God's Rebuke of the Preis

Announcements

Possible Special Business Meeting at the end of this service.

Last Summer Outreach Ministry on August 13th during the Sandy Ridge Homecoming parade. Contact Natalie for more information.

For those seeking to serve in children’s ministry—let me remind you that you do need to get your clearances in as soon as possible. This is probably the last week that you can get them done and still expect to have them before we start children’s ministry.

And speaking of children’s ministry, we will have a mandatory training on August 27th from 9am-2pm. Everyone serving in children’s ministry needs to plan to be here for it. We’ll be working on child safety policies, general training, and curriculum introduction, so we definitely need all of you there.

Faith Night at the Altoona Curve on August 21 at 6pm. Tickets are $13 per person. We’re a little behind on getting this organized, which I think is completely my fault because I forgot all about it. If you want to come, we’ll need the money for your ticket or tickets by next Sunday so I can order all the tickets in one section. There is a sign-up for it, the cash for the tickets can be dropped in the offering box—just make sure that you mark it with your name and what it’s for otherwise, it’ll just go to our regular offering and you won’t get a ticket. If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to me about it before Sunday of next week.

Let me remind you to continuing worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you with your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box at the front of the room—checks should be written to Grace & Peace, if you’d like a receipt for your cash gifts, please place it in an envelope with your name on it. Debit, Credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church and selecting Giving in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 57:1-5)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 57:1-5, which is a psalm of David written when David was being chased by Saul. In the first five verses, David starts the psalm with prayer and a complaint. It is interesting to note that even in the midst of being chased by Saul, David still gives God the glory and exalts God for who He is. Please stand and read with me Psalm 57:1-5. I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 57:1–5 ESV

1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! 4 My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

Congregational Singing

Mercies Anew (84)

Psalm 23 (168)

I Will Glory in my Redeemer (196)

Scripture Reading (Ps 115)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is Psalm 115, which is an anonymous psalm in which the psalmist praises God and gives God all the glory. In light of our sermons last week and this week, Psalm 115 reminds us of what the actual purpose of worship is—to give God glory for who He is with our whole heart and right motive. Deane, can you read Psalm 115 for us?

Psalm 115 ESV

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. 9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; 13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. 14 May the Lord give you increase, you and your children! 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to Malachi 2:1-9.

Now, for sake of time, I’ve chosen to remind or rehash last week’s message through the first part of this week’s message, which means I don’t have a significant introduction now—I just want us to jump straight into the passage.

So, let’s read together Malachi 2:1-9.

Malachi 2:1–9 ESV

1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) God’s Curse against the Priests (1-3) and (2) God’s Covenant with Levi (4-9). This continues the indictment that God started against the priests in the passage that we worked through last week and in a moment, before we dig into our text for this morning, I’m just going to refresh our minds on what all we worked through last week. This week’s sermon will show us the importance of right leadership who genuinely fear the Lord and it’ll show us just how seriously God takes the worship that we offer Him.

Prayer for Illumination

God’s Curse against the Priests (1-3)

Let me refresh your minds about last week’s message since it is the start of the indictment before we dig into this text. Last week, we worked through Malachi 1:6-14 in which we start seeing the confrontation from God towards the priests for leading the Israelites into improper worship.

We see God pose multiple questions that the Israelites push back on in denial. God says, if I’m your Father and I’m your master, where is my respect and where is my fear? Where is the honor due my name?

Both questions push the need for God to be respected, feared, and honored by mankind simply because of who He is—He is worthy of respect, fear, honor and even praise and worship simply because He is God.

The Israelites push back on the assertion that they aren’t respecting, fearing, or honoring God properly by asking, “how have we despised your name?”

The response from God is that they’ve despised His name primarily through the way that they’ve been claiming to worship Him.

They’re keeping the rituals and they’re doing the right things, but they’re definitely offering sacrifices that aren’t proper and they’re definitely doing the rituals not because they genuinely love God, but because they think they’re going to be blessed by God for doing them.

They aren’t doing any of these things because they genuinely love God, but because they think they’ll get a reward despite the fact that they’re offering polluted offerings and improper worship.

God reminds them that He is the great King who deserves the honor, glory, and awe that is due His name.

And in doing so, He makes it abundantly clear that He, as the King, will be feared amongst all the nations.

That’s the background that leads up to the statements that God directs to the priests in Malachi 2:1-9 and it’s clear that this is where God rebukes the priests for what they’ve done, “And now, O priests, this command is for you.”

Like last week, the statements are directed towards the priests, but let me be abundantly clear that the warnings given to the priests and the indictment laid upon them can easily be applied to Christians today.

The same indictments can be made against Christians who claim to worship God, but worship Him improperly—it might not be because of faulty offerings, but it could be indictments for worshiping God out of duty rather than out of love.

It could be accusations for worshiping Him in such a way that the primary concerning is yourself rather than actually worshiping God, which by the way is idolatry.

It could be for simply not taking worship seriously.

Regardless, in this instance, God directs a command to the priests for leading improper worship and in vv. 2-3, “If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.”

God makes the statement that if the priests don’t listen and if they refuse to “take it to heart to give honor to [His] name” then there will be consequences.

The idea of “taking it to heart” is reflective of what we call conviction. Conviction, when it comes to sin can be described by the idea of being cut to the heart. It is something that ought to cause distress in such a way that brings about change of heart and change of mind.

God says that unless they hear His indictment and change their heart, they will experience certain consequences—God speaks of a curse for their blessings, a rebuking of their offspring, and dung being spread on their faces. We’ll get back to these consequences;

But first, I want you to note what God says right after saying He will curse them if they don’t repent--”if you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name . . . then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them.”

The warning that God is giving them has consequences that have already started; and you might think, how exactly is that fair? If God is just now warning them then why would He already start disciplining them? Why wouldn’t He give them a chance?

The answer to that is by keeping in mind the historical record of Israel throughout the Old Testament. Malachi was written at the end of the Old Testament in approximately 450BC, which gives us approximately 3,500 years of history before Malachi.

And throughout the 3,500 years of history in the Old Testament we see a consistent pattern in which the Israelites sin, God warns them to repent, they refuse to repent, and then God disciplines them. By the time Malachi rolls around, there have been 3,500 years worth of warnings and even in immediate history of Malachi, there were other prophets also preaching a repentance from sin—Zechariah and Haggai both were alive right around the same time Malachi was and all three prophets were preaching the need to repent from their sins.

Malachi isn’t the first warning, he is the last warning of the Old Testament prophets. And by the time they hear the warning of the Lord through Malachi, the consequences for their sins had already started occurring—God had already starting cursing their blessings.

And already, I think you can tell that the consequence for leading the Israelites into bad and improper worship is significant, but let’s take a little bit closer of a look at the consequences mentioned by God.

God says in v. 3, “I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.”

Now, let me clarify that the word translated as offspring can also be translated as seed. And if you’re reading an older translation like the KJV, you’ll see that the text says, “I will corrupt your seed.”

The translators of many of the modern-day translations take that to mean offspring, but if you refer back to the KJV or you look at many of the footnotes in the modern translations, you’ll see that it could mean seed as in crops.

That is a possibility, but let me explain why the modern-day translations think it refers to offspring rather than crops, it actually has to do with the parallel statement in Hosea 4:6-9, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

It’s a parallel statement due to the proximity in time that both passages were written; they were written concerning the same issue—priests leading the people into improper worship of God.

Thus, many of the translators think that Malachi is probably referring to the priests’ children being the object of God’s curse.

Personally, I think it could be either—the priest’s offspring or the crops of the nation of Israel. We see both occurring throughout the Old Testament frequently.

Back to the verse itself, “I will rebuke your offspring [or seed], and spread dung on your faces.”

Of course, the very image that God is giving here is vile—no one in their right mind would think that this is a good thing. Dung in our modern context is the very idea of excrement or manure and God says that part of His curse is them having dung spread on their faces.

But here’s the thing, the idea at hand here is actually worse than that—remember, that the reason for this curse is because they’ve been offering improper sacrifices to the Lord despite knowing the right thing to do.

Leviticus tells us that in every sacrifice there was a requirement to remove the offal of the animal. The innards of the animals were to be removed from the temple and tossed in a heap and burned—these inner parts of the animal were so revolting that they were to be excluded from God’s presence and thrown on the dung-heap.

This is what is being referred to when the God says that he will spread dung on their faces—it isn’t just excrement in the same sense that we think of it, it’s the inner parts of the animals used for sacrifices that were supposed to be burned on the dung-heap.

And the very idea should cause your stomach to churn and your face to contort—this was not meant to provide comfort, this was mean to convict them for their sins and warn them of what was to come.

Note that at the end of v. 3, God says that this dung is “the dung of [their] offerings, and [they will] be taken away with it.”

It’s not a great image and the curse is not something that you would want for yourself. It speaks of the seriousness of ignoring God’s warnings and it speaks of just how important genuine worship of the Lord is—because remember, this is a result of improper worship of the Lord being led by the priests. The remaining six verses is a reminder by God of the covenant that He had with the house of Levi, of which the priests are recipients of and it is one final statement against the priests. Let’s re-read vv. 4-9.

God’s Covenant with Levi (4-9)

Malachi 2:4–9 ESV

4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

In vv. 4-5, God reminds them of the covenant that He had with their forefathers. And in this instance, He’s speaking specifically about the covenant that He has with the Levites, which is important because all priests are Levites—they’re all descended from Levi because of the covenant that God had with their forefather.

All the way back in Numbers 25:12-13 we read this promise that God makes for Levi and his descendents, “12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and for his descendants after him, a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”

Which ought to sound familiar because God quotes it in v. 5. God is saying by reminding them of this covenant that by keeping them accountable for their sin, He is keeping the covenant that was originally given.

In v. 5, God describes this covenant with Levi as one of life and peace; that it included fear and awe on behalf of Levi towards God.

Or in other words, the covenant’s basis or foundation was on the fact that Levi had a right idea of who God is and right relationship with the Lord that was epitomized by respect, awe, fear, and honor. Because of this, God made a promise of life and peace with Him.

The covenant was intended to be kept throughout the generations as Levi’s descendents continued to lead God’s people in proper worship, but it’s clear in Malachi that the priests who are part of Levi’s descendents have neglected their duty.

They have led God’s people out of the fear of the Lord and they’ve led the Israelites into sin by not just allowing faulty worship, but by encouraging sinful false-worship of Yahweh.

It’s really no wonder that God is so angry at their sin—especially when they knew better, they were taught better, and yet, they genuinely didn’t care enough to repent from their sins and do what was right.

God then contrasts how the current priests are serving in sin with Levi’s service to the Lord.

Remember that the current priests are offering sacrifices that aren’t acceptable, but rather mediocre. The current priests are claiming to follow the ritualistic or ceremonial laws of God, but they aren’t doing it with the heart that God wants them to have—they’re doing it purely because they think they’ll gain a reward for doing it.

In doing so, they’re completely leading the people astray—they’re lying to the people, they’re leading them into sin.

What they really should be doing is what Levi did when he was appointed as priest and given this covenant from the Lord. What did Levi do differently than the priests in Malachi’s time?

V. 6, “True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.”

Levi proclaimed the truth, he didn’t lie, he walked with God in peace and righteousness, and he convinced people of their sin and led them to repentance.

God then says that what Levi did is what every priest ought to be doing in v. 7, “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”

The priests were supposed to do six things between vv. 6-7 that all sort of worked hand-in-hand.

V. 6, priests were to proclaim the truth and not lie, priests were to walk with God in peace and righteousness, and they were to lead people away from their sins into repentance.

And then v. 7, they were to guard the truth, to preserve it or watch or keep the “knowledge’ that was entrusted to them, they were to openly give that knowledge to anyone who wanted it, and they were to proclaim God’s message as a messenger of the Lord.

In many ways and I hope you see this correlation, this is precisely what pastors are supposed to do today—pastors are to proclaim the truth and not lie, they’re to walk with God in peace and righteousness, they are to lead people away from sins into repentance. Pastors are to protect the truth of God as it is given in Scripture, they are to give the wisdom and knowledge of God from Scripture to anyone who wants it, and they are to proclaim God’s message as a messenger of the Lord.

I think you can see just how important the role of the priest was because you can see the correlation and you understand how important the role of a pastor is.

This is why it’s such a big deal when God says that these are all the things that you, as priests, were supposed to be doing, but then in v. 8 he condemns them for what they actually did, “But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, . . . and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Our passage for this morning ends by God making this final indictment against the priests—they themselves have turned away from the direction they were to go. They themselves have caused many to stumble by their teachings. They themselves have corrupted the covenant.

And as such, they will face the consequences of their own sin, which includes being despised and abased or looked down on in front of all people because they’ve led people astray and they’ve taught falsehoods to the nation of Israel.

Taylor, Richard and E. Ray Clendenen, “Rather than being beacons of truth urgently summoning God’s people to remain on the . . . narrow path of righteousness and rather than being diligent shepherds faithfully retrieving the Lord’s sheep from the destructive sideroads of sin, Malachi’s priestly ‘messengers’ had forsaken the path themselves and had treacherously led many to stumble along paths of their own choosing. Rather than faithful shepherds who protect and guard the sheep, they had been ‘shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture’ (Jer 23:1).” (NAC, 315)

The priests who were supposed to lead Israel in the way that they were supposed to go, not only led the people into sin, but they also remained in their own sin. And because they chose to remain in sin and lead other people into sin, there were significant consequences that were both already occurring and would be continuing to occur. Now, you may have listened throughout this sermon and thought, “well, this definitely seems like it’s specific to the priests in Malachi’s day, what does this have to do with me?” And this is where our application for the morning comes in. You’re absolutely correct that this was written concerning the priests and thus, the original application was intended specifically for priests, but let me explain two ways that you need to look at this text in order to apply it today as someone who isn’t a priest—to do this, we’re going to look at the passage in two ways—first, as if you were the priests being rebuked and second, as if you were the Israelites following the priests.

Application

What is the application for the priests? (1-9)—it is clear that the issue at hand concerns the priests of Israel leading the Israelites into improper worship of the Lord. The priests have led the Israelites to worship God in such a way that they’re offering blemished sacrifices, they’re doing the rituals with impure hearts, and they could care less about what it actually means to worship the Lord. The reason why God’s focus is on the priests is because out of all the people, they’re the ones who should’ve known better and they’re the ones who should’ve stopped it. They were responsible for the right worship of God and they completely erred.

Last week, we spoke a bit about what it meant to worship God incorrectly and I brought up the point that even if you aren’t a priest or even if you aren’t in church leadership, you are still supposed to worship the Lord properly—by worshiping with right motives and by offering yourself as a sacrifice acceptable to God.

That application from last week still remains in this week’s text. There is still an appropriate way to worship the Lord and there is still an appropriate way to come into the Lord’s presence and offer yourself in an acceptable way to God. That application hasn’t changed at all.

And even though this text is written primarily to those leading worship, it’s easily applicable to everyone in this room. How do I know? Because everyone in the room helps to lead other people and everyone in the room can help other people to worship the Lord.

Seeing how the priests were doing it inappropriately in Malachi 2 helps us to understand what we ought to be doing when we help other people to worship the Lord.

Now, you might hear that and think, but I don’t really help anyone worship the Lord, so let me help you see that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you ought to be. Consider Matthew 28, the Great Commission—go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

There is a misconception in the American church that only those who we would consider “professional” ministers ought to make disciples—they’re the only ones who ought to be teaching, and they’re the only ones that ought to be evangelizing.

But the Great Commission wasn’t spoken to just pastors or “professional” ministers, it was given to the disciples—all the disciples of Jesus Christ and the call remains for all disciples of Jesus to go and make more disciples of Jesus.

Let me help to contextualize this a bit more: you may not be a pastor or in some sort of professional ministry setting, but what Matthew 28 teaches is that you’re still responsible for proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, and teaching new disciples all that Jesus has taught you.

What does this mean exactly? Even though you aren’t an Old Testament priest, even though you may not be a pastor, missionary, or evangelist—you still need to be leading others to Jesus for belief and for worship.

And just like the priests in Malachi 1-2, there is a proper way to worship the Lord and improper ways to worship the Lord. So, when you are leading others to Jesus for belief and for worship, you must know what it means to genuinely worship Jesus—you must know the Gospel well enough to proclaim it and then you need to know the basics of worship well enough to teach them.

That worship is the very idea of honoring, glorifying, and lifting up the name of Jesus—it’s done through singing, praying, reading Scripture, listening to biblical preaching; but it’s done primarily by offering yourself as a living sacrifice, acceptable to Him.

This is what you ought to be teaching others to do.

Now, the typical pushback is, “but no, I’m not a priest or a pastor,” this isn’t my responsibility.

But again, Matthew 28 isn’t written to priests or pastors, it’s written to disciples—and if you’ve actually repented from your sins, believed in God, and followed Jesus; then you are a disciple and it is your responsibility to make more disciples.

That’s done through evangelism and outreach; and it’s also done through discipleship ministries and in the family—parents, do you realize that the 2.5-3 hours that your children spend in church aren’t enough? You are responsible to disciple your children—to teach them to worship the Lord properly. Husbands and wives, do you realize that the small amount of time that you spend in church isn’t enough for your spiritual growth? You need to be working to mutually disciple one another at home as well.

Even though you aren’t a priest and even though you may never be a pastor, you still have people in your life that you are supposed to be discipling. Are you teaching them to worship the Lord rightly—with a pure heart, your best effort, and a sacrifice that’s acceptable to the Lord?

If not, let me exhort you to do what God tells the priests to do—v. 2, Mal 2:2 “2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of armies, “then I will send the curse upon you.”

God tells those who have the responsibility to teach and disciple—whether that’s a priest or pastor; or it’s you teaching your children or you leading your family—to repent for leading people to worship incorrectly, learn what it means to worship properly, and then lead them to worship God properly.

Our first application is to consider those who you are supposed to disciple—repent if you haven’t been discipling them or if you’ve been discipling them wrongly, learn how to disciple them right, and lead them to worship God properly.

Now, not every relationship that you have with people around you will be considered a discipleship opportunity. In fact, some of the people in your life have been selected by God to disciple, teach, train, and lead you. That was what the priests were supposed to do for Israel and then they led Israel astray. So, what is the application for Israel? (7-9)—how do you apply this in situations when you are the one following a leader?

Because we’re working through Malachi slowly, you may have misunderstood something—you may have heard this week’s and last week’s sermons and thought, “oh, so it’s just the priests who bear the responsibility for leading the people of Israel astray.”

And if all you knew of Malachi was what we’ve worked through thus far, that assumption would be logical, but the truth is that Malachi continues and what we see in Malachi 2:10-11 is an indictment against Israel itself.

Yes, the priests sinned by leading Israel the wrong direction with false worship and incorrect sacrifices, but the people are also reproved and rebuked for their own sin—including, doing what the priests led them to do.

Even though the priests were facing judgment for leading the people astray; the people will face judgment for following them into false worship.

You might hear this and think, “but how is that fair?” It’s actually quite simple, because even though they didn’t have the Word of God, readily available to them in their own language, they knew what God’s Law demanded.

The sacrifices were instilled in them from youth, they had parts of the Tanakh memorized, the knew what God expected.

They would’ve known that offering blemished sacrifices was wrong; and yet, they still allowed the priests to do it. They knew they had to do the rituals with pure hearts seeking to worship the Lord; and yet, they still chose to do it in hopes of receiving a reward.

They knew what was right and they still sinned by following the priests.

Likewise, have you considered that this correlates directly to our modern-day culture? No, we don’t have priests and we aren’t offering sacrifices in the same way, but how many churches today are preaching and teaching false doctrine? How many churches are vain in their musical worship and how many churches exist to entertain the goats rather than feed the sheep?

Better yet, how many of you are supporting pastors and religious leaders that you know to be wrong? That teach and preach false doctrines and provide entertainment rather than food?

For instance, how many of you are watching prosperity preachers on TBN? How many of you are listening to sermons preached by those who have been rightfully called out for heresy? How many of you are listening to music like Bethel and Hillsong, both of which are from churches that preach and teach false doctrines? How many of you remain close friends with people that have been called out for wrong teaching and you still follow what they post and share on social media?

In the past year and a half since we planted our church, I’ve talked to hundreds of people in our communities and I’m going to be honest—while the unbelievers in our area do absolutely well-up within me compassion to see them saved; it’s the ones who claim to believe and they realize that there’s something wrong or off about their particular church; and yet, they still go there and they still support it and they still act as if nothing’s wrong that absolutely breaks my heart.

If the Israelites, who didn’t have access to God’s Word regularly are held accountable for following false priests who led them into wrong worship—how do you think it’s going to turn out for people today who follow false teaching and false worship when the availability of God’s Word is so prevalent that we can literally Google phrases of verses and Google will tell us where it is in Scripture?

We live in an era in which we have an embarrassment of knowledge available at our fingertips—we literally do not have an excuse to not know what true doctrine is. We literally do not have an excuse to follow false teachers, we do not have an excuse to be led into false worship. What does this mean for us, how do we apply this as people who follow pastors, preachers, and ministries?

Everything that you take in, whether you hear it hear or on SermonAudio, on YouTube or Facebook, needs to be compared to Scripture. Scripture is the only infallible Word of God.

Everything that you are taught or have been taught or will be taught either needs to line up with what Scripture teaches or you need to completely throw it out—it doesn’t matter if you learned it in a church while you were a child, it doesn’t matter if the person who taught it to you has been in your life for decades and he claims to love you, it doesn’t matter if the person speaking has a doctorate in every major area of theology—if what is being taught to you can’t be proven by a normative, historical-grammatical approach to Scripture—then reject it and throw it out.

But don’t stop here—if it’s an issue in which what that person is teaching or claiming is completely false and they refuse to repent from teaching false things—then stop following them, stop supporting them, stop going to their church, block them on Facebook, delete their contact information and find someone who teaches you the truth according to Scripture alone.

And if you are uncertain as to whether what you’re hearing is right or wrong—look it up. Google it and use trustworthy, Bible-believing, conservative apps and websites to double check what you’re being taught.

And if you still need help—find someone who you know to be knowledgeable of the truth, who genuinely believes in God’s Word, and ask them for help. Any good pastor would want to help you, any good biblical counselor or leader will want to help, any good friend will want to help—you just need to ask.

Our second application is to consider those who are discipling you—if they aren’t teaching you the truth according to a normative, historical-grammatical approach to Scripture, then stop supporting them, stop following them, stop being friends with them.

Put simply, though Malachi 2:1-9 is focused on priests, we can still apply it to our lives today by considering who is discipling you and who are you discipling? (1) If the person discipling you isn’t teaching the truth according to Scripture—get as far away from them as you can—stop supporting them, stop following them, and stop being friends with them. And (2) If you realize that you’ve been discipling people wrongly, repent, learn to disciple them right, and lead them to worship God properly.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

To God be the Glory (19)