Sunday Notes: Malachi 2:1-9
- (Mal 2:1 ESV) “And now, O priests, this __________ is for you.
- The priests of Israel were a special group
- Their career and legacy was in keeping the law of Moses and helping the nation stay faithful
- It was the priests who ran the temple of God
- They took the __________, performed the rituals, and made the __________ for the people
- To be a priest in OT Israel…
- You had to be born into the tribe of __________the you worked in the priesthood all of your life
- The priests of Israel were a special group
- (Mal 2:2 ESV) If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give __________ to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will __________ your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to __________.
- (Mal 2:3 ESV) Behold, I will rebuke your __________, and spread dung on your faces, the __________ of your offerings, and you __________ be taken away with it.
- If you will not listen
- You priests set apart, you holy men divinely called to this work of God
- If you will not listen to the __________ of God
- Then I will send the curse upon you
- And I will curse your blessings
- You will feel the wrath of God
- No longer set apart FOR God
- Now set apart FROM God
- You will feel the wrath of God
- Indeed I have already __________ them
- Note the pronoun change
- I have already cursed __________
- A __________ person pronoun
- Who is this talking about now?
- I have already cursed __________
- Note the pronoun change
- If you will not listen
______________________________
- God has already cursed them
- He has already cut them off and turned them over to their sin
- Behold I will rebuke your __________
- The promise here is that those __________ generations of priests
- They would be cut off like the current
- The promise here is that those __________ generations of priests
- And spread __________ on your faces, the dung of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it
- This was literally the feces inside of the sacrificial animal
- You shall be covered in the refuse and removed just like it
- Like the priests then, the teachers in the church today are called to a higher expectation and promised a greater judgment
- James 3:1, Hebrews 13:17
- (Mal 2:4 ESV) So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with __________ may stand, says the LORD of hosts.
- (Mal 2:5 ESV) My covenant with him was one of life and p__________eace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my __________.
- (Mal 2:6 ESV) True __________ was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and __________, and he turned many from iniquity.
- (Mal 2:7 ESV) For the lips of a priest should guard __________, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the __________ of the LORD of hosts.
- The covenant with Levi
- __________ is a pagan and God comes to him one day
- Genesis 12:1-7
- Some 25 years after the call of Abraham he is finally given the promised son
- __________ is born around 2066 BC
- He has twin __________ around 2006 BC
- Jacob – who will carry the line on
- Esea – who fathers another nation
- Jacob father 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of __________
- One of them is named __________ from whom we get the Levites.
- Levi’s daughter Jochebed has three kids with a guy named Aram
- Mirian, Aaron, Moses
- Numbers 2:33, Numbers 3:1-13
- God ordained this group in the nation to lead His people in their __________
- They are set apart for this work
- And this work only.
- As humans often do, they drop the ball
- Numbers 3:4
- God ordained this group in the nation to lead His people in their __________
- __________ is a pagan and God comes to him one day
- The covenant with Levi
- (Mal 2:8 ESV) But you have turned __________ from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,
- (Mal 2:9 ESV) and so I make you despised and __________ before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”
- Now over __________ years later the priesthood is totally off the rails
- The priests have turned aside
- But over and above that they are __________ the people things counter to the truth of God
- And God has had enough
- This word to the prophet Malachi is God’s final say in this matter
- He will not stand for the priests of Israel any longer
- They will not be His set apart group
- They will be cast out
- The priests have turned aside
- Now over __________ years later the priesthood is totally off the rails
- Jude 1:1-19
- This was true of the old covenant __________ in Malachi’s day
- It was true of the __________ covenant priesthood in Jude
- It is the trend isn’t it?
- Satan – fell – A third of the __________ – followed
- Adam and Eve – fell – __________ followed
- Cain __________ God
- Noah, the only righteous man around, after the __________ – fell
- Abraham – fell
- Sodom and __________ destroyed
- __________ and Aaron – fell
- The great King __________ – he fell too
- In our day too there are lines and lines of people following a false idea of God
- Creating their own religion on their desires instead of shaping their lives around the Bible
- Let us, however, lean into the truth of God Word
- Let Him __________ your mind
- Your heart
- Your will
- That we may stand before God one day to hear:
- (Mat 25:21 ESV) His master said to him, ‘Well done, __________ and __________ servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
- It is the trend isn’t it?