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One would learn something from the chapter tonight that would bring them closer to you, that would build them up and strengthen them, dear God. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now here we are in the second chapter of the book of Malachi. Of course the first chapter we see God begin to preach. Look at the first words of Malachi 1-1. The first two words are the burden. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. This is something that God is getting off his chest, is what that means by the burden. It's something that's weighing upon him. Now this is the last, it's fittingly the last book of the Old Testament, and it's really a very, I'll put it this way, it's a very angry book of the Bible. It's God very angered by his people's lack of obedience. We saw in chapter 1 of Malachi, we saw their lack of thankfulness. We're in this, I love this. What have you ever done for us, God? We saw their total lack of respect for God, lack of honor and reverence for God. We saw their ungodliness, their sinfulness. We saw them not giving God their best, but bringing that which was torn and something that was not a pure offering to God. But look in verse number 1 of chapter 2, he begins now to speak to the priests. And he says, And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Now, the priests in the Old Testament, not only did they offer the sacrifices, not only did they do the service of the tabernacle and all the vessels and the washings and the burnt offerings, they also had a function of teaching and preaching the Bible in the Old Testament. The Levitical priesthood taught and preached the Bible. So this chapter, we could apply it to ourselves in the New Testament, because every single one of us is a priest in the New Testament. The Bible said that we're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Every believer in Jesus Christ in the New Testament is a priest, according to the Bible. And I'm not going to go into that and show you all that in the New Testament. I've done that in other sermons. I believe I have a whole sermon called The Priesthood of the Believer, where I go through that for the whole sermon. But you have to understand that you could lay these things to your heart, but really, he's talking to somebody who's a teacher, a preacher, an instructor, and he's saying to them, this commandment's for you. He says, if you won't lay it to heart, if you won't listen to what I'm saying, then I will even send a curse upon you. Now, let me ask you something. Is it possible for someone who's saved to be cursed by God? Yes, it is. The Bible says that if you disobey the Bible, if you disobey the laws of God, then there will be a curse for that. If you remember back in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, we don't have to turn there, but back in the book of Numbers, he said, cursed is everyone that confirmeth not all the words of this covenant to do them, and all the people said, amen. See, there's a curse upon those who disobey God and disobey the Bible, and there's a great blessing on those who obey the Bible. You see, just because you're saved and just because you're on your way to heaven, and of course, that's only because you believe on Jesus Christ, because you have faith, and you've been saved by grace through faith, but you still have the choice. God said he sets before you the choice of a blessing and a curse, life or death, righteousness and peace, or indignation and wrath. You have the choice in your life whether you want God to bless you. So I heard somebody once say the path to God's blessing is through the door of obedience. If you want to know why God is not blessing you in your life, maybe you should check on your obedience, because your blessing from God, and I'm not talking about prosperity and money and all these things, but your blessings from God will be directly related to your obedience to God, and God's cursings toward you will be directly related to your disobedience to the Bible. Now he says, I'll even send a curse upon you. Wait a minute, God, I thought that you would only curse those that are ungodly and unsaved. I thought you would only curse the unsaved who are not believing on Jesus Christ, but God uses the word even there, because he says, you priests, you that are saved, you that know the Bible, I will send a curse upon you. So just because you're saved doesn't mean that God will not send a curse upon you if you disobey the Bible. If I were to go out tonight and take off my wedding ring and go to some bar somewhere and get drunk somewhere and commit some wicked sin somewhere, you don't think that God would curse me for that, because he would. He would curse me if I decided to start changing this church and going liberal and bringing in a rock band and turning it into some social club like most churches have become. Do you think that God would curse me? You don't have to think, you can just read the Bible where he promises that if we don't lay to heart God's word and obey God's word, even the priest, even the preacher, even the saved born-again pastor, God will curse if he doesn't obey the Bible. Look at verse number three. You see the anger in God's voice as he says this, Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts, and one shall take you away with it. Is there anybody in this room that does not know what dung is? Put up your hand if you don't know what dung is. Don't be shy. Okay, John, he's two years old. Dung is what comes out of animals after they eat. It's what comes out the other side that they don't eat from. It's what stinks. It's what goes in the toilet. It's called dung. There's other words for it that I'm not going to use tonight. I don't want to offend your ears, but dung is what we're talking about. Now, what did God say that he's going to do with dung? He says, I'm going to take dung. I'm going to take a piece of dung, and I'm going to take your face, and I'm going to shove it in your face. Now, did I make that up, or is that in the Bible? Is that in the Holy Bible tonight? I get so sick and tired of people coming up with this thing where it seems like they've invented their own Christianity, they've invented their own God, they've invented their own Lord Jesus Christ, and this is what they do. They say, well, you just don't have a Christian attitude. You know, I'll get up and preach and preach on sin, and they say, well, everything you said was right, but you're just not saying it in Christian love. You're just not having the right spirit. Now, what kind of a spirit should I have? There's only one right spirit. It's called the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the one that moved upon Malachi to speak these words and for them to be written down. These are the words of God. Now, the Bible says every word of God is pure. He's a shield unto them to put their trust in Him. Every word of God is pure. The Bible says in the book of 1 Timothy 6, verse 2, it says, If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the doctrine which according to God is, maybe we should reevaluate what a Christian spirit is. Maybe you should reevaluate who God is. Maybe you should reevaluate what God is like. Let me give you a good place to start. Read the book of Malachi that's written by God, and maybe that will give you a little bit of insight into the personality of God. Don't tell me what God is like. Don't tell me what Jesus is like. If it's not showing me from the Bible what Jesus is like, what God is like. You see, there's more to God than just a few little passages like 1 Corinthians 13. Now, sure, that's an aspect of God. And if we said that this is all God's like, He's just angry and mad, that wouldn't be fair either. But God has a side that's very angry and mad. He has a side that's very loving. God is a multifaceted God. He's not just love all the time. He's not just happy all the time. He's not just friendly all the time. See, there's a time to love and a time to hate. And here He's rebuking preachers who have gone, and we're going to see what He's rebuking them for. But what does He mean by solemn feasts? Well, if you study the context of the Bible here, and if you study the 12 books that are known as the Minor Prophets, He makes similar statements elsewhere, where He says in Amos 5, for example, He said, I hate your solemn feasts. He said, I hate your assemblies. Now, what is He talking about? He's talking really about a religious gathering. He's talking about a church service. You see, the solemn feast in the Old Testament was a feast such as the Feast of Ingatherings, such as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These were religious feasts. Not only did they get together every Sabbath day in the Old Testament and have the Bible taught and preached, also they had special holidays throughout the year when they would have special church services, if you will. And they called them solemn assemblies. Who's ever noticed that term in the Bible when you're reading? Solemn assemblies. He says, on this and that day, in the fourteenth day of the seventh month, the same shall be a solemn assembly unto you. You shall do no servile work therein. And they would listen to the Bible, preach, read Ezra, read Nehemiah, and they preached the Bible and so forth. You see, this solemn feast, this assembly that God's talking about, He said, to me, it's worth dung. That's what it means to me. And He said, I'd like to take the dung that I think that it's worth and I'd like to shove it in your face. Now think for a moment, and don't accuse me of being graphic and don't say that I'm preaching anything other than what the Bible says. I'm sorry that I'm preaching the entire Bible the way it says. Think for a moment what it would be like to have someone shove dung in your face. Who has ever had dung shoved in your face? Put up your hand. Can you imagine what that would be like, how gross that would be, to have somebody shove dung in your face? I mean, you've got to think about this for a minute. Stop and think for a moment. What is God trying to say here? Why would God put something so graphic in the Bible? Why? I think God is trying to express to us extreme disgust. I mean, God is trying to say, it makes me sick. Your church service to me is so disgusting, it's a piece of dung. And you ought to have it shoved in your face. I mean, this is a God that's very upset. He's angry. Now continue reading. Let's see why. And you should know that I have sent this commandment unto you. I guess you will know something happened when dung gets shoved in your face. And you should know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace. Well, that's very positive, isn't it? And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge. They should seek the law in his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But here departed out of the way. You've caused many to stumble at the law. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, when did God choose Levi? When was it that God really decided that Levi would be the tribe that he would have the covenant with? Well, if you think back with me to Exodus chapter 33, when Moses went up on the mount and he was getting the Ten Commandments, he was gone for 40 days. The people came to Aaron and said, As for this Moses, we want not what has become of him. And they began to make the golden calf. Aaron led them in making the golden calf. They danced around. They were naked, the Bible says. They partied. They committed fornication. They had a wild, drunken party. And what happened? Moses came down from the mount. He was angry. He broke the Ten Commandments. He broke the stone tablets written with the hand of God. And do you remember he said, Who is on the Lord's side? And all the tribe of Levi, the Bible says, separated themselves from the rest of the congregation, and they came to Moses and said, We will be on the Lord's side. And he said, OK, take every man who is destroying a weapon in his hand and go through and slay every man. And they basically went through and killed all the most ungodly of them, the most wicked of them. Anybody that they could see who was doing something perverted naked or whatever. The children of Levi went and slaughtered them that day. And so the children of Levi, they separated themselves as being the people and the family and the group in Israel that said that they wanted to serve God. Then God, when he was giving the laws and the covenants in the book of Leviticus and so forth, he separated them out as his priesthood, the people who would draw near to him and serve him into the holy place and the high priest, the descendants of Aaron, would go into the most holy place in the Old Testament. And so here we see people departing from that, living in sin, living in unrighteousness, causing the people in the congregation to stumble at the law, putting forth a stumbling block, setting a bad example, being a liar, not telling the truth, not preaching the truth, completely departing from the ways of God. And God is angry with them. Now think with me if you would. In today's world, I'll tell you what we lack. It's a fear of God. Look at verse 5 quickly. I'm trying to just build a frame for what I'm trying to say here. Verse number 5, it says, My covenant was with him of life and peace. Why? And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. What we have in America in 2007 is a lack of fear of God. We have people who think that they can just do whatever they want, whether it's just the Joe and the Pew or teenagers. They think they can just go out and do whatever they want. Young people and young adults and grown people just think they can do whatever they want, and God is just going to be pleased with them, and God's going to be acceptable with them. And that's the exact condition that they were in in Malachi chapter 2. Look at verse 17. You've wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, Worrying if we wearied him. When ye say, Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them, awareeth the God of judgment. One of the things that God was so angry with is that the people would point at somebody who was wicked and ungodly and say, He's a good person. He's a great Christian. He's a wonderful preacher. He's a great leader, and so forth. God said, That wearies me. That makes me angry when you point at somebody who's wicked and ungodly and you say, He's good in the sight of the Lord. Look what it says. Everyone that doeth evil, he's saying, You're saying that people that do evil are good in the sight of the Lord. Let me tell you something. God is wearied and angry and disgusted when somebody says Billy Graham's a great preacher. Yes, he is. Yes, he is, and if you don't think so, you need to get my sermon on why Billy Graham's going to hell. That makes God angry. That makes God angry. You see, a positive only message makes God angry because part of what God requires of a priest is to say that someone who's evil is evil. And if you sit there and say, Well, I think that Billy Graham's a good guy. I think the Pope's a good man. I think the Pope's a righteous man. I think the Archbishop of whatever is a pretty good guy. I think he's sincere. God said, That makes me angry. You're wearing me. Don't, the Bible says, They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. That's what the Bible says. If you see a person who's praising those that are wicked, someone that's praising apostate preachers like Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham and all these other people, someone who praises them is a bad person. Someone who praises them is someone who forsakes the law. Because the Bible says, They that forsake the law praise the wicked. Now, we see here in Malachi chapter 2, people that have forsaken the law. Isn't that what he says? You're all departed out of the way? He says, You've gone out of the covenant that I made with Levi. You've not followed the first five books of the Bible, the Mosaic law. And isn't it funny how the same people in verse 17 are praising the wicked? You see how there's a consistency here in what God's teaching? They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. Fight with them. Point them out. Now, God is angered, and God is frustrated, and God is so disgusted by our modern day churches, our solemn assemblies, that do not pattern themselves after the Bible, that will not preach the Bible, that will not point out the evil doer, that will not teach the truth and teach adherence to the laws of God, that he would use such a graphic illustration of taking dung and shoving it in someone's face. That's what he'd like to do, he says. Isn't that terrible? And this is what bothers me more than anything. The thing that bothers me is that there's probably somebody in this room, there could be somebody in this room, who someday will leave this church for whatever reason. And that's fine, you know, maybe they'll move away or whatever happens. But you know, the sad thing is that there's probably somebody in this room who will go to a liberal church someday. And that's why I need to preach what I'm preaching tonight. Because, I mean, I've seen it happen before, I've seen people that I've won to Christ, I've seen them baptized, I got them in church, I taught them the Bible, I taught them King James only, I taught them soul winning, I took them out soul winning with me, and you know what they did? They went to some liberal church somewhere. Now when somebody leaves here and goes to another fundamental Baptist church, you know what, praise the Lord. Great. That's no skin off my back at all. Well, you know, if it's a Bible preaching, soul winning church, you know what, we're all on the same team anyway, as far as I'm concerned. But I'm going to tell you something, don't ever go out of here and go to one of these liberal fun centers. What do they call them? I don't know what they call them. You know, Capitol, when I was in Sacramento, it was like Capitol Christian Center. You know, they have these names like Praise and Worship Center, and the Living Word Bible Church here in Arizona somewhere, I forget where it is, Pastor Anderson. And the name system were Living Word Bible Church, Faithful Word Baptist Church, both pastored by Pastor Anderson. You know, Pastor Anderson, with his little 6,000 square foot sand castle with a real moat around it, and a drawbridge, okay. Pastor Anderson, with his little fun center. Pastor Anderson, who has preachers come in like Joyce Meyer, wicked. He has preachers like T.D. Jakes, wicked, money-grabbing, lying preacher, televangelists who want to steal people's money. They praise the wicked. They're ungodly. These churches, they think they can do whatever they want. They think they can have whatever music they want. They think they can have whatever dress standards they want. They think they can preach out of whatever Bible they want. They think that they can do what they want. They have no fear of God. They don't even believe that God one day will cloud up and rain on them. They don't even believe that God has an opinion about what they do. They don't even care that one day they will pay the piper, so to speak, when God brings judgment on America because of them selling us down the river with their phony, false, fake version of Christianity that they've shoved down our throat in this country. What more do I need to tell you that you won't understand that you can't go to a church that preaches out of anything but the King James Bible and be right with God? I don't know what you don't understand about that. What could you not understand about the fact that if the NIV leaves out 16 whole verses, if the NIV calls Joseph Jesus' father, if the NIV teaches that there's no prerequisite for baptism, if the NIV teaches that we're being saved instead of already saved, see 1 Corinthians 1.18, if the NIV changes hell to Sheol and Hades, words that nobody knows what the Sheol they mean, if you don't understand that, if I don't understand, I don't know what to do with you. And yet, people will come out of a church like this and they'll go to a church that uses the NIV. Why? Because Aunt Plutie goes there. Why? Because, oh, it's the only church that my husband will agree to go to, and I just want my husband to be in church with me. Why? Oh, it's because it's the only church that so-and-so will go to. You know, it's funny. I remember there was a lady in Sacramento, California. I knocked on her door. Let me tell this story. I knocked on the door and I gave her the gospel. She was already saved. But she was going to a church that used to be a fundamental Baptist church and they had gone down the drain. Now they were teaching out of the New American Standard and they would not baptize anyone that was under, like, 16 or 18 years old. I forget which it was. They wouldn't baptize anybody that was 12, 13, 14, or whatever. They did not believe in soul winning. They switched to the New American Standard Bible. And so this lady was... I was talking to her and I showed her... I had her go get the New American Standard and I showed her what was wrong with it at the door. And she said, Boy, my children, you know, I've won my children to the Lord myself and they're saved and I just really want them to get baptized, but the church will not baptize them. And I said, Well, maybe you're going to the wrong church. Now her husband was unsaved and her husband never went to church. And so I told her, I said, Well, you know, maybe you should consider visiting this church that we go to because your church is wrong and it's not even using the right Bible. So she said, Okay. Well, she showed up to the next service. She came on Wednesday night and then she came back on Sunday morning and her two children were baptized. I talked to them and checked them out and made sure they were saved and sure enough they were saved and so they got baptized. And she came for a couple of weeks and was really growing and learning a lot of Bible and everything. And a couple of weeks later, she quit coming all of a sudden. So I went by her house again and I said, Hey, we missed you. What's going on? She was coming to a lot of services and I said, Where have you been? What's going on? And she said, Well, I'm not going to be coming back anymore and here's why. Because my husband, who never goes to church, who's not saved, who doesn't believe the Bible, he says that if I'll just switch back to the new American standard, liberal, dead as a doornail, no soul winning, doesn't believe that children are even saved, okay, that's how warped their doctrine is. You know, the Bible says, unless you come to Jesus like the faith of a little child, you're not saved. Children are some of the easiest people to win at the Lord. I got saved when I was six years old and I knew I was saved when I was six years old and I tried to win people to Christ when I was six years old. I didn't know what I was doing but, you know, I had that in my heart. And so she went back to that wicked as hell apostate church. Because why? Because my husband will go with me now. All of a sudden, he's just ready to go to church as long as I don't go back to the fundamental Baptist church. He's willing to go with me. And I told her, I said, No, I said, What you're doing is wrong. I said, Let us do evil that good may come. God forbid is what the Bible says. We shouldn't do something wrong because it's supposedly going to bring about something good. I said, Your husband will never get saved in that liberal thing. They don't even preach to God. They don't believe the truth. How is your husband going to get saved in that environment? They're not even preaching the Bible. They have some phony Bible. You know, the illustration came into my mind. You know, I ride airplanes. I've ridden an airplane like a hundred times or something, literally. I ride airplanes all the time. And every time, that's what they say. Always put on your own oxygen mask first, you know, when they give you a little safety demonstration. I have the thing memorized. You know, there are two exits toward the front of the aircraft, two on the sides and two toward the rear. Find the exit nearest to you. Keep in mind that the closest exit may be behind you. You know, I have the whole thing memorized. In the event that, you know, there's a water landing, there's a flotation device under your seat. Put it around your neck. Never inflate it in the aircraft. Pull the string to inflate. Otherwise, you eat the two little tubes and yeah, blah, blah, blah. Well, anyway, this is what they always say. First, put on your own oxygen mask before helping children and others who need assistance. Why? Because if you don't put on your own oxygen mask and you're helping Junior, you might pass out while you're helping Junior with his oxygen mask. And you're going to be able to help those around you best when you make sure that you're breathing yourself. But see, people get this attitude where they, oh, I'm okay. I don't need any help. I'm fine. It's just my husband that needs it. Oh, I'm fine. It's just my kids. They're the ones who need preaching. Oh, I know I'm okay. Hey, let him to think if he stand to take heed lest he fall, the Bible says. You're not okay. I'm not okay. If I went to that liberal as hell church, I'd become a liberal too. I'm telling you, you will be affected by what you hear, day in and day out. You will be affected by hanging around with the wrong crowd. And I told her, I said, the Bible says, take heed unto thyself. Keep thyself pure. You ought to do what's right yourself before God. But people always think that they're going to somehow reach somebody by coming down to their level and meeting them halfway. No. You get as close to God as you can, and then you pray to God to help you reach those around you. And you'll reach far more people in an independent, fundamental Baptist church. I promise you. Okay, when you were back in the liberal church, how many people did you get saved? How many of your friends got saved? How many of your loved ones got saved? Okay, how many people are getting saved now? How many people are you seeing saved now? What's happening in your life now? And so I've seen it. I mean, that story about that lady and her husband, I've seen that same scenario. You know, today is always the same. It's just the actors are different. But I've seen that exact same scenario at least ten times. Well, you know, so and so, I mean, I just heard about it recently, a lady whose husband, same thing, it was, again, her husband, he's only willing to go to church with me if I go to some, this charismatic, you know, dung church. If I go to dung Christian church, because that's what God calls it, if I go to dung worship center, if I go to dung assembly, Phoenix dung assembly, then my husband will go with me. So what? So what? I didn't know that it was your job to make sure that your husband lives for God. I just knew that it was your job to make sure that you yourself live for God. And so you'll find out that if you stand your ground, do what you're supposed to do, do what's right, you'll get your husband or your wife or your daughter or your son or whatever saved a lot faster than when you just go to dung Baptist church. Because when you go there, you're going to get backslidden. You're not going to be right with God. And think about that lady for a moment. Is anybody listening to me tonight? Think about that lady for a second. What are her kids hearing Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night now? Remember she cared so much about her unsaved husband? He's supposedly miraculously going to get saved in a church that's preaching the new American standard that doesn't even believe in salvation? He's going to come running down the aisle crying or something? False doctrine. Heresy. Liberalism. Never hearing any preaching on sin. You better settle it in your mind right now that God is a very great king, as we saw in Malachi 1.14. He's a great king. He's a dreadful king. He should be feared and revered. And you ought not just think that you can lean under your own understanding and that it's going to turn out right because the Bible says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and all thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. God is up in heaven and he doesn't think that all churches are the same. I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a truck. It said this Sunday attend the church of your choice. No, this Sunday attend the church of God's choice. And God's not up in heaven looking down and saying, oh, isn't that great? Well, they're using the NIB. Well, his wives poured into a tight pair of jeans. Well, you know, the youth groups making out and fornicating in the pews. Well, you know, but they really love Jesus. That's not what God says. God says, quick, hand me a piece of dung so I can shove it in your face. And God is up in heaven and he doesn't just sit back and say do whatever you want, go to whatever church you want, have whatever music you want, dress however you want. That's the kind of thing that makes God angry and that's what God's preaching against right here. We need to get back to some old-fashioned fear of God. People are so full that they just blow off their mouth it seems like. Oh, well, you know, you try to tell somebody, hey, what you're doing is wrong. You know, Christians are getting divorced because they're not compatible. And I've called somebody on the carpet when they were getting divorced and I said, hey, what you're doing is wrong. And you know what they said? I know it's wrong, but I got to do what I got to do. That's a lack of fear in God. With this flipping attitude that says it's wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway, it's wrong, but so what? Now think about it in my house. And the reason I brought up divorce is because that's in the chapter Hang on Tight, we'll get there. In my house, can you imagine if I told my son, I said, son? This is a good example here. Son, this is for you, honey. Son, don't slam the back door. You know, she hates it when they slam the back door. Son, don't slam the back door. And he said, well, you know what, dad? I know that you told me that it's wrong for me to slam the back door, but you know what? I'm just going to go ahead and slam it anyway. Can you even imagine that? Now what would you say about a child that would say something like that? Say that they're a what? A brat, right? They're a brat. What would they get? They'd get a really severe spanking, wouldn't they? To just mouth off. I can't even imagine saying something like that to my parents. I know you told me to do this, and so I know I'm not allowed to do it, but dad, I'm just going to do it anyway. I mean, I wouldn't have even seen it coming. I would have just woke up, you know, hours later somewhere in an emergency room. Or woke up hours later somewhere in a pool of my own blood. Okay? I mean, good night. I can't even comprehend saying it. Why? Because I feared my dad. I mean, when I grew up, I'm going to tell you something. I feared my dad. I was afraid of him. Oh, isn't that terrible? Well, what does God say? Hey, I'm a father. Fear me. I'm God. I'm dreadful. I'm terrible. I'm the Lord. You better realize who you're dealing with. And the problem is that because God's judgment doesn't come swiftly, people think that they can just do whatever they want. And then it's too late by the time they realize it. Because, see, what happens is you sow a seed. And God said, if you sow to the wind, and He was talking about sin, He said, if you sow to the wind, you'll reap the whirlwind. And what happens is people will sow seeds of just, sow what, God? I'm going to do what I want to do. I don't care what you say. And, oh, nothing happened. Oh, a couple months later, nothing happened. A couple months later, nothing happened. But what happens is pretty soon God will stay. And when you sow a seed, it takes you years to reap the fruit of that. I mean, if you were to plant an apple seed, do you know how many years it would take before you got any apples? Several years. Many years. But when you get those apples, good night, you're going to get hundreds of them, okay? And then next year, oh, man, here's a hundred more. And then another year, good night, the apples just keep on coming. And then they became more trees. And it multiplies and multiplies and multiplies. You've got to realize that God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. You see, reading the Bible is not optional. Prayer is not optional. Soul winning is not optional. You say, are you going to force us to go soul winning? I'm not going to. I'm just telling you that in God's book, it's not optional. Soul winning is not optional. Sit around and decide whether you want to participate in soul winning or not. Hmm. I wonder if I'm going to obey God or not. Soul winning is not optional. Church attendance isn't optional. Obeying the Ten Commandments is not optional. Living a clean life is not optional. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes is not optional. Your body, the temple of the Holy Ghost, is not optional. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup and moveth itself aright, is not optional. You ought not ever be finding yourself deciding whether you're going to obey God or not. That's called iniquity and wickedness in your heart, where you think you have the right to not obey Almighty God. And these churches think that they can just do whatever they want, have whatever program they want. I don't sit around deciding what kind of a program we're going to have here. I look in the Bible and see what kind. You know, people always come to me and tell me, well, listen to this. This works. Listen to this method of growing as a church. It works. I don't care what works. Oh, well, what you're doing isn't working, Pastor Anderson. I don't care whether it works. It's right. And I'll do it till the cows come home. I don't care. Right is right and wrong is wrong. What kind of music do we have? The right kind of music. Spiritual music. What kind of preaching do we have? Bible preaching. Preaching that's straight out of the Bible. Preaching that mirrors the preachers of the Bible. What kind of program do you have for your outreach ministry? We have the program of daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. That's our program. The Bible's program. But the Bible says here, the law of truth was in his mouth. Verse 6, let me move on. And iniquity was knocked down on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law of his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord. What's that saying? It's saying if you walk up to the preacher, he should know what the Bible says. That's what he's saying. It's saying the priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law of his mouth. But I'm not the only priest. You're also a priest because remember, we're in the New Testament. You're the priest and the believer. And so we ought to know what the Bible says. The man of God ought to know what the Bible says. You ought to know what the Bible says. Somebody should be able to ask you, what does the Bible say about us and so on? And you ought to be able to tell them the right answer. You know, I heard somebody this week saying, you know, people, they say, you know, people, they were asking somebody's opinion about, you know, what do you think about cremation? You know? And the person that they asked had a real good answer and said, well, you know, it's wrong because of this and this and this and this. Okay, that's the way it should be. If somebody asked me a question, I ought to know the answer. Now, do I know every answer to every question? No. But if you come up to me and ask me, Patrick Anderson, why do we believe that the King James Bible is the word of God? Well, that's what I learned in Bible college. No, I ought to know why and I ought to be able to show you why from the Bible. And you ought to know what you believe and you ought to know it from the Bible. But look what the last phrase there is in verse number 7. It says, why? Why should they be able to seek the law of his mouth? Why should his lips keep knowledge? For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. What does that mean? That means that I don't have the right to get up here and just preach my opinion. I don't have the right to get up here and decide what I'm going to preach and how I'm going to preach it. My job is to be God's messenger. God is supposed to be able to rely on me to express to you verbally what he has written in the Bible. I'm supposed to get up here and express to you and you can sit down and God will speak to you through the words that come out of my mouth by me preaching and expounding upon the Bible. By me telling you what the Bible says, reading it to you, you're looking down in your Bible and me explaining it to you by putting in context with other scriptures, helping you see the big picture. You see, it's not my job to make you feel good. It's not my job to be funny. Oh, I really hope that Pastor Hansen is funny today. I really hope he preaches something encouraging to help me today. Look, my job, you know what you ought to say? I really hope that Pastor Hansen preaches what God wants me to hear. I mean, if you walk in on a Sunday night, you ought to say, Dear Lord, you ought to pray and say, Dear Lord, and I prayed this. Back when I was going to church, I prayed and I said, God, I can remember clearly just saying, God, would you please just let the pastor preach what I need to hear? I mean, I've prayed that before. God, would you please just, I don't know what I need. God, let the pastor preach what I need. Okay, and you know what? I ought to be preaching what you need to hear because I'm supposed to be the messenger of the Lord of hosts and I pray and beg God to help me preach what people need to hear. And sometimes it's funny, I'll preach something and then people will say, man, that's exactly what we were just talking about yesterday. Oh, man, I was just thinking about that or I was just reading that in my Bible and then you preached on it. That's because God is leading me. I'm just the messenger of the Lord of hosts. I'm trying to preach the Lord's message here from the Bible. And so I have to stay with God's methods and God's message. But the Bible says in verse 8, but you're departed out of the way, you've caused many to stumble at the law. Back before, he's contrasting the last part of verse 6 where it says that Levi did turn many away from iniquity. On the contrary, he says, you've caused many to stumble at the law. You've corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts, therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as you have not kept my ways but have been partial in the law. Look at those words there in verse 9. Therefore, now therefore is always referring to what was just said. He's saying, for this reason, have I also made you contemptible and base? What does contemptible and base mean? Well, contemptible means something that people don't like. Contempt is like hatred. Contemptible means something that's not something that you like at all. Base, he's talking about very low, like the baseboard, the bottom. He says, I've brought you low. I've made you like down in the gutter, where people will look at you and be disgusted with you. Now, God has a way of bringing things around. Let me tell you an interesting story, and I'm not going to say who this is, just, you know, because whatever. People get the tape or whatever. But let me tell you about somebody that I know, okay, that I just found this out last week. Here's a guy who I've known my whole life, and I'm not going to say any more than that, okay? And he's a pastor. And he's pastored about five different churches. Well, I think he was the youth pastor at two, and he was the pastor at three, and then he went back to one of them for a fourth, you know, pastorate. But it was between three churches that he was the senior pastor of. Well, this guy, you know, he's always been just, you know, he's just such a jerk. Let me just put it that way. And he would make fun of people who were King James and make fun of soul winning. And there were many churches that he took over, and they were Baptist, and he slowly changed them and took Baptist out of the name. And he even took over one that was an independent fundamental Baptist church, took Baptist off the name, slowly brought in the new King James, slowly brought in the world of music, just had a calculated plan of changing churches, making them liberal. Well, he did this in several places. He was very conceited, very pompous, very arrogant man, very full of himself. And this man, I remember a story about this. You know, he's at the gas station with another person and said, you ought to fill up my tank because I'm a pastor. And this guy, and listen to this, this guy that I'm talking about, he was literally getting paid at some of these churches $90,000 a year. No joke. $90,000 a year, not to mention gifts and all kinds of other stuff. He was going to take a pastor in one city. They offered him like $80,000 and he bumped him up to $90,000. Okay. And every time I'd ever seen this guy, he was driving fancy cars, always had just the perfect house. Everything was plush. Everything was just perfectly decorated. And boy, these people just had it all. But, you know, a couple weeks ago, finally came out, as it always does, finally he became, as the Bible says in verse 9, contemptible and based before all the people. It came out that this man in every church that he's been pastoring has been committing adultery with all the women in the church. You know, all kinds of women and having all these affairs with women in the church at every single church. And that's why he moved, we found out, from church to church. Because what would happen is he would get caught having affairs with women in the church, having adultery, and then they would, you know, all the assistant pastors, they're making good money, they don't want this thing to blow up, they don't want a scandal, so here's what they said. And many of these are Baptist churches. They said, if you leave quietly, we'll give you a good recommendation to the next church. As long as you don't, you know, just resign today, no questions asked, turn in your resignation, we'll give you a positive. Can you believe that? Well, he got away with it for decades, but now, finally, he blew it too much, pushed it too far, it came out, the big scandal erupted, his wife's been covering for him at every church, his wife was covering up the fact that she knew about it, covered it up at every church. And now, finally came out, and his wife said to him, where are you going to go now? Who's going to hire you now? And you know what he said? He said, nobody would hire me now. And she said, well, then I'm divorcing you. Well, you know why she was, you know, for the money? Because obviously, you think that she loves some guy who's just cheating on her at every church, who gets up and preaches a pompous, arrogant jerk, who gets up and preaches the Bible, and he's a whoremonger? And you know, that's kind of what I've seen happen many times in my life. This was an example, that was literally, that just happened a couple weeks ago, someone that I know well. But you see, things have a way of coming out where God says, you know, because you dishonored me, because you've been wicked as hell, because you disobeyed the Bible, because you had no fear of God, because you did what you wanted to do, because you turned church into something of a social club and a church of something that's not soul winning and a church that's something that doesn't even preach the Bible. He said, I will make you contemptible and base before everyone. You know, there have been people that God has brought down, hasn't he? I mean preachers, phony preachers, you know, even lying CEOs of companies who are stealing, you know, and God brings them down in front of everybody and humiliates them and makes a fool out of them in front of everyone. Why? Because God's not mocked, for whatsoever a man saw with that shall he also reap. You know, your secret sins one day will come back to haunt you. And so you ought to just cleanse your hands and purify your heart for godliness tonight. You need to realize who you're dealing with before it's too late. You cannot believe me when I tell you right now that God's not mocked and that God's a dreadful God and that God's a great king and that God doesn't let you mess with him and push him around. You can believe me when I tell you that and save yourself all the heartache or you can take your chance, just take your chances. Commit fornication and take your chances. Go get a divorce, take your chances. Go ahead and get into sin and take your chances. But the problem is by the time you start to be judged by God, realize, oh God, I'm sorry. What have I done? In many cases it's too late. You're already contemptible and based before all the people. And so I'm not trying to be naked tonight. I'm just preaching the Bible. It's a negative chapter. Forgive me for preaching it in a negative way. But in verse number 10 the Bible reads, Have we not, O one Father, have not one God created us? Now, some people will use this verse to erroneously say that we are all God's children. Now, that is not true. The Bible says, as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God. Now, in order to become God's son that means you were not God's son. Previously you believed on Jesus Christ and became God's son. That's John 1-12. And so this verse is making two independent statements. Have we not, O one Father? Of course, he's talking to people in Israel. Look at verse 1 of Malachi 1. It says, The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, when he says, Have we not, O one Father? He's referring to Jacob as their father. You know, and really you go back and say, Adam is all of our father. Noah is all of our father. You can go back and say that. But he says, Have not one God created us? God is not the unsaved man's father, of course. I'm not going to go into that too much. But why do we deal treacherously, every man against his brother? By proclaiming the covenant of our fathers. Judah had dealt treacherously and an abomination is committed in Israel. And in Jerusalem. For Judah had profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved. That's saying Judah used to love the Lord, but now he's profaned his holiness. And had married the daughter of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offering an offering of an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have he done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with crying out, in so much that he regardeth it not the offering anymore, or receive it that with good will is your hand. What do we see here? People crying to God. Because of the curse that God has already sent upon them, according to Malachi 2.2. They're crying, they're wailing at God. What do we say here? People who disregard the Bible, people who disobey God, they do what they want to do, and then they come to an altar somewhere and cry out, Oh God, why aren't you blessing me? Oh God, what are you doing? You know, before you get upset and point the finger at God and say, God, what are you doing to me? God, you're not fair to me. Maybe you ought to take a look at your own life and your own heart. That's the truth. You know, before you cry out to God, you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of the United States of America and all these Baptists. Oh God, the abortion is so horrible. Yet their wife's on birth control pills, which is killing their unborn children. That's not hard to figure out. Just do me a favor. Go buy the birth control pill and get out the package insert. It's about 100 pages long in fine print, and read it like I read it. And read through it, and anyone will see from any package insert, they have to tell you by law what it's doing, okay? Read all about it. Go to our website and read all about it. I think there's still some of those sitting on the bookshelf over there. Read all about it. You think God is impressed with somebody crying and whining? Oh God, why aren't you blessing America? Oh God, why'd you let the Twin Towers be knocked over? Oh God, oh God, why aren't you blessing? Why would you do that, God? You're not fair, God. You're a mean God. That's not God's fault. It's not God's fault when He judges sin like He said He would. It's not God's fault that babies are being murdered in this country. Why in the world would God step in and send us some great president, send us some great Supreme Court justice that would put an end to the massacre of babies? Why would He put somebody in the Supreme Court to end that? Why would He give us the blessings? Why would He bless our country when Baptist independent fundamental preachers are handing out birth control pills like candy to their people? Why should He? Why is it God's fault? Blame the priest. Blame the preacher. Blame the man who calls them that are evil in the sight of the Lord good. You see, it's not God's fault when judgment comes. It reminds me of when Ahab said to Elijah, art thou he the trouble of Israel? And Elijah says, just because I pray, I mean, basically Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years. You remember that? Elijah was a man subject to life passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain by the space of three years and six months, and it rained not upon the earth. Now, what if somebody today got on their knees and prayed? I prayed, God, that it won't rain in the United States for three and a half years. You know, the world would say, it's your fault that it's not raining. But the Elijah says, no, it's not my fault. It's your fault because you're worshiping Baal. You're serving the devil. You're killing innocent blood. It's your fault. Just because I prayed down the judgment of God on a wicked nation, the wicked evildoers are the one whose fault it is. You see, until independent fundamental Baptists, the phony liberals who sit there and, oh, I just didn't know any better. Well, why don't you do a little research then? Why don't you figure it out? Why don't you do the research and say, just give everybody a bunch of drugs? And so, because we won't amend our doings, because we won't do right in the sight of the Lord, because the preacher won't get up and preach the truth, because we want to do it our way, God's judgment comes and we can cry and we can whine and we can weep before the altar of the Lord and we can pray and fast and pray and fast. God said, is not this the fast that I've chosen? He said, don't withhold yourself from food, He said, don't withhold yourself from food, obey me. Get off your knees, Joshua, and obey me, He said, when the wicked sin of Achan was present in the camp. He said, quit praying, get off your face, I don't want to listen to you, I want you to fix the problem. Because God wants obedience, God wants righteousness, God wants holiness, and if your personal holiness is not what it ought to be, if you have sin in your life, if you have wicked DVD's in your house, if you feast your eyes on the filth of television, if you listen to all the wicked rock and roll music and you listen to the satanic Jimi Hendrix who said, my religion is voodoo, whose first album called Voodoo Child, who said that he worships voodoo, if you're going to sit there and listen to the Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Beatles, and that's just the classic rock, that's the golden oldies. Now what are they coming out with now? Good night Korn, Marilyn Manson, what are the groups now? Help me out. What are they? Who knows? You two, you know, the Beastie Boys, I don't know, I don't know what people listen to, but you know what, if you got that kind of garbage in your life, you're going out and you're dressing up like a hoochie mama, or you could let your kids dress like a hoochie mama, if you're going out and dressing like a queer man, if you're going out and you know, just doing what you want to do, hanging around with the world, letting them blaspheme God, hanging around with all your wicked friends, listening to all your wicked music, watching all your wicked television, you got all your filthy magazines laying around the house, don't expect God to bless you, He's going to curse you, He's going to curse you. That's the truth. And you are taking your chances, my friend, because you're taking your chances because God will not protect you when you're filled your life with wickedness and sin. Go ahead, walk out that door and take your chances. I don't want to take my chances. I don't want to roll the dice whether my kids turn out right. I don't want to roll the dice whether my life turns out right. I'm not willing to take my chances. I'm going to fear and tremble and shake in fear before the awesome God of the universe and beg God to bless me and get the sin out of my life. You have no guarantee from God that all things work together for good for those who listen to NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. That's not what it says. It says all things work together for good to them that love God. And the Bible says this is the love of God that we keep as commandments. His commandments are not grievous. And so the abominations that are committed in Israel, in verse 11, the abominations in Judah, the holiness of the Lord being profaned where we take God's name and attach it to something that's ungodly. We do a wickedness in the name of the Lord. Then we get on our knees and cry about it. The Bible says that God will not even regard your offering anymore. He doesn't want you to say nice things to Him because you're disobeying and blaspheming and abominating in His presence. He said, I don't want to hear you. Look at verse 14. Yet you say, wherefore? Why? Because the Lord hath been witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth. Oh, you didn't know that God knew about that, did you, is what He's saying. The Lord hath been witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. Now what He's saying is, remember when you were married? He's talking to a specific situation here. Remember back when you were married, when you were young, He's saying, and you had that sweet little wife? Remember how you committed adultery by leaving that wife and divorcing that wife? You know, God says, you know, she's still the wife of your covenant. I mean, you did promise, didn't you, till death dost do part? I mean, you did make a covenant and an oath to be married. And says, did not He make one yet had He the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore, why? That He might seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, sayeth that He hateth putting away. What is putting away but divorce? That's what it means. Putting away your wife is called divorce. The two words are used synonymously. God hates divorce. Let that sink down into your ears. Underline it in your Bible. God of Israel sayeth that He hateth putting away. For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore, take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. Don't deal treacherously. I'm so sick and tired of this thing that we teach now that divorce isn't that bad. Now let me tell you something. I've grown up in independent fundamental Baptist churches, and you know what I saw in just about every independent fundamental Baptist church that I've ever been in? And if you've been divorced, I'm not preaching against you, of course, because as I said on Sunday morning, you should forget the past and move on, and if you've confessed it as a sin before God, move on and be dealt with it. You ought not harbor guilt and so forth. But I'm preaching to those that have not done it. As it says here, therefore, take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. He says, let none deal treacherously against the wife of Jesus. He's talking to somebody who is married, telling them not to get a divorce. The end of verse 15. But you know, every church I've ever been in, you know what they did? Every church I've ever been in, while I was there, there was a wedding between two people who were divorced marrying somebody different. Now, how can these things be the only question that I ask? And this is me as a kid. This is me as a teenager. I sat there and scratched my head as a teenager as I watched this. And I've never been married. What do I know? I've never, you know, knew what it was to be married. I was just a kid. I was just a teenager. But I scratched my head and I said, you know, doesn't the Bible say that if you marry somebody that's divorced, you're committing adultery? Why are we having an adultery ceremony in church? Why is the pastor condoning adultery? Why is the pastor smiling about adultery? Oh, oh, and this is, you know, this is the big popular thing too. This is what they all do now. Because they all like copy each other, all these independent Baptists who don't feel like they need to obey the Bible. Oh, we just do a little private ceremony. A little private ceremony. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I thought it was a big ceremony. Like, so what? Look, if you're going to do it, you know, make it like Princess Di getting married or something for all I care. I mean, right's right and wrong is wrong. What is the difference? How many people are there? Oh, these people have been divorced and they're getting married, so we're just having a private ceremony. There's only going to be about, just their parents are going to be there, just the parents and a few friends, but it's not going to be a big wedding. Or how about this one? She's not going to wear a white dress though. She's not going to wear a white dress because she's been married before, you know, so she can't wear the white dress. Chapter and verse, please. Can you show me how to do that? How about this? How about you just don't do it because it's a sin? You're not loving. You're not compassionate. You don't care. Well, you know what? I happen to be the child of parents that are divorced and remarried. How do you think I felt about that when that happened? That was really loving to me, wasn't it? I'm not ripping on my parents tonight, but I'll tell you something. How do you think I felt when my parents got divorced after 30-some years of marriage? How do you think that made me feel? How do you think it made me feel when they got remarried to some stranger that's not someone that I was engendered from? That's not my parents. How do you think that that made their children feel? How do you think that made everyone around them who saw what they did and knew that they were Fundamental Baptists, how do you think that made them feel? How do you think a 5-year-old girl feels when her parents get divorced? How do you think an 8-year-old boy feels when his parents get divorced? Oh, but they should just be able to get remarried and move on. Well, why don't we all just swap wives then, huh? Why don't I just get a divorce and then say, I'm sorry, and then go get remarried? Well, maybe that's why God said, you know what, if you get a divorce, you can remain unmarried or you can go back to your husband. And once your husband or wife is remarried, you can stay unmarried until they die. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, I don't care whether that's popular. I don't care whether that makes you feel good. But you know what? I think we'd all feel a lot better if everybody just got married and stayed married to their wife and stayed married to their husband. I think the world would be a much happier place, and I think kids would grow up a lot happier. I talked to a lady the other day, and she had a young daughter. This young daughter saw a picture of her dad holding her in his arms, and she didn't even know who it was because she hadn't seen her dad in years. That's not right. And it's namby-pamby, sissified preachers who remarry divorced people. That's the problem. Because even in the house of God, we just kind of hint, hint, wink, wink, nod, nod, look the other way, and say, oh, well, you know, it's wrong. And you know what? I called the pastor on the carpet about it one time. I said, why do you do that? I just said, look, I want to learn. I said, I'm going to pastor a church someday, and I want to know why you remarry divorced people, people that have divorced their spouse, why do you remarry them? And he says, well, you know what? I thought about it, and I kind of got with God on it, and I have peace about it. He said, I have certain policies about it, like it's not going to be a big wedding, and they don't wear a white dress, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I have peace about it. I wonder if the people's kids have peace about it. I wonder if God has peace about it. Now, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you know what? God is angry tonight, and God is not happy about this kind of compromise. And if you've been divorced, you mark my words, if you've been divorced, you can go back to the last guy that you were married to, none of the other ones, because you might have been divorced several times or whatever, or you can stay unmarried. And you know what? If you don't think that's fair, you can take it up with God. And if you don't think it's fair, then go ahead and go get remarried, and take your chances, and see what God does, and see if God blesses you or if He curses you. I have a sneaking suspicion that He's going to curse you. I'm not a mean person. I'm not an unloving person. I love you. That's why I'm telling you the truth, so that God doesn't curse you, because I want you to be blessed by God. And I remember, I'll say this again, and I'm parking on this subject because it's an important subject. I remember somebody told me that they almost got divorced, and they ended up not going through with it at the last minute, and boy, God blessed their life tremendously. And this is what this lady said to me. She said, she said, Steve, she said, don't ever back down on preaching what you preach about divorce and remarriage. Don't ever back down. Don't ever back off on it. Because when people do it, and when people know what's right, and they disobey God, because they know that it's wrong to divorce their spouse, they won't be able to live with the guilt, is what this lady told me. She said, I remember when I was thinking about getting divorced, the guilt. She kept me up at night. And she said, tell them not to. She said, because there's no substitute for laying your head on your pillow at night and having a clean conscience. And you can have a clean conscience today, even if you've been divorced or remarried or whatever, even if you've committed some of these wicked sins, and even if you've done something as wicked as having an abortion or committing murder or whatever the case may be, adultery, fornication, whatever it is, you can have peace tonight. You can have life and peace like Levi had in verse 4. You can have a clear conscience before God and man tonight, but it's going to be because you decide that you're going to obey God and do it God's way. You'll never have peace disobeying God. Whatever that pastor said, I have peace about it, I could tell you where he's at right now. He's in bad, he's in real bad shape right now. You want to have real peace and a real clear conscience and feel good about yourself. It's when you're obeying God and doing what's right. And God says that when you divorce your wife, he says you're treacherous, treason, dishonest, you're a liar, you made a covenant to God, you swore to God, keep that which has gone out of thy mouth. Or you're treacherous, you're a liar, you're a covenant breaker, and it's wicked as hell. And you know what? If you've done it, you just succumb to your place one time in your life where you realize how wicked it was and then say you're sorry for it and never do it again and then be done with it. But I'm preaching more for those that haven't done it, is my goal tonight. But it says in verse 17, you've wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, worrying if we wearied him, when you say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them. What's that mean? Basically, if you say that God just delights and loves in everybody, God's happy with everybody, God's happy just the way you are, just the way you live, he says, that makes me angry, that wearies me, it wears me out, because not everyone is good in the sight of the Lord. God does not delight in everyone. And then it says here, or where is the God of judgment? Oh yeah, Brother Anderson, where is all this judgment from God? You proclaiming the doom of America, because of abortion, because of sodomy? Where is the God of judgment? Huh? Oh, so God's going to judge me? I've been divorced, I've been remarried, nothing happened. Oh, so God's going to judge me for looking at porno? Where is the God of judgment? Behold, I will send my messenger, it says in the next verse, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom he delighted, and behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like full of soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver. It says in verse 5, I will come near to you to judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers. False swearers. What does that sound like? Somebody who says, till death do us part, and then breaks that vow. And against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the followers, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me. Fear not me, he says, saith the Lord of hosts, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Bible says in verse 1 of chapter 4, quickly, for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, the people that said, where is the God of judgment? Wherein have we worried thee? Oh yeah, these people, they're all wonderful. God loves them. God delights in them. The proud ye and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Let's understand tonight who God is. Read Matthew chapter 2, bite down into it, and realize the God that we're dealing with. Yes, the God of love. Yes, the God of the second chance. Yes, the God who wants to bless you, and lift you up, and give you a wonderful life, and bless you, and make you happy in your life, and give you rewards, and a home in heaven. But you better do it His way. And you better go to church like He wants church. And you better read the Bible that He says to read. And you better live your life the way He says to live it. And you better pastor this church, Pastor Anderson, as God wants you to pastor it. And you better learn that God is a God to be feared, because God holds your destiny and your life in His hand. Did you know that any one of us, God could bring down nothing tomorrow? God could drain my bank account tomorrow to zero. God could bring me to the point where I'm on my hands and knees gasping for breath, right now if He wanted to. God could destroy my health any time. God could bring down my high looks, and my finances, or my health, or my job, or whatever. God can bring us down any time He wants to. He can take the most powerful man in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar, and turn him into an animal that eats grass like an ox, as he did in Daniel chapter 4. Or God can take you, no matter how messed up your finances are, and God can straighten out your finances like that. God could straighten out your life like that. God could bless you like that. You better realize that it's a scary thing to think that God is the one who is superintending every area of your life, and you're messing with Him. You've got wicked sin in your life. You've got secret sins that you need to deal with. I don't want to take those kind of chances, because I know how powerful God is, and I know that if you want to run from God, and if you think you can get away with things from God, God has a way of finding you and judging you. God will not let you go out and drag His name through the mud, blaspheme His name, break your oaths, commit adultery, look at sin, do wrong. God just won't do it. God just won't put up with it. He will cloud up and rain on you. I promise you that. I mean, God will finally... I mean, you could sit there and... I mean, I heard a story one time. A preacher told me this. Personally, he said that his sister, and this is the perfect illustration, she was allergic to a certain kind of spider in Texas. And so she moved out of Texas because she was so scared of this spider biting her. She lived there her whole life, but she'd been bit by it and was allergic, and in one more bite, she was going to be dead. And as she moved out of Texas, she moved to the Midwest, and when she got there, one of those spiders had come in her suitcase. And the spider bit her weeks later in a distant state where that spider doesn't even exist. Now, I'm not saying that God was judging her. I don't even know her. What I'm saying is, look, God will find a way to come after you and get you kind of like Jonah. You know, Jonah thinks he can run the other direction. He put and found Jonah. God's the one that can lift you up, and God's the one that can bring you down. Anybody who has any money, anybody who has any good health, anybody who has any talents and abilities, it's because God gave them to them. God's the one who gives us the power to get wealth. God's the one that gave us good health, and God can take it away any time he wants to. So you better just realize that you better make sure that you're right with God. You better wake up tomorrow with a little bit of fear of saying, I better make sure that I'm not dishonoring God today, because I don't want to face the consequences of dishonoring God in my life. Even if you're saying, yes, you'll go to heaven, but do you want to face the consequences in this world of dishonoring God? Believe me now, and I'm saying this because I'm preaching this because I love you, and I don't want you to face those consequences. I want you to just do right by God. I want to do right by God. I want my family to do right by God. You can believe Pastor Anderson tonight. You can believe the book of Malachi tonight, or you can take your chances. The choice is up to you. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for the Bible. Thank you for the warning tonight, dear God, from Malachi. A very graphic book, a very angry book, dear God. But Father, we know that you love us, and we know that you're the most loving, gracious God in the entire universe. You're the only God that is, but there's no person in this world that's more loving than God. God, our love, I mean, when we have love, it doesn't even compare to your love. When we love someone, it's not even a hundredth of the kind of love that you have, God, and we know that you love us. But dear God, we also know tonight that you're angry. God, help every person in this room, myself included, to sit down tonight and think about our lives and think about what we do, think about what's right, and to decide to make a few changes, maybe, and to do things your way lest we face the wrath of God. We love you, dear God, and thank you for loving us, and thank you for warning us, dear God. In Jesus' name I, one would learn something from the chapter...