament are not
God's word, but it's given in this unique manner, because Malachi
here speaks just giving God's message, and that's the emphasis.
And the proportion in that regard is greater than in any other
passage in all the Bible. Now, Malachi's prophecy begins
with a marvelous marvelous declaration of God's distinguishing love.
Look at it in verse 1. He speaks of God's mercy, his
love, and his grace, as it is set forth in the scriptures,
as being mercy, love, and grace sent upon a specific people. It is mercy, love, and grace
which makes a difference in those people. Oh, I would, God, I could
get folks to hear this. That one thing that distinguishes
God's people from all other people is the fact that God set his
heart on us. You said it in your prayer just
a little bit ago. We love each other because he calls us to
love him, and he calls us to love him because he loves us.
You said it when you were talking just a little bit ago. We understand
that. God's love is not some helpless,
fickle, meaningless, sloppy, syrupy passion that does nothing. Oh no, no, no. You hear these
fellows on radio and television, God loves you, has a wonderful
plan for your life. He may go to hell, but he loves
you. Things may be in bad shape, but he loves you. Well tell me
what good his love is. Tell me what good his love is.
If he loves everybody, what good is his love? But God declares
otherwise. Look at this, Malachi chapter
1 verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by
Malachi. I have loved you. First words
I've heard. Not I've loved the world, I've
loved you. Not I've loved everybody, I've loved you. I've loved you. Did you hear God say that to
you? I have loved you. That's the
reason for everything that is. I have loved you. And I love
the fact that it puts it in past tense. I have loved you. That means this thing ain't going
to change. I have loved you. Nothing's going to interfere
with it. I have loved you, saith the Lord. We don't. Yet you say,
wherein hast thou loved us? And the Lord answers, Was not
Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I love Jacob. Well, what does that mean? I
hated Esau. Well, I just can't stand that. Well, understand me. I like it
pretty good. What does it mean? I hated Esau. Is that barbaric? Is that cruel? No, no, no, no,
no, no. It means that I have created Esau for you. And I use
Esau for you. And I do nothing for Esau, but
everything for you. Let's see if that's not what
it means. I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness. And whereas Edom
saith, Esau's children, they said, We are impoverished, but
we will return and build the desolate places, saith the Lord
of Hosts. They shall build. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
mighty, mighty folks, mighty folks. We're dealing with them
now. They shall build. They shall
build. Esau's They shall build, but I will throw down. They shall call them the border
of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation
forever." Look at that! Everything those men did, God
overturned. Everything they built, God destroyed. Everything they set their hearts
on, God fed it to them in the damnation of their souls forever. Look what God did to these people.
Look at that. All right, read on. And your
eyes shall see. Jacob's eyes shall see. And you
shall see. The Lord will be magnified from
the border of Israel. The Lord will be magnified upon
the border of Israel. That is to say, when I get done,
you're going to understand that I love you. And Esau exists only
for the purposes I have of love for you. And everything that
Esau comes to experience and does, though he does it in enmity
against me and against you, he does it because I have ordained
it for you. And when I get done, you're going
to understand that all this is just for you. And God's going
to be magnified upon the border of Israel, upon the foundation
upon which all Israel is built, and the glory of his name established
in us. This is exactly how the Word
of God, by divine inspiration, explains this passage. Listen
to what God says. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with lovingkindness
have I grown thee." What do you mean, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated? God says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore," what? What kind of reasoning is this?
Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy? And whom
he will, he hath. Look at Pharaoh. Look at Esau. Look at Carl. Look at Nathan
in the Bible. Look at Hank. Look at the nations. Look at them! Look at them! And learn! He has mercy on whom
he will have mercy. Salvation to God. Now, folks,
sometimes I have a great deal of difficulty understanding how
the Scriptures can say God hated Esau. One lady said to a Spurgeon
one time, said, I just don't understand how the Lord could
hate Esau. And Spurgeon said, I don't have
any problem understanding that. What I don't understand is how
he could love Jacob. But God said, Jacob never loved God.
He saw everything. Now I've emphasized that because
I want you to understand, my brothers and sisters, and I want
you to remember that the only difference between you and me
right now, yesterday, tomorrow, and to eternity, And the most horrible creature
who ever walked the topside of God's earth is God-loved people. That's all. God-loved people
who make the people different from another. What hast thou
that thou didst not receive? And if thou hast received it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Well, that ought to take the
starch out of the image. That's all the difference. Malachi's
prophecy, as I said, was given shortly after the time of Nehemiah,
and if you read the two books together, you'll see quickly
that this is the case. In both Nehemiah and Malachi,
we're told that the priesthood was both defiled and defiling. We read that the children of
Israel had formed an idolatrous alliance with the heathen nations
around them, which resulted in both mixed marriages and a mixed
language and an utter disregard for God's law and his word. And
in both we find that the support of God's house, the maintenance
of God's house, had been neglected by the people. The Levites, you
remember God told the children of Israel that the Levites were
to have continual maintenance from the sacrifices, the offerings,
the tithes that God's people brought into his house. They
were to be maintained in their livelihood, eating of those things
that were offered to the Lord. Them, their wives, their children,
maintained them that way, so that they could give themselves
without interference to the service of God's house, to taking care
of the worship of God, the ordinances of God. But in these days in
which Malachi speaks, the days of Nehemiah and their ethnicity,
the Levites who served the house of God were not given their provision. Their inheritance was withheld
from them by the Israelites. Now, as a result, the worship
of God, the house of God, the ordinances of God, fell into
utter disrepair again. Oh, the temple was built again,
but the worship of God became a meaningless thing." Now, the
clear application is given by the Apostle Paul. He said, they
which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And there's
a reason for that. God's servants are to be maintained
in their livelihoods. I'm not talking now just about
your pastor. Wherever we have an occasion and opportunity to
help God's servants, our missionaries, those brethren who pastor churches
that do what they can to help them and can't support them,
wherever we have opportunity, it is our privilege, it is to
our advantage. It's to your advantage and to
mine. It is to the advantage of God's kingdom. It is to the
advantage of God's church to support and maintain them for
this reason, so that God's can give themselves to prayer, to
study, and to preaching without any care for other things. Because when the servants of
God are turned aside to other things, they suffer, and the
cause of God suffers, and the kingdom of God suffers, and you
suffer. It cannot be done A man cannot
serve two masters. I cannot give myself wholly to
the work of the ministry and give myself partly to something
else. It can't be done. It just can't be done. And even
trying, trying, as I am able to try because of your generosity,
trying to give myself wholly to this work, I find terrible
distractions, without any legitimate distractions. It was at this time, in these
deplorable conditions, when God sent Malachi. Now Malachi was
not a tea-sipping, socializing puppet. He was a puppet. He was
God's messenger. Everyone thought the puppet was
old-fashioned, out of date, out of step with the times, a troublemaker. And you know what? They were
dead right. God's puppets always are. They're
always out of step with the times. They're never up to date and
don't want to be. Don't want to be. I recall years
ago, still in college, one of the fellows from Shelby's hometown had a little thing for her, I
think. She didn't know it. But I saw him in a bookstore
one day and I was looking over something. I was just there.
I think I was there because I couldn't afford to buy lunch that day.
I was looking at some books. And he came over and said to
me, he said, you ought to read that. He said, it'd bring your theology
up to date. I said, that's the reason I ain't
reading it. I'm not interested in being brought
up to date. God's servants are always out of step with the times.
They're always the odd man out. They're always troublemakers
to those who disregard God and Jesus. Always. But faithful he was as God's
servant. He would not be silenced. But
Malachi found by the direction of God
the sore spot on those folks who claimed to
be God's people, and claiming to be, were responsible to behave
as such. He found the sore spot and he
found to be weak. So I'll flinch a little bit.
So he just pressed real hard. Because that's what the prophet
does, until he makes you see your sin. Makes you see your
need to turn to God. Makes you understand where you've
departed from him and calls you to the Lord. Now, perhaps the
saddest part of the whole story of Malachi is the fact that these
people appear to have been totally unaware that they had departed
from God. Totally unaware. If that doesn't make you tremble
in your boots, I don't know what will. Lindsey, I have observed, and
you have, over the years, So many, so many forsake God
and never know the pursuit. I know people right now haven't
been inside any kind of church, much less a gospel church. Hadn't
been one in years. If you sat down and talked to
them, they'd talk to you about the doctrine of God's grace,
they'd talk to you about theology, talk to you about Bible history,
talk to you about the arguments going on in the church. Just
as though they were the ringleaders among the prophets. And if you
gave them a chance, they'd come right in for it. Hadn't been
touched in years. They don't know. They don't know where they
are. And that terrifies me, with regard
to me. Thank God, my standing is not
in need. The only reason I'm still here,
because God said, So Malachi raises some questions,
seven specific questions. I want us to look at them, and
I can't be very detailed. Look at them briefly. These folks
were insulted by Malachi's message, and he shows their insult by
the questions they raise. The first is found in verse 2,
chapter 1. The Lord said, I've loved you.
And they said, where in have you loved us? What's so special
about your love for us? What have you done for us? Malachi says, you have utterly
disregarded God's magnificent love for you. God declares His will for you,
and you treat it like a contemptible thing that really doesn't make
any difference. Their insolence in asking this
question. I don't think I'll ever forget
the first time I read this and saw what they were doing. I found
it shocking, utterly shocking. But when I read it and saw what
they were doing, and I found it shocking, I could hear the echo of the
question in me. Because I often, God forgive
me, I often treat God's love the same way. A believer wouldn't do that.
Ask David about that. David said, I saw the wicked and I was envious
of the prosperity of the wicked. I said, I said, I've washed my
hands in it in vain. It's a foolish thing to serve
God, doesn't profit me anything. Oh, what a great lover our God
is to us. He has throughout history protected
and cared for us, provided for us, destroyed our enemies, and
most of all, He has and continues to protect us from ourselves. David said, I thought on this,
I thought, oh, I don't dare say that, lest I offend against the
generation of God's children. Oh, wherein hast thou loved us?
Here in Islam, not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. God
commended his love toward us, and while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Read the life of Lazarus, and
watch the Savior, and declare with the Jews as they watched
him, Behold how he loved me! But to the next question, verse
6, God says, A son, honor of his
father, and a servant, his master. If I then be a father, where
is my honor? And if I be a master, where is
my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto
you, O priest that despised my name. And you say, Wherein have
we despised thy name? The Lord reminds Israel that
a son honors his father, a servant honors his master. But they had no fear of him in
their hearts. They didn't honor him. Is that not the case with
many today? Is that not the case with you? With me? Malachi 1, 7-14. I'll be honest
with you. I blush with shame. How often I offer to my God,
my Redeemer, that which is polluted, and lame, and torn, and sick,
and weak. I'm tired. David said, I will not sacrifice
to the Lord that which doth cost me nothing. God says in verse 7, you offer
polluted bread upon my altar. And you say, Wherein have we
polluted thee? Have we polluted you? You said, The table of the Lord
is contemptible. You mean preachers, these folks? They saw God's office,
and they saw the table of the Lord, and they said, That's a
contemptible thing. Oh, no! No! No! No! They said other things are more
important. That's what it is to say the
table of the Lord is contemptible. Other things have a little higher
priority. That's what it is to say the
table of the Lord is contemptible. Well, Aunt Sally came to town
today, and the table of the Lord will be there tomorrow. That's
what it is to say the table of the Lord is contemptible. Well,
my children will be here today and after. I can't worship God
now. That's what it is to say the table of the Lord is contemptible.
Oh, but they wouldn't understand God will. That's what it is to
say the table of the Lord is contemptible. Oh, but I just,
I want to. I could always go to the table
of the Lord. That's what it is to say the table of the Lord
is contemptible. So Pastor, you're stretching that. You read this
chapter and then tell me I'm stretching that. I say with Malachi, Verse 9,
chapter 1, I pray you, I pray you, beseech God that
he may be gracious to us, that he may teach us to worship him. How much better he deserves than
I give. I'm tired of that, aren't you? I'm tired of my indifference.
Oh my God, I'm tired of my indifference. Tired of half-heartedness. Tired
of coldness. And I know this. He's tired of
me. He says, you weary me. You weary
me. I want to tell you something. I pray God will give me grace,
and you grace, to give him first the best of everything, the best
of my time, the best of my attention, the best of my labor, the best
of my care, the best of everything. I don't mind at all eating my
wife's leftovers. They're fantastic. I don't mind
her cooking well or anything. They bother me a bit. But I want
to tell you something. God won't have you. God won't take what you take
with you. God won't take what you would throw away if he didn't
mean he'd be serving us. He won't take it. He won't have
it. Now look at chapter 2, verse 17. The Lord speaks. Ye have wearied the Lord with
your words, yet you say, Malachi, he's got his finger on the source
button and pushing hard. You weary God with your words,
with your much talk, with your religious debate, and your religious
dogma, and your religious pretense. Yet you say, where in have we
wearied him? And the answer is, when you say
everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and
he delights in good, no matter how they behave. are, where is
the God of judgment? Where is justice? Now note the context of this
question. It's important. I'm going to
attempt here for just a few minutes. The priests were told in the
opening part of this chapter, beginning in verse 7, who were
supposed to keep knowledge and seek the word of God. at his
mouth, who were supposed to serve as messengers of the Lord of
hosts. They departed out of the way. They caused the people to
stumble at God's law. That is, they made the law of
God to be a stumbling block to them. They corrupted God's covenant,
and they led the people to deal treacherously with the Lord and
with one another. And you can bank on it. When
men and women deal treacherously with They will deal preciously
with one another. Remember, Malachi was a prophet.
He was God's messenger. That meant he didn't speak in
vague terms that you could look at and say, well, I think he
meant this, and Job could look at it and say, well, I think he meant
that, and both of them would be right. Because he didn't mean
anything. Oh, no. When Malachi spoke, Larry, nobody
misunderstood him. Nobody. He made certain folks
heard exactly what he was saying. Wasn't any misunderstanding this
fellow? He spoke in such a way that he specifically identifies
the evil into which Israel's religious leaders led them. Look
at verse 11. First, the priest led the people
to profane God's holiness, God's holiness that he loved. And they
did so by wedding themselves to the daughters of strange gods. What on earth does that mean?
It means exactly what you think it means. They married amongst
folks who worshiped another God. They profaned God's altar, the
place of his holiness. That is the place where his holiness
is displayed and maintained in the sacrifices which represented
the sacrifice of his darling son, by which God Almighty can
be just and justify the ungodly. By doing so, this is what they
said. by weddings and fells to the
daughters of strange gods. They said, now my wife, she worships
Astaroth. My wife, she worships this god.
My wife, she worships that god. That's all right. We all worship
the Lord. And substitution is really not
necessary. Grace is good, but it's not essential.
You can go to God any way you want to, as long as you're sincere.
Blood's nice to have, but you don't have to have it. Sacrifice
of Christ is good, but it's not necessary. God will accept, you
just be sincere. The priest led the people in
the way of Cain. They ran greedily after the error
of Balaam, and the gainsaying of Cole. And secondly, in verse
13, Malachi shows them that the worship of God had become nothing
more than superstitious sprout. Sentimentalism and emotionalism. This had he done again, covering
the altar of the Lord with your tears. Oh, I love the Lord so
much. Oh, I just love being here. I'll
see you next year if nothing comes up. I just love it. Oh,
I'm so thankful for this place. So good to have a place to worship. God is wonderful. You cover the
altar of the Lord with your tears, with weeping, with crying out,
insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth
it with goodwill at your hand." In other words, God sees through
your shame. Malachi's third charge proved
that these words were accurate, proved that their tears and their
cries were just shows of hypocrisy. pretending to worship God while
really living according to their own brute lusts, because they
utterly disregarded the word of God and the moral responsibilities
before him, as was manifest in their disregard for marriage. Look at verses 14, 15, and 16.
Now, I know I have lots of friends,
some of you here, who are divorced and others divorced and remarried.
For some, it's not something you chose, but what another forced
upon you. For some, the whole thing took
place before God Almighty saved you. And for others, an act of
utter disregard for God. I have a friend that's talking
to me recently, going through a divorce. He talked to me a
little bit. I was quiet and asked him about
it. I'll be honest with you, if I was married to her, I probably
would have locked her away or I'd have shot her, but I wouldn't
have divorced her. I couldn't live with her, but
I wouldn't have divorced her. I'd do something else. Now, I deliberately preface
my comment, these nexuses, with this word, and hear me well,
hear me well. That which is past is past. Leave
the past. You can't undo it. You can't
correct it. It's over. And God Almighty graciously
forgives me. I had a friend write to me a
few weeks ago. He said, can God ever forgive
me for what I've done? And I wrote back and I said,
God's a great forgiver. He's a great forgiver. God teaches me. Now having said
that, God's Church ought never to hold
the past against His own. Never. Never. I recall years ago Brother Mayhem
pastoring Pollard in Ashland before they started 13th Street
Church. I heard him or someone else telling the story that happened.
There was a lady, it was Brother Mayhem, he was telling the story.
There was a lady who, uh, had gone insane. And she was, uh,
she had a reputation. Everybody in town knew. They
didn't know it was a lady. And Henry had appointed her to
sing at a city-wide revival meeting that was happening. And one of
the victims came and said to our pastor, we can't have her
sing. He said, how come? She hadn't had time to live at
Allen yet. Henry said, you ever say something
like that to me again, I'll throw you out this window. Hadn't had
time to live? God forgive her. God forgive
her. But having said all that, hear
me now and hear me well. Hear me well. There's no such
thing as a biblical divorce. And there's no such thing as
a divorce that's best for all involved. There's no such thing
as a divorce that doesn't hurt people, especially the children. Well, if they're old enough,
it doesn't matter. Yeah, it does. Ask them. Just ask them. Just ask them. Here's what God
said. Look at Malachi 2, verse 14.
You say, wherefore, because the Lord hath been witness between
you and your wife, the wife of your youth. God was there when
you married that girl. He was there. He's been witness
against you, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, yet
is she thy companion and the wife of thy cousin. The vow that I took 35 years
ago to that dear lady, I entered into a covenant with her, Ron,
but she wasn't the only one, and she wasn't the most important
one. I took a vow to God Almighty and entered into a covenant with
God Almighty. Well, we're not compatible anymore. You know
what? I'd rather live with her than
be incompatible with her than live with God being incompatible
with Him. We're not compatible anymore. Well, I'm not happy. Every time I hear, I'm not happy,
I want to turn them over on me and wear them. Life ain't about
you being happy. But you don't. And did not He
make one? Come on, that's not what I'm
talking about. God made Adam and Eve one. He made one man
and one woman and brought them together and said, you're one.
He could have easily made Adam 10,000 wives out of his one rib,
and could have breathed into all 10,000 of them the spirit
of devotion to Adam. But he made Adam one, and made
Eve one, and made Adam and Eve one for a good reason. Look at
the next line. Yet hath he the residue of the
Spirit, and wherefore one," why do you make him one? "...that
he might seek a godly seed." What on earth is that talking
about? Man, I read that in spats in my head. What is that talking
about? It's not talking about godliness in the strict sense
that it would have been passed on from generation to generation.
But in 1 Corinthians 7.14, you remember what Paul says about
The believing and unbelieving, the children being sanctified
by the believing husband or believing wife? Otherwise your children
will be unclaimed? What's he saying? If you believe
God for your children, they'll be holy and sanctified children?
No. What it does mean is this, that the marriage is honorable,
and the children are honorable, and moral reptitude is maintained. Disregard marriage. Disregard
the whole. Throw it away. We're consenting
adults. We can do whatever we want to.
To hell with everybody else. If that offends, I'm sorry. It's
time folks keep playing. To hell with everybody else.
I'll do what I want to. I'll tell you what the result is.
There's no standard by which men live. There's no right. There's
no wrong. Every man does what's right in
his own eyes. And that means everybody calls evil good and
good evil. And that's what the rest of this chapter says. Justice
is gone, thrown out the window, uprightness is gone, order is
gone, chaos holds! And men live like brute beasts. Shackled with this gal here,
get tired of her, shackled with that one. What's wrong with that? God said it was wrong. What's
wrong with that? Come on now. You go home, look
in the mirror, and talk to that baby you're holding in your hands
and tell her it's all right. Tell her it's all right. God
speaks squarely. Because right is right. And that
which is right is right because God said it. And that which is
wrong is wrong because God said it. And it doesn't need any other
reason. Well, why? God said it. God said it. That's all. Now look at verse 17. The faithful
prophet declared that religion, the religion of such people as
these, is nothing but lip service as a weariness to God. But blessed
be God, he will never abandon his own. In chapter 3, the Lord
Jesus Christ is set forth as a refiner and he sets by to purify
And when he gets done, he says, your worship is not only accepted
by Jesus, it's a blessing to me. And everything's going to
be fine from now on. Because I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Now I'm going to call you to
pass me by. And I'm going to chase you. But
I'm your God, and I'll not leave you. The fourth chapter concludes
with the promise of Christ's coming. The Old Testament ends
up this way. The Son of righteousness shall
arise with healing in his wings. And
on your darkest day, whether it's brought on by you
or brought on by another, he shall