The Book of Malachi (2) 02/20/2022

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well for our New Testament reading this morning, let's turn to Galatians 6 and Dave will come and read for us in Pastor Jason's absence this morning and Then he'll pray for the

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Lord's blessing Turn with me, please to Galatians 6 as we read these words together

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Brothers if anyone is caught in any Transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of great gentleness

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Keep watch on yourself lest you to be tempted bear one another's burdens and so fill fulfill the law of Christ For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself

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But let each one test his own work And then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor

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For each will have to bear his own load One who was taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches

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Do not be deceived God is not mocked For whatever one sows that will he also reap

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For the one who sows in his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption

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But the one who sows in the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life

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And let us not grow weary of doing good For in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

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So then we have an opportunity Let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith

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See with what large letters I am writing to you in my own hand it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised and Only in order that they may be persecuted for the cross of Christ For even those who are circumcised

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Do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh

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But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our

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Lord Jesus Christ By which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world

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For neither circumcision counts for anything Nor uncircumcision, but a new creation and as for all who walk by this rule

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Peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God From now on let no one cease

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Cause me to trouble as for I bear in my own body the marks of Jesus the grace of our

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Lord Jesus Christ Be with your spirit brothers. Amen Our father is such a great

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Opportunity and a privilege for us to gather each Lord's Day in his house

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And we know Lord that he is with us He's with us in his word

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Even in the words of the music as we sing So how blessed we are

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Lord To be able to be here one family in Christ So bless us bless each one

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Lord and bless our pastor as he brings the word to us And we'll give you the praise and the glory for Christ's sake.

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Amen well, we can turn to the last book of the

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Old Testament the prophecy of Malachi And we'll continue with chapter 1

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Mr. Word We're gonna be baptizing before long Lord willing and in preparation of that.

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I sit down for about an hour with those who are to be baptized and We're gonna do that a week from this coming

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Saturday So it'll be March 5th in my office downstairs after men's group Saturday morning about 915 and so if That's an interest or concern

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For you, please. Let me know or show up at 915 a week from Saturday and we'll work through this matter of baptism

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Well last Lord's Day we gave attention to the first five verses of Malachi's prophecy in Which the

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Lord introduced his message for the prophet to deliver to Israel After the opening heading or superscription of the book, which we regard as verse 1

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God set his for love set forth his love for Israel Even though his people had doubted his love for them.

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And that's what we addressed last week verses 2 through 5 and There in order to prove to them his love

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God contrasted his merciful dealings with Israel His people whom he loved with the nation of Edom that is the people of Esau whom he hated and So here again our verses 2 through 5 of Malachi 1

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God opens I have loved you says the Lord, but you say how have you loved us?

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they doubted his love for them and Then God's response is not

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Esau Jacob's brother Declares the Lord yet. I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated

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I have laid waste his Hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert

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If Edom says we're shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins the Lord of hosts as they may build but I will tear down They will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the

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Lord is angry forever Your own eye shall see this and you shall say great is the

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Lord beyond the border of Israel And so the

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Lord gave irrefutable evidence of his love for Israel and that they were Still standing before him in faith as his people in spite of their history of defection and Departure from the ways of God that had incurred

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God's judgment upon them in history Nevertheless God had restored them to himself and restore them to his to his land

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They would not have been Restored had not God loved them and been merciful to them had he not preserved them and restored them to himself and So the greatest evidence of God's love for his people is that he enables them to continue to believe on him

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Perseverance In faith in Jesus Christ is the grand test and the greatest evidence of true saving faith

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Temporary faith is not saving faith God does not promise salvation for the apostate one who wants believes

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We're to believe unto the saving of the soul Saving faith is ongoing faith.

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Oh, it has fits and you know ups and downs, but it continues through life because the grace of God assures that it will and So yes, it's important that you came to believe in Jesus Christ as your

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Lord and Savior That may have been some time ago. Yes, that certainly is

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Important and yes, it's important that you're believing today on Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior But it's also critically important that you continue to believe in the

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Lord Jesus Christ throughout life As the scriptures say in more than one place he who endures to the end that is endures in faith shall be saved

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Overcomers, this is the kind of faith that is born of God's grace It is an enduring overcoming faith

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And so may the Lord enable us to believe even on to the end The day of judgment saving faith is persevering faith for the

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Lord sustains his faith in their life of faith You can't squash saving faith in a true believer the grace of God the power of God We'll see to it that it survives

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Now we arrive to verse 6 of Malachi 1 Which contains the next message that continues through the end of the chapter verse 14

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God makes it clear that the problem between he and them had not been his little love for them

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He'd already proved that The problem was that Israel didn't truly love

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God Their lack of love for God was evident and that the people failed to render to God the honor due to him

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They failed to worship God rightly If they had truly loved God, they would have revered his name and would have worshipped him in humble faith and sincerity

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That's what saving faith does and So here's Malachi 1 6 through 14 a son honors his father and a servant his master if Then I am a father.

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Where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of hosts to you

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Oh priests Who despise my name? But you say how have we despised your name?

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By offering polluted food upon my altar But you say how have we polluted you?

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By saying that the Lord's table may be despised When you offer blind animals and sacrifice, is that not evil?

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And When you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor.

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Will he accept you or show you favor says the Lord of hosts and Now and treat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us

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With such a gift from your hand. Will he show favor to any of you says the Lord of hosts?

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Oh that there were One among you who had shut the doors That you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.

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I Have no pleasure in you says the Lord of hosts and I will not accept an offering from your hand for from the rising of the

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Sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations and In every place incense shall be offered in might to my name and a pure offering

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For my name will be great among the nations says the Lord of hosts But you profane it

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When you say that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit that is its food may be despised

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But you say what a weariness this is and you snort at it says the Lord of hosts

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You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick and they should bring as your offering

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Shall I accept that from your hand says the Lord cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and Vows it and yet sacrifices to the

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Lord what is blemished For I am a great King says the Lord of hosts and my name will be feared among the nations

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Now last Lord's Day we introduced the prophecy of Malachi We emphasize three contexts that we should remember really whenever we come to an

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Old Testament book first we acknowledge that this book of Malachi is

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Christian Scripture and We gave biblical arguments for that last Lord's Day Old Testament books provide instruction in inspiration to Christians as they read and interpret this book through the lens of Jesus Christ Of whom all scripture testifies

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Jesus himself declared that that's the first context Secondly, we recognize that God had inspired

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Malachi to write this prophecy at a time or stage in redemptive history It was to the people of post -exilic

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Israel that Malachi wrote this book They were under the curse of the Mosaic law at this time

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Looking for the promised Messiah who had removed their sin their transgression from them and Restored them to a full blessed relationship with God in the promised kingdom of God They were living in faith supposedly looking for this

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God had promised this kingdom to and through King David whose descendant would come forth as Israel's Messiah And so this messianic kingdom even the kingdom of God would encompass the entire world

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Gentiles would join with Jews as citizens of this glorious kingdom That's the second context and then the third context of course is that of the nation's covenantal standing before God Malachi wrote to Israel which was still under the

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Mosaic Covenant But was anticipating the promise of a new covenant relationship with God and in the coming new covenant

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The Messiah would empower the citizens of his kingdom through the Holy Spirit To live in holy love and faithfulness on to their

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God and this passage certainly reveals or reflects their need for that This passage that we read

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Malachi 1 6 through 14 may best may be best interpreted when we consider these three contexts

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Which we cited before us we read of the failure and inability of the Mosaic Covenant Even in its operation within the rebuilt

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Jewish temple after the exile To produce a holy loving people before the

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Lord. They were anything but that But God declared through his prophet

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Malachi that because he is the sovereign king over all the world He will make himself known savingly throughout the nations of the world in spite of who they were in spite of their failure

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God would bring forth a people Which will include Gentiles Who will honor their

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God and will live before him and serve him and holy living and true worship unto God Now what is not pronounced here in this passage.

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It will it is later in Malachi is That it will be through the perfect sacrifice of the

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Messiah himself that will result in the establishment of this worldwide expansion of the kingdom of God This kingdom announced and proclaimed by Malachi is soon coming is the age of the gospel we would advocate

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Peter declared all of the Old Testament prophets wrote of these days in which we are living

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And So Malachi was speaking about this age of the gospel that would soon dawn upon the world with the arrival of Jesus Christ Now aside from this major theme we'll see other

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Applications for us in this passage as God challenges people in the days of Malachi He challenges and exhorts us today that we live and worship our

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God as he is prescribed in his Word Not all worship the people think they're doing is true worship according to the

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Scriptures We are to live as ones who offer to God pure and spiritual offerings of sacrifice

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Unto our God in contrast to what these people were doing We are serving

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God as true priest in his true temple the church Which is the manifestation of his kingdom in the world?

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In other words in our Lord's rebuke of Israel through the pen of Malachi We are instructed and informed of our high calling and responsibility to live holy lives in love unto our

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God And so really it's a lesson in contrast in contrast to what we read here in Malachi 1 we are to live differently

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Because the Messiah has come Now we want to first work through the details of these verses to understand what is being stated

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Then they will draw some lessons from the passage in the light of the gospel of Christ to which this passage points

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There are four sections to this Passage verses 6 to 14 and the first is in verse 6 alone, which in which

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God asked where is my honor? Verse 6 records

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God charging his people with their failure to glorify him as their God In fact rather than glorifying or honoring

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God their behavior betrayed the fact that they despised his name Which is the opposite of glorifying

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God? We read God's Word to his people a son honors his father a servant his master if then

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I am a father Where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear says the

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Lord of hosts to you? Oh priests who despise my name. Well, you say how have we despised your name?

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God appealed to his people that it was customary for a son to honor his father That's the world.

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We used to live in those days are gone And a servant to honor his master. This was customary.

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Everybody did it but God's own people failed to honor God Here God depicts himself as a father a father with Israel being his son

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Now in the New Testament God is frequently sent forth to be the father of every one of his Disciples his sons and daughters those who believe on Christ as Lord and Savior But this is not the case in the

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Old Testament Yes, God is set forth as father, but it's generally only he is father to The son of David who is ruling on the throne of Israel.

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I'll be a father to him. He'll be my son is what God promised David with regard to his sons and Then also

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God the Father set forth in the Old Testament as the father of Israel Israel collectively was his son out of Egypt.

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I've called forth my son but the idea that God was father of individuals

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Did not come into fruition until the New Testament It's because of our adoption into the family through faith in Jesus Christ The Son of God we become sons and daughters of God In verse 6

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God compares himself also to being a master as well as father and Israel his servant this suggests the idea of God being

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Lord and his people being his subjects The idea of God as one wrote the idea of God being the

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Lord of Israel is nowhere expressly mentioned in the Old Testament But it's obviously implied in the very nature of this relationship

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The Lord's the master Israel the people of Israel his servants

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And so God was declaring to his people that they were failing to render honor to him That is to glorify him in a manner that even was customary for sons to their fathers and servants to their masters

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They despised him Even while they were claiming to have loved him as Psalm 29 writes the glory of God must be acknowledged by his people and in his sense

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It is his honor to give glory to the Lord is to honor him This is so eloquently expressed by the psalmist ascribe to the

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Lord Oh mighty ones ascribe to the Lord glory and strength ascribe to the Lord the glory do his name and That's what that's really the essence of true biblical worship

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Ascribing to God The glory do his name now if you notice

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These verses we read verse 6 it speaks about priests in particular But we should not think that God was only specified the sins of Israel's priests who were serving in the temple

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The priests were the intermediaries between the people of God Israel and God in the temple

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The people would bring their sacrificial animals and other offerings to the temple and then the priests would sacrifice them in their presence and The people here were failing to honor

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God in the sacrifices. They were bringing to offer to God They were flawed at blemish. They were deformed

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And God was condemning the priest for having been complicit in accepting these faulty Offerings from the people and then turning around and offering them to the

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Lord. That's why the priests are being rebuked here They shouldn't have been doing this as one rightly wrote the prophets accusation and motivation concern both priests and the people

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The defective animals were presented by the people and accepted by the priests both these acts were contrary to the law

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The priests however were ultimately responsible for the sacrifices They were being brought upon the altar and therefore their transgression.

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The priest transgression was more serious as Mediators between God and his people they ought to have remembered the

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Lord's admonition among those who approached me I will show myself holy in the sight of all the people.

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I will be honored When the people when somebody brought a defective sacrifice the priest should have said this is unacceptable

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I'll not offer this to our God Instead the priests were complicit Yeah we'll accept this and then they turn about and offer it on the brazen altar in the temple before God and so God charged the priests with despising

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God's name And then in keeping with the Lord's manner of speaking through Malachi God himself proposes the objection on behalf of the priests

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It's God speaking throughout God declared, but you say how we despise your name

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God knew these people didn't realize their sin Well, then in the following two verses

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God makes clear the nature of their sin And so how is how is the people dishonoring

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God verses 7 and 8? God answers the question making clear their sinful ways by offering polluted food upon the altar

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But you say how have we polluted you even that they were rejecting By saying that the

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Lord's table may be despised when you offer blind animals and Sacrifices that not evil and when you offer those that are lame or sick

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Is that not evil present that to your governor? Will he accept you or show you favor says the Lord of hosts?

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Rhetorical question obvious answer. No, he wouldn't accept that He'd be offended by it

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And so once again we read of the rhetorical device God used to his prophets pen God makes the charge against the people and then

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God speaks forth a protest on their behalf He knows what they're thinking and then God gives detailed reasons why his charge against him was legitimate

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These priests were ignorant of their great sin before God There's people gathering all over the world and churches all over the world today thinking that they're worshipping worshipping

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God and God is pleased with them They're ignorant Or the fact they're probably aggravating their condemnation before God when they don't come before God in God's way

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As he's prescribed in his Word They had no idea of the great sin they were committing in offering the sacrifices of the people of God Isaiah said the same thing and Isaiah 1, you know,

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God spoke to Isaiah, you know Who permitted you to come in and trample over my courts

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They thought they were coming into the courts of God to worship God. He saw them as desecrating defiling his temple because of their sinful ways

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God declared the priests were offering polluted food upon his altar But the people still denied any fault or guilt on their part

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God said but you say how we polluted you and God answered again by saying that the

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Lord's table may be despised In the temple tables were set up at the entrance of the inner court

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The people could come up to this to this opening and there were tables there the priests were on the other side and they would give the animals to the priest and the priest would slay them right there on the temple and begin to dissect them and Remove those portions that were not

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Offered and then take that slain animal into the temple courtyard and burn it on the brazen altar

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And by the action of the priest accepting unclean and unacceptable Sacrificial animals from the people then offering them to God the priests were saying the

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Lord's table may be despised This was not an infraction committed now and then it was their regular practice and the

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Hebrew verb makes this clear According to the participle form of the verb they were doing that continually

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They were in the habit of despising the Lord's name. It was precisely the opposite of honoring the

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Lord They thought they were honoring the Lord. They were despising the Lord. The Lord wasn't accepting it in any way whatsoever

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But they were totally ignorant presuming That God loved them and cared for them

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They were offending him they were aggravating their condemnation before God And God became specific in verse 8 when you offer blind animals and sacrifice

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Is that not evil when you offer those that are lame or sick? Is that not evil? The law

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Moses had given clear instruction precise instruction that sacrificial animals offered to God must be without flaw without blemish

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The animal had to be free of defect Without the least blemish Leviticus 22 and when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the

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Lord to fulfill a vow Or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock to be accepted. It must be perfect There must be no blemish in it

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Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having discharge or extra scabs

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You shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar

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But this is precisely what they were doing regularly Everybody was doing it apparently

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The Lord cited the rhetorical question twice to offer such sacrifices to God. Is this not evil and Then the

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Lord makes an appeal Present that kind of thing to your governor. How's he going to respond to you?

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now Normally when we consider the importance of an unblemished sacrificial animal as Christians We obviously think of it as a type and rightly so and the antitype being

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Jesus Christ Who's without sin perfect holy? upon the cross and The New Testament speaks about that Jesus Christ is described as a lamb without blemish and without spot

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And of course the sacrifices sacrificial animals were to reflect this it was a type

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Jesus Christ being the antitype And so the sacrifices of the Old Testament were to be physically without blemish to portray and foretell

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The sinless life of the Lamb of God who took away our sin But here the flawless nature of the sacrifice offered was to show forth the reality and degree of the worshippers honoring

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God To whom they were offering the sacrifice their faulty sacrifices prove that they did not love

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God They had failed and refused to obey the Lord in the laws that he had prescribed for them.

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They showed by their Disobedience, they did not love God and they refused to obey

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God. Love of God has always shown an obedience to God Those who love

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God keep his commandments Which is repeated several times in the New Testament And That brings us to the third section of these verses

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God's announcement that he will be glorified throughout the world. It seems like a rather strange and abrupt change

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Now and treat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us With such a gift from your hand will he show favor to any of you?

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Obviously? No Says the Lord of hosts. Oh On my altar in vain

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They were not accomplishing anything favorable before the Lord I Have no pleasure in you

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Says the Lord of hosts and I will not accept an offering from your hand for from the rising of the

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Sun to a setting my name will be great among the nations and in every place in sets an

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Emblem of prayer will be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name will be great among the nation says the

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Lord of hosts This is a glorious prophecy In these words

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God declared the total failure of the Old Testament temple and Sacrificial system to enable his people to live before him as humble and sincere worshipers of God And so God declared in verse 9 that God would show no favor to any of these people who came to him as they were doing

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He actually expressed a desire I wish there were one of you who has shut the doors To prevent the priests from taking these sacrifices inside the temple to offer them on the altar

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Someone shut the door They were offending him And so what

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God was inferring here through this denouncement of these people He was inferring that he was going to remove and replace this

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Old Testament system It wasn't doing any good. It was condemning them And of course the

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New Testament declares that's exactly the purpose that God gave the law In order to show them they're sinners and they're in need of a

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Savior Whole idea of a future rebuilt temple that somehow

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God's gonna honor that that's not biblical The only temple the New Testament knows is the temple of his church

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The body of Christ Through which he manifests his self to the world

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And so this is a prophecy intimating the dismissing and the destruction of the temple in its ceremonies

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They got himself would bring to pass and Jesus Christ had pronounced this that this house

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Would this temple would be desolate and that the generation living when Jesus spoke?

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These things would witness its destruction. Behold your house has left you desolate and Here in Malachi We have a prophecy of this

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The Lord himself is going to shut the door of the temple Bring it to an end But in the temple's removal as the place in which the people of God came before God God declared that he would glorify himself throughout the entire world

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His name would be great among the nations Those were Gentiles that is even Gentiles who were living throughout the world would become his people

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Who would bring glory to him? This is a prophecy of the worldwide expansion of the kingdom of God in this gospel age

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The way was open through the death of Jesus Christ on his cross and Then upon his resurrection the message of salvation through faith in him would go out into all the world and This began to be realized on the day of Pentecost Significantly and its advancement throughout the world recorded in the remainder of the

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New Testament scriptures But here it is prophesied in Malachi chapter 1 verses 6 through 14

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Well that brings us to the fourth section of this Prophecy where we have God's rejection of those who fail to glorify

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God as their king But you profane it When you say that the

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Lord's table is polluted and its fruit that is its food may be despised But you say what a weariness that this is they didn't enjoy what they were doing

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They felt compelled to do it and you snored at it. They despised what they were doing

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Says the Lord of hoes you bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick and this you bring as your offering

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Shall I accept that from your hand says the Lord another rhetorical question? Obviously, no

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Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it yet sacrifice it to Lord what is blemished

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Oftentimes it was the male animal it was to be offered It's intimated here that instead of the male that would have been more valuable to them at that time.

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They offered to blemish female Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it yet sacrifice the

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Lord what is blemished and Then he gives the reason for I am a great king says the Lord of hoes and my name will be feared among the nations

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And so he declares in spite of their failure in spite of the fact that they were Rejecting him.

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He was rejecting them. God was going to see to it that his name would be glorified throughout the world

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And so the people were not only insincere and Unenthusiastic about their worship of God they were ungrateful to God for all his mercies that he had extended to them

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And neither were they appreciative of the privilege that God Extended to them by allowing them to worship him in his holy temple.

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They were weary with having to perform this duty The Lord had appointed a portion of the sacrificial offerings as food for the priest

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But the priest did not value this or appreciate God's provision verse 13 reads But you say what a weariness this is and you snort at it says the

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Lord of hoes Notice how the Lord keeps referring to himself as the Lord of hoes

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He's he's he's sovereign and he's got he's omnipotent. He's got power at his disposal

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Intimating judgment These men were in grave danger and were deserving of God's retribution

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The Mosaic law had clearly forbidden Israel the people of Israel from harvesting an animal for food that had been killed by another beast

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I'm slain by a bear or wolf lion which were common in the Old Testament world

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It was unclean. They were not even supposed to eat it themselves But the priests were taking these animals that had been collected by the people roadkill

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We might call it and offered them up as offerings to the Lord and the

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Lord asked rhetorically shall I accept that from your hand says the Lord and Others rather than sacrificing what they did possess

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They would qualify as an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. They retained those favored animals for themselves

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They had a male but they wouldn't offer him and in their place offered defective or deformed animals

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And so the Lord concluded this Oracle by asserting this fact for I am a great King says the

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Lord of hoes and My name will be feared among the nations God made it clear that his kingdom would expand beyond the ethnic people of Israel to include and encompass the

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Gentiles throughout the world This is a glorious prophecy of this church age the age of the

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Messiah Let's try and draw some lessons from our passage in the time we have remaining

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First our God is a great king He described himself as such

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We often speak of God the Father enthroning his son Jesus Christ as king of kings and Lord of Lords and that's certainly what he did

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This occurred through his cross his burial resurrection is ascension in to be seated He and he who sat down with his father in his throne in heaven

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Jesus Christ is ruling over history He's bringing judgment on his enemies and he's saving his people the people that God has given to him to redeem

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But here God is set forth as a great king Even Old Testament times the fact is there never has been a time since creation

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God has not been a great king in other words here when it's speaking about God being a great king

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It's speaking about his sovereign control over history and over all the people of the world

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King David spoke of God as a great king clear back in 1st Chronicles 29

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Blessed are you Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever years Oh Lord is the greatness the power and the glory the victory the majesty for all that is in heaven and earth is yours

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Yours is the kingdom. Oh Lord. God is a great king Both riches and honor come from you you reign over all

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This is Old Testament teaching God was king Nobody knew it or acknowledge it but a few of faith

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David did certainly Arthur pink address this matter the sovereignty of God related to his kingship

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God's kingship the sovereignty of God What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God?

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The kingship of God there it is the godhood of God To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is

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God to say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is The most high doing according to his will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth

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So that none can stay his hand or say unto him. What doest thou? And that's what a pagan king

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Nebuchadnezzar concluded back in Daniel 4 To say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the

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Almighty The possessor of all power in heaven and earth so that none can defeat his counsels toward his purpose or resist his will

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Psalm 115 to say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the governor among the nation setting up kingdoms overthrowing empires determining the course of dynasties as Pleases him best to say that God is sovereign is declare.

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He is the only potentate another word for sovereign King King of Kings Lord of Lords such is the

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God of the Bible God has always been King by virtue of the fact. He is the

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Creator Edward Payson you ever hear of him born in Wrench his father was a

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Congregational pastor there and Edward Payson later became a pastor reformed Congregational Church in Portland, Maine for many years

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He was a very godly man. I came across a Sermon that he gave entitled

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Jehovah a king and it was based on this text of Malachi 1 verse 11.

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I am a great king says the Lord of Hosts and So here are his words on this text.

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It's a little longer, but I thought it was valuable for us The Jehovah that Jehovah is a great king He is so indeed in every conceivable every possible respect for great is the

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Lord and his greatness is unsearchable You know oftentimes God is presented even in pulpits today as having the best of intentions and desires for people

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But they just won't let him bless them You know God is a sovereign King is not proclaimed forthrightly and clearly

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Everything that can prove with propriety be considered as constituting regal greatness He possesses in a degree which places him at an immeasurable distance from all comparison all competition

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Do men for instance instance take the measure of a Martinox? Greatness from the extent of his dominions and the number of his subjects and what monarch can in this respect be compared with Jehovah?

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The extent of his dominions has never yet been measured except by his own infinite mind nor by any other mind

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Have his subjects been numbered we talk of great and mighty kingdoms on earth But the whole earth is a mere speck in his empire and all its inhabitants has nothing before him

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Are the duration and stability of his empire considered as entering into composition of a monarch's greatness

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God is the king eternal His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom Earthly kingdoms rise and fall as bubbles rise and burst upon the surface of the troubled ocean

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But his kingdom is a kingdom which cannot be moved and like himself is no end He not only lives but reigns and forever and ever do magnificent works and splendid enterprises render a monarch great

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Among the gods. Oh Lord. There's none like thee neither Are there any works like thy works or in fine does true greatness of a monarch consist in his intellectual and moral?

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Qualifications for the station which he fills it is needless to remark that Jehovah possesses in an infinite degree

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All the intellectual and moral qualities which are necessary for a sovereign It is for a king for the sovereign of an empire immeasurable in extent and duration

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And unlike earthly princes He's constantly present at all parts of a dominion as extensive as they are the past the present and future all alike under his eyes

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God is not a prisoner of time He's outside of time He created time and he's accessible to the least as to the greatest of his subjects

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He's accessible to any one of us at any time Indeed all the wisdom goodness justice and fortitude which either rulers or their subjects ever possessed were derived from him

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For he is the father of lights from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift All the intellectual and moral excellence in the universe is but a drop from his ocean but arrayed from his son

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And now let mortals bring forward their monarchs their conquerors their heroes They're great ones in whom they boast and whose praises they are proud to sing and compare them

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If they dare with the king mentioned in our text compare them. Did I say I recall the word?

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I come, you know pull back the word compare. It's an insult to Jehovah to speak of comparing anything with him

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But what are they in his presence mere puppets shadows? Nothing's well might an apostle say either glory

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Let him glory in the Lord Well might the psalmist exclaim it is better to trust in Jehovah than to put your confidence in princes.

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I wish the leaders of our nation would recall that as Many of our earlier political leaders once did and So our

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God is a great king and that's declared here in Malachi 1 6 to 14

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Secondly we can certainly say from this passage as we look to the New Testament that we are to worship our

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God in spirit and in truth When we come together as a people of God it's with the desire and intention that we join together in the worship of our

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God There's much misunderstanding among church attendees regarding the nature of biblical worship

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Many wrongly equate being worshipful with experiencing emotional pleasure and satisfaction from what takes place in a worship service so -called

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If they feel their hearts have been stirred and perhaps they are regenerized Regenerated or regenerized with a sense of devotion in their souls.

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They think they've really experienced a glorious worshipful service Why those people are really on fire for God Don't go down to their first Baptist.

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They're dead nearly listed But true worship is not determined but what by what we might receive from God That's totally 180 degrees out from Scripture Although thankfully the true believer

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May and can should receive much blessing from God, but biblical worship is what the people of God offer and render to God Not what he offers to you

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That's a byproduct, but it only results from you offering true worship to him

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Otherwise it's just smoking mirrors These people in Malachi's day thought they were worshiping

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God they didn't they it was a unholy occasion

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Again Isaiah Isaiah 1 talks about the unholy assembly of the people of those who claim to be the people of God gathering together

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There are people all over the world going to churches today that are not proclaiming the Word of God Exalting Jesus Christ and the people are actually aggravating their condemnation by being there and yet they are being pacified in their thoughts that they've really done something noble and good and God really looks favorable upon them

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The only way God looks favorable upon you and me because he sees Jesus Christ in us

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We're accepted in the beloved one Jesus Christ thankfully is a friend of sinners.

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We're sinners redeemed sinners, thankfully And so how are we to worship

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God The Lord Jesus spoke of true worship forthrightly his words indicate the manner in which true worshipers worship

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God changed fundamentally with his coming into the world Our Lord spoke to the woman of the transformative change in the way his people worship

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When he sat down there at the well of Jacob with that immoral woman from the city

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Jesus said to her woman believe me the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain Mount Gerizim The Samaritans had a temple up there that the

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Jews had destroyed Will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the

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Father Jerusalem is not a holy city folks except the New Jerusalem the people of God You worship what you don't know

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Jesus told the Samaritans we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews but the hour is coming and Now is the

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Lord told her when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth

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For the Father is seeking such to worship him God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth

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Before the Lord Jesus came, of course, we the Lord had prescribed the place Physical place the manner in which his people were to worship him.

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God told Abraham where you go to Mount Moriah offer up your son But with the coming of the law of Moses God specifically said the tabernacle and then

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To David the temple in Jerusalem. It was a physical place a holy place

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When the people prayed to God they were supposed to supposed to pray toward the temple where the presence of God was wherever they were in the world

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But this all changed with the coming of Christ Woman believe me the hour is coming not in Jerusalem There's no hope holy place in the world folks except where two or three are gathered together in Jesus name

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He said there I will be in the midst of them There's no I no thought the idea that you know as a

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Roman Catholic teach You can take a pilgrimage down to St. Cecilia and you'll be closer to God because you're there because that's a holy place

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That is unbiblical The holy place is when we gather together in Jesus name and Worship him he promises to be present

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Who then are true worshipers of God? Well true worshipers of God, of course are Trinitarian in their worship.

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I We worship God our Father the Father is looking for such to worship him

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We worship God our Father through Jesus Christ by the by the power and and means of the

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Holy Spirit and Each of the persons of the Blessed Holy Trinity are together the subject and the object of our worship

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But our primary focus is directed toward God the Father The hour is coming now is when true worshipers will worship the

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Father and Spirit in a truth Probably 30 years ago.

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I heard a cassette on a cassette tape a Sermon old sermon then by Martin Lloyd -Jones in which he touched on this matter.

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It was very simple It wasn't profound at all. Well, it was profound but it wasn't you wouldn't think it by hearing it

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It seemed to be so simply Presented and what he was emphasizing was the importance of balance and order in the

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Christian life with regard to the belief and practice of Trinitarian worship He said that some emphasized the second person of the

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Godhead Jesus Christ to the neglect of the Father and the Holy Spirit They will be in danger of becoming too informal and casual in their worship and the manner of living the

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Christian life Jesus is my buddy and he walks with me and talked with me even in my sin They Will emphasize the eminence of God Jesus is our

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Emmanuel being interpreted God with us But their conception of the transcendence and holiness of God can become very weak

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Others emphasize the Holy Spirit to the exclusion of the Father and the Son, but they'll tend to be more toward subjectivism in experience and experience oriented

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They Will generally possess little doctrinal knowledge or show for true reverence in their worship They think that's dead knee doctrine is dead name.

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We don't emphasize doctrine here. They say that's unbiblical But there's also a danger of emphasizing

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God the Father to the exclusion of the Son and the Holy Spirit God will tend to be viewed only as transcendent and holy and unapproachable

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People come before him scared without a sense of Comforted joy the way to preserve truth and balance is to direct worship to God the

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Father through the merit and work of his Son by means and power in the presence of the Blessed Holy Spirit Trinitarian worship and we try to keep that in balance and So true worshipers of God worship the

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Father in spirit and in truth in spirit Isn't it's not a capital s right least in the

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English translation. It's it's a lowercase s It's talking about The manner in other words a true heart devotion and love we worship

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God but also secondarily in truth And so we'll wrap this up quickly

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Again, we're to worship in spirit. We're no longer to use carnal means Again it's not a holy place.

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It's not bowing down to a statue. It's not looking to physical things Not rubbing your hands over a rosary

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Shouldn't be praying to Mary anyway, but it's not through carnal means but rather it's through a spiritual sense that we worship

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God And there's much dissension in the world that could be solved if everyone recognized that there is no holy place you can go to You can go before God right where we have gone before God and God has said he's present with us

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Through Jesus Christ and we believe that Second our

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Lord's Word suggests true worship of God is no longer performed by using carnal means prior to the coming of Christ True worship was conducted in a particular place

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Using specified means of animal and grain offerings offering to him through a specific priesthood identified by a physical lineage qualified by stipulated clothing all kinds of Stipulations, but with the coming of Christ that came to an end

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Cardinal means of worshiping God. It's what sustains religionist There's a movement among a lot of evangelicals that have been in very casual

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Open kind of so -called worship where there's not much not much control not much sense of holiness or transcendence

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They're gravitating to more formal liturgical churches Greek Orthodoxy High Church Anglicanism Roman Catholicism Because they recognize a need for transcendence.

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I think they're going to the wrong places But this familiarity where you come in and there's no really beginning to worship

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You just kind of come in and everybody's singing and joining in and works everybody up and then it ends that way too

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Worship there ought to be a formal invocation when we invoke the presence of God and we begin our worship and we maintain that until the we have the benediction and We part there.

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There's there needs to be order and organization and it needs to be biblical based and biblical centered

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But it needs to be the spirit needs to be the heart Unless we worship out of us out of a heart of love for God.

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It's all in vain Jesus declared that hypocrites, he said

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Jewish leaders Well, did Isaiah prophesy about you say these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor with me me with their lips

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But their heart is far from me We ought to be preparing ourselves folks when we come to the

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Lord's house on the Lord's Day By the Lord's house. I mean the people of God You Know we go through the week and we're in the world and we're bombarded by secular things and whatnot and then all of a sudden to drop into this place without any prior preparation and Somehow go forth and be upset because the church or the pastor didn't stir your heart you know the person who's prepared to come before the

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Lord it didn't take much and And the Lord blesses them and Because they've they've they've made due preparation.

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We ought to prepare ourselves for the Lord's Day and to gather with the

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Lord's people and we ought to pray for the Lord's blessing and Pray that the Lord take away all that distracts us

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And so the attitude and condition of the heart was essential the father is looking for those who will worship him in spirit

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But secondarily the father is looking for those who will worship him in truth There has to be a doctrinal foundation and basis of it if there's ignorance there is going to be error and Jesus said that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth.

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Otherwise, it's just zeal without knowledge Which God condemns? When people are weak in doctrine, then they fail to worship

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God in truth They'll tend to invent doctrines and practices or they don't even recognize when it's when there's a problem

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Like these people and the priests they thought the table could be despised. God doesn't care Long as you're sincere

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No, God cares He prescribes the way he is to be believed upon in worship and he's prescribed how we are to worship him

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Jesus said of many in vain they worship me may our worship not be in vain may it be in spirit and truth and of course we are in need of the

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Grace of God and the mercy of God toward us that that would be realized in our lives

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God forgive us of our carnality and Our insensitivity our ignorance and our error about these matters

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May we not be guilty as these ones to Malachi between God's Spoke to Malachi May we rightly worship our

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God in truth of Jesus Christ. Amen Let's pray Father help us.

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We pray in these matters to be true to you We acknowledge our God that there's not one of us that are that is wholly right in these matters

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And we just pray our God that you would cleanse us Lord of our sin

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Awaken us to the glorious privilege and responsibility that we have as your people through Jesus Christ to glorify you

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In our speech in our thoughts our God our affections and certainly as we

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Resolve to obey you and we are in need of great grace to do this our

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God We're in need of the blessed power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to deliver us from the evil one to deliver us from our own

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Proneness to fall and fail and so help your people and again our

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God we pray that you would awaken anyone that has maybe been going through the motions and You have stirred their heart our

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God. You've put a interest in the desire in them to truly know you in truth

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Bless them our God. We know that this would not even well up within them apart from your grace and so we pray that you would enhance this desire and Cause it to be a burning passion that each and every one of us our

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God We seek you with all our heart mind soul and strength and love you with sincerity and truth