0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We've been studying through the Bible. And we have now come to the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. And this 0:22 book deals with the subject of form without power. You know, it speaks in the last days of people having a form of godliness, 2 Timothy 3, without the power thereof. Well, these were the last days of the 0:48 Jewish era. And conditions in Malachi's time were very similar to what we see today in the last days of 1:05 the church age. And um I believe there's a lot we can learn from the book of Malachi for our time. He was the last prophet that God sent to 1:26 Israel before John the Baptist. And he came in somewhere towards the end of Nehemiah's time. And some of the sins that he mentions in chapter 2 and 3 are very similar to the 1:43 sins mentioned in Nehemiah chapter 13. It looks as if Nehemiah's warnings did not seem to have much effect on the Jews in Jerusalem. As long as Nehemiah was there, they did 2:04 those things. Once Nehemiah went back, they were these Jews went back to their old sinful habits. See, we've seen that in the church also. That generally speaking, it's very 2:23 difficult to keep a church pure. Only a man of God can keep a church pure. When Paul was in Ephesus, he could keep the church pure as long as he was there. When he left, the wolves got in. 2:47 When Nehemiah left, the wolves got in. And by the time Malachi comes, things are in a really bad state. The word Malachi means my messenger. And when it says here in the first verse, "The burden of the word of the 3:05 Lord." These prophets had a burden. Each prophet had a unique burden given to him by God. But they all had a uh they were all concerned about the 3:23 lack of holiness among God's people. That was uniform for all of them. But in that, they would have specific areas where God burdened them. The burden God lays on your heart is an 3:45 indication of the ministry he has planned for you. You can't serve the Lord as a prophet without a burden. In fact, you can't serve the Lord effectively in any function in the body 4:04 of Christ without a burden. You can't be an evangelist without a burden. You can't be a shepherd without a burden. You can't be a teacher without a burden. Every ministry in the body of Christ 4:25 begins with a burden. A burden is like a baby conceived in a womb. The womb is your heart. In there, God puts a seed called a burden. It grows and grows and grows like the 4:46 baby. It's finally born. That's how these prophets delivered their message. It is exactly like delivering a baby. See, a woman just doesn't just go to a hospital and deliver a baby. No, she's carried it for 9 months. 5:10 That's true prophecy. Where a person's carried a burden sometimes for many years. Delivers it. There's a lot of preaching today. People just sit down on a Saturday and listen to some cassettes and tapes and read some books and produce a message. 5:33 And they're more concerned about making it look nice. Arrange the the sermon properly. Have three or four points all beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. What's that? That's a lecture. It's not 5:51 a burden. That's like a college lecturer. Most preachers today are college lecturers. The vast majority of them are worse than college lecturers because they don't even prepare as much as college lecturers for their sermon. 6:16 Malachi had a burden. And I want to encourage you to receive from the Lord a burden as you wait upon him. Because if you serve the Lord without a burden, you'll ultimately end up seeking for money or man's honor or earthly 6:31 comfort. And that's how so many people join one organization, then they go to another one, another one. Whoever gives them the biggest salary. 6:50 And here the Lord says, he has a complaint against his people. Because whatever he says, they question it. Seven times we see in this book, the Lord said something and they said, "How? Why?" Here the complaint is this. 7:10 "I have loved you," says the Lord, "but you say, 'How hast thou loved us?'" And he says, "I chose your forefather Jacob. I chose you to be the promised nation. I didn't choose Esau. 7:28 I chose you. But you say, 'Why have you Where Where have you loved us?'" You know, God blessed them so much. But they took it for granted. A lot of questions, Christians are like that. 7:45 They take God's blessings for granted. And they question God's love. When Satan tempted Eve, the first thing he did was plant in her mind a doubt about God's love. "Where have you loved us?" 8:08 Same question in Genesis, same question in Malachi. God doesn't really love you, otherwise he would have allowed you to eat from this tree. You know, to lose faith is to lose faith in God's love. That's why when the Lord prayed for 8:31 Peter, he said, "Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. I'm not praying that you won't fall. I'm praying that when you fall, your faith should not fail. That means when you reach that bottom 8:51 rock bottom, remember even there that God loves you. That's what God wanted Peter to remember. We may fall, we may mess up our life. But when you get to that place, brother, sister, don't forget that God still loves you. 9:15 Hold on to that fact. That is the most important thing. So, he speaks here about how he has sovereignly chosen Jacob. How do we know that Christ God loves us? Christ died for us. 9:34 He didn't choose us because we are better than others. He chose us because he loved us. This is sovereign choice. You must never forget that God chose you first. You didn't choose God. 9:52 And then in verse 6, the Lord has a complaint against the priests. We come back to the same thing. We see the prophet speaking to the leaders. Notice how all the prophets spoke to the leaders. First the leaders. 10:14 You remember in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord speaks to the elders of the church and then to the church. His complaints are always against the leaders. It is the leaders who let people into 10:32 sin. And it's only the leaders who can lead people to godliness. And that's why they persecuted the prophets because the prophets would always rebuke the leaders. That's why the true prophets had to be 10:52 free from being supported by people. Because if he was being financially supported by people, then he'd have to change his message. Many people had to change their message because they lose their financial support. What did Malachi say to the priests? 11:17 He says, "You people are supposed to be the leaders." A son honors his father. A servant respects his master. And God says, "If I'm your father, where's my respect?" Where do you honor me? And you say, "How have we not honored 11:34 you?" "You have defiled my altar." "How have you defiled your altar?" "You have cleaned your altar and kept it clean." No, the Lord says, "That's not what I mean." "What have you offered on the altar?" 11:53 "You have offered blind sheep and lame bullocks and sick goats." "Are these the offerings you give to God?" Like you know, man says, "I have to give an offering now." 12:12 He looks through his flock. "Oh, that lamb is about to die. I better offer it quickly." "This ox is useless now. It can't plow anymore in the field." "Let me give it to God." They gave the worst to God. 12:31 You know, the worst thing they could find. And God says, "You try and offer this to your governor and see whether he'll accept it." Verse 8. "If the governor comes to your house, 12:51 will you give him day-before-yesterday's bread or meat that has become rotten?" You'd give the best. And God says, "What about me? You you don't honor me." When you don't give God's best with your 13:08 best to God, you're not honoring him. I've heard people say like this. I get letters sometimes like this. Brother Zach, I've been I've retired from government service now. I'm 65 years old. The rest of my life serving the Lord. 13:33 I'm already getting a pension. He wants to make some more money from some Christian organization. With one foot in the grave, he wants to make some money in Jesus' name. The best part of his life he gave to the world to make money. And now the drags he 13:56 wants to give to the Lord. It's like, you know, you invite the governor to your house for tea. And you have only one cup of tea. And you drink it. You have a little tea left at the bottom. A little bit left at the bottom. 14:14 Say, "Here, sir, would you like to have this?" You won't even give that to a beggar. That's what you give to the Lord. The drags of your life. Give your life to God when you're 16, 17 years old. Not when you're 70. 14:36 I'm not saying you should be a full-time worker. Whatever you work, give it totally to God. Let his kingdom be first in your life. That's how we should live. What about our energy? The best part of our energy must be for 14:53 God. Many of you would be much healthier if you had given the best part of your energy to the Lord. Many a time when I have been sick, I've gone out and served the Lord and been healed. Yeah, I've 15:16 given the best to the Lord. You don't believe in dishonoring God by giving him the last bits of the cup of tea. You spend all your money for yourself and then give something to God. Spend all your time for yourself 15:39 watching television, reading all types of rubbish, and then little bit, few minutes for the Lord. That's what the Lord is saying. You're giving that which is sick and despised. And the Lord says, "I wish there were 15:57 one of you would shut the gates so that people don't offer these type of offerings." Verse 10. Are you giving the best of your time to the Lord? Ask yourself every day. 16:17 Or do you read the Bible when you're half sleepy at night? Supposing you have a lot of intelligence. Do you use your intelligence for God? God gave me intelligence. Before I was converted, I used it for 16:35 the world. I used it to advance in my profession. I got converted when I was 19. And I used all the intelligence God's given me to study the Bible. It's not my ability. I gave it to God. 16:55 What have you used your intelligence for? What have you used your spare time for? You can't have the anointing of God if you don't honor him. They gave to God that which cost them nothing. That was the complaint God had with 17:13 them. But he said, the Lord says, "That's okay. I reject all of you. I am going to go out of this Jewish nation to all the nations of the world." Verse 11. And all over the world, from the rising of the sun to the setting of it, there's 17:32 going to be a pure offering in different places. See, God is saying goodbye to the Jewish nation. And he's saying goodbye even today to those who offer him that which cost them nothing. Do you think God will 17:53 accept you just because you say you're baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues? What if that other person who's baptized as a child offers to God a better sacrifice than you He will accept him. 18:14 And that person in the church which you call a dead denomination church is more acceptable to God than you in a so-called separated church. And the Lord says in verse 14, 18:32 "Cursed be the swindler who has got a male in his flock and vows it and then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord." That means you got the best and you don't give it to God. You give the worst part. The last days of the Jews were like 18:52 that. In the last days, the Christians are like that. I think of the missionaries who have come to India 60, 70 years ago. Godly men who spent years here. Some of them stayed here for years, never went home. I have I have the highest 19:13 respect for them. But look at the people who come today from those same Western countries. They're all tourists. They come for what they call short-term missions. 6 months. To ease their conscience that 19:33 they helped some poor people here. Come for 1 week and give out some tracts to ease their conscience. These are not missionaries. They're tourists. Doing things to ease their conscience. And in chapter 2, 19:54 we read here, He speaks again to the priests. If you don't This By the way, this word cursed in verse 14 comes seven times in the book of Malachi. The last word in Malachi is also curse. Amazing, so many times that word curse 20:16 comes in the new book of Malachi. So, in Malachi 2, he speaks to the priests. He says I'm not speaking to the congregation. I'm speaking to the leaders who are sitting on the platform. Honor my name or I'll bring a terrible 20:35 curse upon you, he says in verse two. I will even curse your blessings which you have already got. I'm going to rebuke your offspring and I'll spread dung on your faces. Verse three He says think of Levi, your forefather. 21:00 Why did I make a covenant with him? It was an object of reverence. He revered me. He had fear of me. True instruction was in his mouth. Unrighteousness was not found on his 21:19 lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and he turned many people away from iniquity. In verse five and six, he mentions the seven qualities that were characteristic of these 21:39 of Levi. Notice that. Number one They feared me. They had reverence for God. Number two They had a concern for my name. Number three They passed on to the people all 21:59 the truths they received from me. Number four They hated sin. They didn't tell lies or cheat. Number five They walked with God. Number six They lived uprightly. And then number seven They turned many people away from sin. So, in 22:04 just those two verses you have a complete picture of what God wants every true leader to be like. And he says in verse seven a true priest should preserve knowledge and men should come to him for instruction because he's the 22:08 messenger of the Lord. But he says you who are descendants of Levi, you're not walking in their paths. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi. God has a tremendous complaint against the priests. You saw complaints in verse 22:12 chapter one and now these complaints in chapter two. God has this book of Malachi there are a number of complaints the Lord has. Now you go to verse 10. It says here, "Don't we all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal 22:27 treacherously with each other?" In verse 11, now he's talking. He's relating it particularly to married life. A servant of God must have a godly home. And he goes on to speak there about there being dealing verse 14 treacherously with 22:42 their wives. First of all, they married women who worshipped idols verse 11. If you marry a woman who loves money, you don't love money, you're going to have a tremendous problem. If you have married a woman who's stingy and miserly 22:52 and who's not hospitable, she's a selfish worshiper of herself. How can you serve God? Even if she's a very good looking girl who paints up her face every day. If you are a leader, you got to be very careful about the type of 22:56 wife you marry. There are a number of things we learn in the book of Malachi. May God help us to listen to this. Continue in our next session. Welcome to Words of Life once again. We have been studying through the Bible. And now we 23:01 come to our last session for the Old Testament. After this we go into the New Testament. And we are now in the book of Malachi chapter two. And we saw that in Malachi the Lord has many complaints against his people. And one of the 23:06 complaints he has is that you are not faithful to your wives. He's talking to the leaders. You can't be a leader if your family life is not right. That was true in the Old Testament, much more in the New Testament. Your relationship 23:11 with your wife is fundamental for a servant of God. To have a good marriage you must have a good wife. But to be a good husband you don't need to have a good wife. You can be a good husband even if you got the most evil witch in 23:16 the world as a wife. That depends entirely on you. You take up your cross. Deny yourself. Seek the power of the Holy Spirit. Believe that God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. And you can love any woman if 23:21 that is your wife. The Lord says here in verse 16, "I hate divorce." How is it today so many Christian preachers are divorced? And they married divorcees. Such a person cannot be in the ministry of the Lord. God will accept him. He can 23:26 His sins can be forgiven. He certainly cannot be in the ministry of the Lord. But you may say, "But I know so-and-so and so-and-so whom God is using mightily." I'm not talking about God using people mightily. There are many 23:31 people who cast out demons and do miracles who will go to hell according to Jesus' words in Matthew 7. I'm talking about God's standards. God hates divorce and that's in the Old Covenant. But you said, "Didn't he permit divorce 23:37 in Deuteronomy?" He permitted it because of the hardness of people's hearts, Jesus said in Matthew 19. He didn't command it. He permitted it. But he hated it. Did he suddenly start hating divorce in 400 years before Christ? See, 23:41 it says in Malachi chapter three, "I am the Lord. I do not change." So, he doesn't change. He always hated divorce. And he hates it today. If you have divorced, he hates that. He's divorced and he hates it today. If 29:47 you have divorced he hates that divorce. God can accept you if you repent and it may not have been your fault. But you can't be in the ministry. 30:04 It's very important to understand that. You got to be faithful to the wife of your youth. And that requires self-denial. Even if you marry the best woman in the world you have to deny yourself. Because the best woman in the world is 30:25 still got a flesh in which dwells nothing good. The best woman in the world has got a flesh which she got from Adam. And so both have to deny themselves. 30:42 But marriage is a very important area for a Christian leader. In Revelation chapter 2 the Lord speaks to a church leader in Thyatira. He says your wife Jezebel calls herself 31:00 a prophetess and defiles my servants. There are some preachers whose wives control them from behind the scenes. You got to be very careful. 31:19 Your wife must be a wife at home. Not one who controls your ministry. Then what about your children? It says in verse 15 God wants godly offspring from you. Not only must you be faithful to your wife. 31:38 And that faithfulness is not only in physically that you don't have sex with somebody else. It also means that you don't speak flirtatiously with other girls. You must if you're speaking alone with a 31:56 lady you must speak to her exactly like you would speak if your wife was standing there. And you must never speak to a lady alone in a room. You must speak in an open place. 32:14 Either along with your wife or along with another elder. You must never visit a home if the lady is alone there. These are simple principles. Be faithful to your wife. 32:31 And bring up godly offspring. Paul says to Timothy if a man can't bring up a few children at home how is he going to build a church? You have three children and some of them are rebellious so how will you take care of a church of 50 people? 32:52 The church is the the home is the training ground for the church. So if your children are not born again how can you bring the church to that experience? Because your children see you at home. 33:12 They know what you live for. If they are worldly it's because they've seen that that's your interest in life too. Another complaint the Lord has in verse 17 is You say the Lord doesn't judge people 33:28 fairly. He's not a God of justice. You say that those who do evil God accepts them. And those who do good he doesn't do much to help them. Don't have a complaint against God 33:49 because God is sovereign in the way he blesses people. We're not here to find fault with God. Chapter 3. The Lord says I'm going to send my messenger who will prepare the way 34:06 before me. This is a prophecy concerning John the Baptist. And then suddenly the messenger of the covenant Jesus will come. He will come like a refiner's fire verse 2. He's coming to cleanse the church. 34:27 Refining takes a long time. And that's why he sits verse 3 he doesn't stand. He sits because it's going to take a long time. When does he stop the refining? When the silver or gold is so pure that 34:46 he can see his face in it. When will the Lord stop his refining in your life? When he can see his face reflected in your character. So those who have this hope of Christ coming will purify themselves to that 35:06 standard. And so the Lord must keep us in the fire and burn away all our love for money. Our love for the honor of men. And our selfishness. 35:25 Our pride. Our being bothered by the opinions of others. Everything has to be burnt up. Our dirty thoughts. Our complaints. Our secret unfaithfulness to our wives. And all hypocrisy. All impurity. 35:45 Unbelief. Unbelief is a terrible sin that needs to be burnt out of us. So that we become pure. And that's why God takes us through the fires of testing. Misunderstanding. Persecution. 36:06 False accusation. All these things are fires. Don't try to jump out. Wait there till the face of Jesus can be seen in you. When you're and then you have to say that I can't see 36:26 the face of Jesus there yet. I got to stay in the fire some more. And the time comes when you're misunderstood and you're cheerful and you say praise the Lord. Now the face of Jesus has come. Like that in every trial. 36:45 Wait there till the face of Jesus comes forth. The Lord says in verse 6 I am the Lord I don't change. You know some people think that by the end of the Old Testament God has changed in the New Testament he's another God. 37:05 That he's very strict in the Old Testament now he's become very kind like a grandfather. He was a judge in the Old Testament he's a grandfather in the New Testament. He was a father then and he was a father now. He was a strict kind father then and 37:26 he's a strict kind father now. The only thing people we know him as a father only now. That's why in the last page of the Old Testament he's written these words I do not change. The same God who hated The same God who 37:47 hated sin in the Old Testament hates sin in the New Testament. The same God who was merciful and compassionate in the Old Testament is merciful and compassionate in the That's why Jesus quoted those Old Testament verses. The Lord says I 38:05 deserve I desire compassion not sacrifice. It's not a New Testament verse Jesus quoted. God doesn't change. And then he talks about offerings. This is a favorite passage of most pastors. 38:25 You have robbed God of offerings. Bring your tithes into the storehouse. And I will pour you out a blessing there won't be room enough to receive it. God has sent the curse because you're robbing me. This is true in the Old Testament. 38:47 Because the Levites didn't have any job. They had no income. They had no property. Everybody is a farmer those days and if you don't have any lands how can you plow the field? The Lord told the Levites you must have 39:06 no property. Devote all your time to serve me. And the other 11 tribes will give you 10% of their income. That means 10% of their grain and their vegetables and their fruit and everything. All of them 10 11 tribes give you 10%. 39:31 You will get 110% of what others have. 10% more. 10% more than what you could get. That'd be enough for your family. The Lord made it equal. And then they take over. Pastors are not like that. Most of them 39:50 own houses and lands and everything. It's not they're not like the Levites. This verse doesn't apply to pastors. It's a deception when they use this verse for you. Fundamental condition of a Levite was 40:08 that he didn't have any property. That's why he needed tithe of the grounds because that's how he eats in his family. And if they didn't give that tithe to the Levites, how could they live and how could the Levites serve in the temple? 40:31 How should a person serve the Lord today? Jesus never told anybody to give tithes to his apostles. But he did say that we can live off the gospel. We must We must trust God like Jesus and the apostles did. Our heavenly Father will provide our 40:53 need. We don't have to tell anybody. I've served the Lord for 40 years full-time. I've never told anybody my needs. In our churches in 30 years we've run churches, we've never told anybody our 41:11 needs. We don't take an offering. We don't ask people for tithes. We don't send reports, photographs, nothing. But God provides our needs. That's how it That's how God honors us 41:31 if we honor him. And I tell you the windows of heaven are always open over us. It's not a tithe. But because we give our bodies to him. In the Old Testament it was 10% of your money. In the New Testament, Romans 12:1 says 41:51 God says give me your body. Now which is easier? Supposing you get 10,000 rupees a month. Is it easier to give 1,000 rupees to God? Or to say like this. Lord, I'll never use my eyes at any time 42:10 throughout this month except for you. I'll never say anything with my tongue which will displease you throughout this month. I'll never do anything with my hands that displeases you. I tell you it's much easier to give 42:32 1,000 rupees. That's why people emphasize the tithe. But God wants your body today. God wants all nations to see in verse 12 the church is a delightful place. Another complaint is you people say it's 42:51 so difficult to serve God. I tell you 40 years after serving God it's a such a delight to serve the Lord. And it says in verse 16 to 18 43:08 God has written a book of remembrance for those who fear him who are concerned about his name and who talk to one another about him. And he says in the day when I come back 43:29 I will gather these people together and they will be my own special treasure and I will spare them as a man spares his own son. He says only in that day you will be able to distinguish who is really serving the Lord and who is not serving 43:48 the Lord. Today you think a lot of people are serving the Lord but a lot of people are not really serving the Lord. They're serving themselves. But in that day you'll be able to see 44:06 who serves the Lord and who doesn't serve the Lord. This is This is more than the book of life. The Book of Life is only whether you're born again or not. The Book of Remembrance is only whether you're born again or not. It's the Book of Remembrance. Where 44:24 it's for those who speak godly things and who fear God. Very few people's names are here whose names are in the Book of Life. Let's go to chapter He speaks about the day coming when the 44:43 wicked will be judged. It'll be like burning like a furnace. But for those who fear God's name verse two, the sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ, will arise and the wicked will be trodden down. The Satan will be crushed under your 45:05 feet. We look forward to that day. The Christ will come like the sun rising with healing in its wings. And you will go forth with joy. And then the closing verses. 45:25 Verses 4 to 6. They're still under the old covenant. And he reminds them about Moses and Elijah. Remember the law of Moses, he says. You have to remember that until the day 45:44 of Pentecost when the new covenant was established. Then he says before the coming of the Lord, Elijah the prophet will come. And that was John the Baptist. 46:01 He was sent in the spirit of Elijah. The angel told Zacharias that. But they didn't accept it. Jesus said if you accept him, then he is Elijah. But they didn't accept him. So 46:19 God is going to send someone in the spirit of Elijah before the second coming of Christ. Who is that? It is the church, this one new man. It's not one individual human being. It's a body. 46:39 The church is going to be the Elijah of the last days. The church is going to be the John the Baptist that is the forerunner for the second coming of Christ. There's no individual now who is some great prophet. The church is the prophet. 46:59 And together they have different functions in the body. But together the church is to prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ with the message of repentance. The valleys to be lifted up, the 47:16 mountains to be brought low. The crooked places to be made straight. And the rough places to be made smooth. For all flesh to see the salvation of the Lord. We have to prepare people. And one more thing Elijah is going to 47:35 do. He's going to restore family relationships. Fathers and children are being separated in our day. Oh, we can see that all over. Children don't respect their parents. Young people don't respect older people. 47:55 The spirit of Elijah is going to bring fathers and children back together again. And who has to take the initiative in this? Is it the child or the father? Was it God or man who took the initiative in restoring the 48:13 relationship? So the father has to take the first step. That's why it says first the fathers to the children, then it says children to the father. It's very important. Family life is so 48:31 much emphasized in Malachi. We saw earlier with your wife and children. Fathers and children. And he says if you don't do that, if you don't respond to this I will come and smite the land with a curse. 48:50 The last word in the New Old Testament is curse. And the last word in the New Testament is the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. See the difference. Curse. 49:10 But that curse fell on Christ. What a wonderful study we've had through the Old Testament starting with Genesis. And I hope you're seeing in these 70 sessions how every book has got a message for our time. And we've only given you a little taste. 49:35 As you meditate on these books yourself, you can get a lot more riches out of the Old Testament. This is God's Word. All scripture inspired by God make you complete in your character like 49:53 Christ. And it will equip you for an effective ministry to build His church. And God bless you richly. Amen. Amen.
