Do all of this out. Is this what you call Murphy's Law? Are we picking it up now? No? Is that better? All right. I wasn't quite sure what Pastor Andy was trying to communicate. He said he wanted to give me extra time. So do you get the nudge that he thinks this preacher may be long because he Mentioned to me in conversation, I said, now are we supposed to finish about seven? And I think that's what Pastor Turner has been doing very well, but it makes it difficult for the rest of us. Chatting with him this morning outside of his office, I said, you know, this reminds me of the homiletics class in seminary. Because number one, you had the professor, that would be Pastor Turner, and then you had your fellow classmates, seminarians. And I sort of think of Pastor Blaze and Pastor Andy as those men. And while you were really thrilled for the opportunity, because I've always enjoyed preaching, you never knew what they were going to tell you afterwards. Reminds me when I took, public speaking at Dickinson College, the professor was always complimentary. And when I got the grade at the end of the semester, his grade kept me off of the dean's list. So I went in, I remember his name was Schechter. So I went into him and I said, look, you were very complimentary and, you know, rather positive toward my talks in class. And here you give me a grade such that you've kept me off of the dean's list. And he said, well, you didn't improve enough in class to warrant a better grade. And you know what I thought was? I shouldn't have done so well at the beginning. And maybe it would appear that I improved during the class. Well, I need to make a confession or two. because you notice the notes that were printed and you may have picked them up. This is the first time that I have really done this here in this ministry. And so you look at them and not only on the front, but on the back. And that was not my intention. So next time, pastor, I'll have to imitate you in a better way. But I'm glad you're here tonight. Thank you for coming. And I want to speak tonight from the first chapter of Malachi, Malachi chapter one. And I have given this a great deal of thought and prayer, and I trust that this will be of great blessing and benefit to each and all of us. I've entitled this hypocritical worship. You'll take note in the very beginning The Burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Malachi is the called and commissioned messenger of God to Israel. In fact, he is the last of the writing Old Testament prophets to his people. And it's quite interesting because following the conclusion of his book, that is his message, we have the silent years, 400 years of total silence really terminated with the message of John the Baptist who heralds the blessed tidings at the beginning of the New Testament. Remember the voice of him crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. And I probably should say this, not only in addition to my notes, but someone asked me if Martha had prepared this message. and I need to excuse her of any liability. So she did not prepare this message. You remember I used to say that at the Haddon Heights Church, and on one occasion, somebody believed it. And it came back to me, and I had to get up and make a disclaimer. So really, neither of my wives have prepared my messages. I'll say this. Martha said, you spoke louder and faster when I first heard you 50 years ago. You understand that too, that's a humbling experience. All right, well, here we are. Chapter one, the burden, I want you to notice, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. This word burden is very arresting and quite interesting because a burden is weighty. And I think in this context that it indicates a strong message with a warning of judgment. through the voice of the prophet Malachi. It indicates divine inspiration and authority. Now, as we begin the chapter, I want to give you a simple outline. I think you'll find that in the outline that you have in your hands. First of all, we begin with a polluted priesthood. And there's a progression in this chapter. One commentator calls it a disputational book, dialectical, rather intense. We have a statement, a command, if you will, from the Lord. Then we have a rather suspicious and maybe somewhat scornful question of the people relative to the voice of God. And then thirdly, we have the explanation of God's statement. So first of all, we have the polluted priesthood progressing, we have contaminated sacrifices, and then thirdly, we have hypocritical worship, beginning with the priesthood, continuing with the sacrifices, and ultimately concluding with hypocritical or non-biblical worship. I want you to notice at the end of verse one, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Actually, it's verse two. I have loved you, saith the Lord. That's a tremendous statement. Unconditional love. from the heart of God to the children or nation of Israel. And we see that developed in the chapter because not only do we have this definitive dogmatic, if you will, commandment or word of the Lord, but then we notice as we move along that in sovereign grace, God chose and loved Jacob rather than Esau. Interesting, isn't it? In fact, one day someone said to one of the Hebrew scholars, who participated in one of our prophetic conferences when I was in Pennsylvania. Every other year for about five years, we had a prophetic conference. Five churches of like precious faith came together, and each church would have their own services in their church, and the speakers would rotate from church to church. And one of them was the late Dr. Charles Feinberg from California. We flew Feinberg in to preach. And someone asked him one day, not while he was at the prophetic conference, aren't you amazed that God hated Esau? And his reply was immediate, I'm surprised that God loved Jacob. Interesting, isn't it? But you and I know that that was God's sovereign choice. And the word hate doesn't really mean what you and I think in the common vernacular today. It means that what? He loved Jacob more than Esau. Because remember what Jesus said in the New Testament? If you do not hate mother and father and love me, you cannot be my disciple. Now, Jesus was not saying that he literally, as we would understand hate, want you to hate your mother and father or your family, but we are to love him supremely. Understand? All right. So we, first of all, have the commandment of God that he loves the children of Israel unconditionally. Secondly, we have this sovereign selection of Jacob, the father, if you will, along with Abraham of the nation. And then as we continue on, we see the blessing, the abundant blessing of God to the children of Israel. The invasion of the Babylonians was judgment on the Edomites, but it was chastisement on the children of Israel. So I want you to notice here now, this marvelous manifestation and revelation of God's eternal love. And I think of that as I look at the news and hear the commentary concerning the war in the Middle East and what has happened with the invasion of the land of Israel. And we are praying at our house, as I know most, if you are, for the peace of Jerusalem, for God to accomplish his purpose in it all. All right, so we move on. Yet ye say, we're in. Now, I want you to underline that if you underline your Bible because we'll find it, I believe, at least three times in this initial chapter. All right? We have, I have loved you, saith the Lord. Now, here's the question or the complaint. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I loved Jacob? Because Esau was the, although they were twins, Esau was a bit older, so he was entitled, what? To the birthright and the blessing. So here, wherein hast thou loved us? Look, we have been in captivity. Now we have come back, but the construction of the temple is meager in comparison to the beautiful temple of Solomon. It's not like it used to be. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not quite what it was. So you're saying that you love us, that you're mononymous, that you're wonderful in extending your love, your mercy, your kindness to us. But when we think of that invasion and our deportation and captivity, and the construction of the temple and our worship? Wherein has thou loved us? I want to ask you, have you ever in a moment of despair or despondency, or perhaps you felt that you were hijacked and detoured, have you ever said, Lord, do you really love me? What has happened? to our intimate relationship, or should I say fellowship? Have you ever questioned your salvation? That would be relationship. But what about fellowship? Well, let's read on. And I had hated Esau, and I hated Esau and made his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. What's he, what God's saying? He's saying, look, The Edomites, Edom has come under my judgment. Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Do you notice the pride here, the arrogance? How? The Edomites are saying, hey, we have been hit hard, we've been impoverished, but in reality, we're going to what? We're going to rebuild, we're gonna restore. It's going to be as good as ever, if not better. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, notice now, God speaking, they shall build, but Notice that contrasting conjunction there. Now they think they're going to rebuild. They're proud and arrogant. They think their strong hand will give them restoration and victory. But the Lord is saying, no, they won't. They're under judgment. And the ultimate is destruction. Why? Because of sin. As I mentioned in Sunday school class this morning, most, if not all of our conflicts with others is rooted what? Internally and due to S-I-N, sin. And it manifests itself externally. And so we see here the result of sin and God's judgment upon them. And your eyes, verse five, shall see and you shall say, the Lord be magnified or exalted from the border or beyond the boundaries of Israel. So if I understand the text correctly, he's a judgment. upon your enemies, but you're going to be the recipients of abundant blessing because I love Jacob and I've declared to you without hesitation that the Lord really loves you. Do you hear that tonight? Dear child of God, God loves you. And when you and I fail to recognize and appreciate and live in the sunshine of his amazing and infinite love, you know something? We begin to grow cold or complacent or indifferent. And that doesn't come suddenly for most of us. It is a gradual, creeping paralysis. Well, let's read on, shall we? Priesthood. Son honoreth, verse six, his father and a servant, his master. Do you see where we are? Son honors his father, servant his master. And if then I be a father, where is my honor? Now the children of Israel understood that one of the designations or the names of God to them was father. And so the text is saying here, a son honors his father. He should, Martha and I are reading through the book of Proverbs right now in our devotions. And over and over again, we have the wise man contrasted with the fool. And the wise man is what? Recognized because he honors those for whom honors do. And here we have it. The son honors his father as serving his master. And now God is saying, then if I'd be a father, where is my honor? You're not honoring me. You may do it for your earthly father, but look, I'm your heavenly father. And if I be a master, and that's another designation recognized by the children of Israel, if I be a master, where is your reverence basically for me? Sayeth the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies unto you. O priest, notice now we're talking about those polluted priests that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised or scorned thy name? Now we saw the first one in what? Verse number two, wherein has thou loved us? And now wherein have we despised or scorned or ridiculed thy name? Your name. Now the name here means the person, the totality, the character of God. It's important, isn't it, for us to understand the condition of the priesthood at this time. And then notice verse seven, the polluted priesthood. What a frontery. I'd call it self-righteousness in the notes, you notice, deceived. They're insensitive to God's love, number one. They're unaware or blinded to their own departure from his will and his way. And that leads us now to the polluted, from the polluted priesthood to the contaminated sacrifice. Look at it. He offered polluted bread, that means meat, upon mine altar, the brazen altar. And you say, where in? Number three. Have we polluted thee in that ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible? What a statement. That shows you the condition of the priesthood and now it's manifesting itself in those contaminated sacrifices. You see, when the heart is not right, it will manifest itself dramatically, emphatically, visibly in our actions. What's in my heart determines my speech. Where my heart is, what's the Bible say? You got it. So my speech, my actions, my attitudes, they are so important because they're a reflection of my heart. And I see the negative with these polluted priests, with the polluted sacrifice. Let's look at it, all right? So they say, your table is contemptible. And if he offer the blind for sacrifice, here it is. What kind of sacrifices were they bringing? Is it not evil or the evil? And if he offer the lame and sick, is it not evil or really great evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. The text is saying, look, you wouldn't offer it to a political leader. You wouldn't offer it to your governor. Why? Because the governor would reject it. It would not be acceptable. And now you're coming and offering it unto me, the father and the master, the great king and the Lord of lords. Will he be pleased with thee? That is, if you offer these contaminated sacrifices and accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts. Now look at verse nine, the displeasure of God. And now I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This hath been by your means. Will he regard your person, saith the Lord of hosts? And now we come to verse 10, very important. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught or for nothing? Do you get it here? Very simply stated, it's this. He's saying, who will shut the door of the temple? It would be better to have no worship than the wrong type of worship. Is there one among you who will close the door? And you know, as I think of it tonight, I think of places the doors ought to be closed. Why? Because they're offering contaminated sacrifices. Hypocritical worship. Look at it. He says, I not only would like to see somebody shut the door, Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nothing." In other words, he's saying the doors ought to be closed, but in addition, there should be no sacrifice or fire on the altar, the altar of burnt offering. Why? Because the sacrifices are rejected. Less than the best. Shouldn't we give our best to the Lord? Neither will I accept an offering. See that there? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts. Neither will I accept an offering at your hand. And verse 11 is in a millennial context. What a contrast to the religious spirit and activity of the nation of Israel at this time. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, that's speaking of the entire earth. My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. And you know, I was thinking about this. And you'll recall that this morning in Sunday school, I gave some personal experiences. And I'd like to share a few of them with you tonight. You know, we had a choir in one of my churches that sang Sunday morning and Sunday night. And there was a woman in the choir, I would say, probably around 40 years of age, perhaps, by the name of Shirley. And suddenly, she stopped singing. And I thought, wow, wonder why? Well, maybe she wasn't feeling well. Well, it went on for, I don't know, probably three or four weeks. So I went to her and I said, Shirley, I've missed you in the choir. You were always faithful, morning and evening, singing in the choir. And she said, well, you know, I've heard you preach that you would not marry a believer to a non-believer. And she said, what about so-and-so? I said, well, you know, that's a good question. I said, I had some serious questions about his spiritual condition. And I said, he and his fiance came to my office one evening for counseling, first meeting. And I said, I really interrogated him. several times in different ways. In fact, I remember as if it were yesterday I said to him, he and his fiance were on the couch to the side of my desk. And I said, you can leave here tonight and walk across the parking lot to your car. I could see where he was parked through the window of my office. And I said, you can laugh and say, boy, I pulled the wool over Pastor Smith tonight, but you will not pull the wool over the Lord. I mean, I challenged the guy. And I said, but he had all the answers. and I felt that I had to take him at his word. So as a consequence, I married them. Now she was satisfied and came back the very next Sunday to the choir. But I'm saying, look, if she was disturbed with the pastor, not because it's me, I'm asking you, is that pure worship? I can tell you another experience in a church not too far from here. In fact, it's a church where I preached when I was a high school teenager. I wasn't old enough to drive the car. Dad and mother took me. And I spoke on a Sunday night in that church in a meeting sponsored by the young people. I won't name the church, but it's not far from here. And so when they were without a pastor, having heard me as a teenager ask if I could be their pastor. And so, Methodist days, I was sent to that church. It wasn't long that I remembered it was a misfit. I had one of the ladies and I sometimes drive by her home, I suppose she's long gone. And she said to me one day, she said, preacher, you're a good preacher, but you're too religious. Wow. That that's interesting, isn't it? But I remember one night in that church, we had a 16 millimeter film and the film had just started maybe about five minutes. And the young people got up under the cloak of darkness and snuck out through the door and outside the church. And you know, they had it well-timed because they came back in about five minutes before the end of the film. So their parents would have thought, because they were looking at the film, that they had been there for the entire evening. Now, would you say that was hypocritical worship? I'm asking you the question. Or could I say that in that same church, we had a missionary under the World Gospel Mission who had come home from Africa in the midst of a revival. He was a gifted missionary and preacher. He gave the invitation at the end of his message, and I would say we had about eight or 10 people who walked the aisle. some for salvation, some for surrender, some for rededication, for various things. And I wanna tell you, my heart was broken because many of the people in that congregation were most critical. Say, why would he give an invitation? Why did those people come forward? I say, that's hypocritical worship. I would think the redeemed, the blood-bought and washed ones, would say, praise God for the movement of the Holy Spirit and the response of the hearts of people. Oh, may God be praised. Hypocritical worship. More than one commentator that I was studying and reading was saying, this is not just a historical lesson, but Christendom worldwide is plagued with hypocritical worship. Not talking about the genuine body of Christ, but I'm talking about Christendom. All right? So let me read on. I remember that there was, let me look here. Oh yeah. In another church, I remember we had an organist, and a pianist, and they were both capable people, both members of the church. And the pianist came in to see me one day, and you remember those large, legal-sized yellow pads? Preacher, you remember them, don't you? Yeah, all right. So she comes in and she has about three pages of complaints about the organist. Wow! I mean, it wasn't just two or three. Down the list. Down the list. Wow, it was quite a meeting. And I thought, hypocritical worship? Here's the organist and the pianist in the church, Sunday morning, Sunday night. And she can't stand him when I began to hear all of those complaints. How sad. Yes, but you know something? As I mentioned this morning, when I went to Williamstown, there probably were about less than five people who carried their Bibles. Now we didn't have all the technology that we have today. And so we began to emphasize the scriptures. And so we ought to have access, each of us as we come, to the Lord's house, to the scriptures. We ought to follow along when the pastor reads the word. When we look at it verse by verse or paragraph by paragraph, we ought to have, you know something? Would you go to work without your tools? In latter years, my dad, owned a carpentry business. And I can remember he would leave, and suddenly I'd see the pickup truck back. Why? Because he had forgotten a tool or two. And the word of God is our tool. It's our source of information. It's God's message to us, the mind of God to the mind of men. And oh God, have mercy on us. This is a Bible-believing preaching church, isn't it? When I was one of my churches, we had a lectern on one side and a pulpit on the other. And the altar was in the middle. I didn't use that. It was too fancy for me. It was ritualistic. And I have to say, when I came out of the denomination, I'd had so much of that empty ritualism and ceremony that what? I sort of negated worship and it took me, pendulism. Have you ever experienced that? You're over here and suddenly you're over here. We need balance, don't we? Balancing the Christian life. Rory wrote a book, Dallas Theological Seminary on balancing the Christian life. And so it took me a few years to get balance in this understanding and appreciation and exercise of worship. And furthermore, don't misunderstand me. Folks, we need to be, I've heard Pastor Turner mention it, we need to be prepared for the Lord's day, not up late at night, exhausted. And unless we are on medicine or sick, we should not be sleeping in church. It's not only a bad example, but it's not legitimate worship. Now, if you're here and you're sick and you're under medicine, that's a different story. But if we're well and we have not come prepared and we're not able to stay awake and follow the scriptures, then that is not acceptable to the Lord. You say, Terry, you're getting picky tonight. No, you know, I heard one of the outstanding preachers on television just last week or the week before, if I named him, you'd know him. He's written some books. I have some of them in my library. And he said, you know, we are not naming sin. We're dealing with it in a general way. And we need to begin to name some of it. Why? Because you and I need that to be called to our attention. Regardless of what it is, if it's dishonesty, if it's immodesty, if it's gossip, whatever it is, if the Bible states it, hey, do we talk much anymore about the strange fire? You know, John MacArthur wrote a book, Strange Fire, dealing with what? The charismatic movement and teaching. I can remember when Layman Strauss would talk about the heresy of the charismatics. What about abortion? What about sexual identity? What about LGBTQ? These things are not only in our society being named, but they're being promoted and applauded. And we as the people of God need to stand by the blessed book and worship in spirit and in truth. And that's John 4, 24 at the top of the notes, but this will close. And I looked at that passage, I've quoted a lot, probably haven't studied as thoroughly as I should. And it says in spirit, that means the whole person. from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. It's not just an intellectual exercise. It's not just ritual or religion. It is the whole person, all of Terry Smith involved and engaged. And in truth, we have the written truth, the Bible, do we not? and the living truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm invited, I'm challenged, I'm instructed to worship the Lord of glory, my beloved savior, my precious brother. I'm invited and challenged and commanded to worship him in spirit. and in truth. So my question as we close tonight is this. In spite of a polluted priesthood, think of some of the teaching today by our pastors. It's unbelievable, isn't it? Talking with one of our laymen this morning, I said, you know, they use some of the same terminology. Inspiration of scripture, but they don't mean what you and I understand. the resurrection of Jesus Christ, spiritual or bodily. So we have in many areas a polluted priesthood. Thank God that we have men in this place, pastors and lay people who are true to the sacred book. And we have all kinds of sacrifices leading to hypocritical worship. Oh, may God help us in this day. to yield ourselves totally to him and to stand by the blessed book and exalt our Lord. Let us pray. Father, we thank thee tonight for the truth of this chapter. And we recognize that not only is it a historical study, but it has much relevancy for our own day. And may we learn from the mistakes and sins and disobedience of the long ago. And grant that by your grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit that we will be faithful followers, imitators, that we will be forceful in our convictions and yet compassionate. and that we will set the example that the watching, waiting world may see the reality of Christ in us. It is our prayer that we shall remain true and faithful. Till you come or call us home. Thank you for this church. And I ask your blessing upon members and friends. Oh God, you have been good to us and may we remain Faithful to Thee in all things, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Terry. Boy, what a great reminder, what great teaching that is. You know, to tweak his analogy, he's the professor, I'm the student. But what a great study that was, such a reminder that all of us need. So let's pray that we would be faithful to the study of God's word and worship of him, and that we would draw closer to him each day. Pastor Andy.