Sept 22, 2026 Show with Dr. Joseph C. Morecraft, III on “Despicable Preachers”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend Jim Thorpe.

It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today. Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 17, tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better. It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnson.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 22nd day of September, 2026.

Before I introduce to you my guest today and our topic at hand, I want to remind all men in ministry leadership that the next free, biannual Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastors Luncheon is next week, Thursday, October 1st, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania.

Our keynote speaker for the very first time is Dr. David A. Harrell, who is the pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Jolton, Tennessee, a Reformed Baptist congregation. And Dr. Harrell will be speaking on the theme of one of his many books, Why America Hates Biblical Christianity.

The event is absolutely free, which includes your admission, your lunch, and every man that attends will receive one, if not possibly two, heavy sacks of free brand-new books personally selected by me and donated by generous Christian publishers all over the United States and United Kingdom.

So, if you're a man in ministry leadership and you would like to register for this free event, send in an email to chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Give me your full name, the full name of your church or parachurch organization, and the number of men who will be joining you, and you will be officially registered.

Put Pastors Luncheon in the subject line when you send in your email to chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Well, I've been feeling poorly for the last five or six days. I've been suffering with some kind of a bug, but I'll tell you what has been medicine to my soul is knowing that my dear friend, Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III, is going to be on my show today.

And that day has finally come, and Dr. Moorcraft is founding pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia. He is the author of a number of books, including the eight-volume commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity.

And today, Dr. Moorcraft is going to be discussing despicable preachers, and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Dr. Joe Moorcraft. It's always a joy and an honor to be on your program.

Well, tell our listeners something about Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia. We are a small congregation in Cumming, Georgia, which is just north of Atlanta, and Midroom County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, as a matter of fact.

And we started about 10 years ago. We have about 80 people on the membership roll. We're dedicated to the original Westminster Confession of Faith. We are dedicated to the inerrancy of Scripture, and we're dedicated to carrying out the Great Commission of taking the gospel of Christ to all of the nations of the world.

And as a result, we offer several things. We have a man in Brazil who is one of the most effective young preachers in Brazil and growing in influence every day named Frank Brito. And he's been on the program.

He has a seminary. Yes, sir. He's been on the commission for one year, and he already has 150 students. We need to pray for him because homeschooling is against the law in Brazil, and he homeschools. So pray that he will be invisible to the hostile civil government.

We also send teams to various places where there's a lot of controversy. For instance, we sent a team of five men just south of the border in Mexico and to tent cities where they would preach the gospel and take water and blankets and things.

And we also sent a team of five men to Cuba where they preach to preachers, even though the state government has said that if they forbid preachers to come to that conference, they still come. And so we're dedicated to the gospel, the reform faith, the Great Commission.

And God has continually blessed us with a great membership, people who are there because they want something different that they get in the modern compromise church today. And so I praise the Lord for our congregation, for their unity, for their commitment to the truth, and for their engagement in evangelism and well-mission.

Alleluia. And I thank God for Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, because, as you know, Joe, your church is one of the largest financial supporters of Iron Trip and Zion Radio. Well, we're glad we could do it, and we wish we could give more.

And you definitely give plenty. And for those of our listeners who live in the Cumming, Georgia, area, or you know you're going to be passing through there on vacation or for some other reason, or you have family, friends, and loved ones in that area, have them visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.

Heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. And if you want more information on the eight-volume commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity, you may find out more about that eight-volume series and order it, if you'd like, at westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com.

Well, as I already announced, we have an interesting theme today that you derived from a quote from Matthew Henry, and that is despicable preachers. Tell us about why you wanted to discuss that theme today, and why don't you give us the exact quote of Matthew Henry.

Yes. Well, for several weeks now, I've been preaching through the book of Malachi, or my, as my friend calls him, the only Italian prophet, but it's such a book that speaks directly to 20th and 21st century America.

Malachi, Prophetic Interpretation, and Israel's Unfaithfulness

And the second chapter, particularly, is summed up in Matthew Henry, who you know, your people know, I trust, was a great Bible commentator in the early 1700s, and I wish I had the money to buy everybody a set of his commentaries, because they are great, but Matthew Henry says this.

He said, the most despicable creature on the face of this earth is a wicked, profane, corruptible creature. And I agree with him entirely, and that's what the second chapter of Malachi is about. And I would just like to bring out some of the faults of Malachi, because they are directly aimed at 21st century America.

Amen. Well, proceed. Yeah. It's important to know how to interpret the prophet. People don't have proper hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is a 35 cent word that simply refers to principles of biblical interpretation.

And I think there's so many different views today because people just don't know how to read the Bible. They don't realize that when you come, for instance, to Moses' Law, you got certain principles you have to keep in mind.

When you come to the poetry of Psalms and Isaiah, you have certain principles that you need to keep in mind in order to interpret those poetry, that poetry. A parable, you have to know what a parable is and that it's not an allegory.

You have to know what the principles of interpretation are. Same with prophets. And the thing about prophets is two principles that you must keep in mind whenever you read any of the Old Testament prophets.

Number one, they are going to use idiomatic phrases that meant something to their Old Testament audience. And so they're going to use words, tabernacles, sacrifices, the temple of God, all those various words because the Old Testament Israel knew what those words mean.

So when they prophesy about the rebuilding of the temple or the restoration of the sacrificial system, whenever they make prophecies like that, they're not to be interpreted literally as if there's going to be a fourth temple built somewhere or that the synagogues are going to practice animal sacrifice again.

But you take these Old Testament phrases that the Old Testament people understood and you read them through the lens of the New Testament, and you'll find that the New Testament takes those Old Testament words and applies them to the church.

The church of God has made an existence that, well, we're practically, we're in the same church Abraham was in. The Bible in Acts 7, Stephen, while he's being killed, says that Moses was a member of the church in the wilderness.

And he uses the same word for church in the New Testament, Achaia. So it's important when you read the prophets, don't read them as if the various things they say are going to literally take place in the future.

For instance, it says in one of the prophets that David is going to rule over the people of God. Well, that doesn't mean David's going to be reincarnated and going to be reinstituted as king. It simply means, as the New Testament says, the descendant of David, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that's the first thing that I would encourage people to bear in mind as they read the prophets. Understand that they're using words and phrases and ideas that meant something to the people of that day.

And now we interpret them through the lens of the New Testament. The second thing, which is very important, is all of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, all the prophets, do two things, they have two focal points.

One, they're always looking back and looking forward. That is, they're always calling Israel back to the law of Moses. Israel's in a backslidden state, turning its heart away from God. And what do the prophets do?

They rise up and they don't say, now we've got a new religion for you. We have a new law for you. We have a new gospel for you. They call them and they say, go back to the scripture, return to the word of God, and to faith in God as your savior and mediator, and obedience to his law.

So they're always calling Israel back to the law of God. Secondly, they're always pointing Israel toward the future and the great future that the church is going to have in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the interesting thing is the prophets often make prophecy about the future, and the verbs are in past tense.

Many times they don't say, God will do this in Christ such and such. But they will say, this hasn't happened, even though it hasn't happened, they are confident that it will happen as they can be because the sovereign God himself has given them the words of this prophecy.

And that's why these prophecies are certain to take place. They are certain to take place as if they had already. So a lot of times you'll see prophecies about the future of Israel, of the Old Testament church in Christ, and the verbs are in past tense.

Now, the thing to bear in mind is, is that none of the promises of God in the Old Testament are made to the people of God in unbelief. Let me say that again, because that is so important for 21st century America to understand.

None of the promises of God in the Old Testament are made to Israel in unbelief. That the promises of God must carry with them repentance of sin, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and renewed obedience to their covenant God.

Now, I say that because for the past hundred or so years, America has been locked into a foreign policy based upon an unbiblical understanding of the prophet. And so we have, for over a hundred years now, said that Israel, the land of Palestine, belongs to the state of Israel.

Well, as a matter of fact, modern Israel was created by the United Nations. Modern Israel is anti-Christian, it persecutes pastors, it is socialist in many things, it has the right to defend itself. And so I'm not saying it should defend itself, but I am saying that God has not promised the land of promise to Israel, the land of promise, in unbelief.

And so if Americans can learn how to interpret the prophet, we will have a different foreign policy, and I think we'll also end much of the conflict in the Middle East, but that's enough of that. So that's the introduction to how you interpret prophets.

Their ideas, idiomatic phrases, mean something to Old Testament people. We look at them through the lens of the New Testament, and we see they're talking about the church. Second, they're always pointing Israel back to the law of God.

Repent, put your faith in Christ, renew your obedience to God. And then if you do, God promises you a glorious and wonderful future. And one of the prophets says, and the latter day glory of the church will be far greater than any of its previous days.

So now we come to the book of Malachi, and let me give you an example of what I've just tried to illustrate. Israel is in a backsliding condition. Now, let me tell you where Israel is in the, in fact, it's interesting why Malachi would call the people he's writing to Israel.

The very first word, verse says, the article of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. Well, you remember after Solomon, Israel divided into two countries. The first was the Northern kingdom called Israel, and the second was the Southern kingdom called Judah.

And the Northern kingdom of Israel had a series of wicked kings, and the Northern kingdom of Israel just got worse and worse and worse and more and more apostate even though God would send prophets to them.

So in 721 BC, God raised up the Assyrians to destroy the Northern kingdom and to take the entire population captive and scatter them all over the world. The Southern kingdom of Judah had many great kings.

They were the line of David, and many of them were faithful, but towards the end, they started having wicked kings like Manasseh, and the people start turning their hearts against the living God. And so in 586 BC, God raised up the Babylonians to overthrow Jerusalem, to destroy the temple, and et cetera.

So when Malachi writes his book to Israel, Israel has not been in existence for 200 years. He's writing to the Southern kingdom of Judah, but he's reminding them who they are. They are Israel. They are the descendants of Jacob.

They are the covenant people of God. And Malachi was not making a historical mistake when he called them Israel. The Northern kingdom of Israel had perished many years before, but he's reminding them, you're God's covenant people.

God has chosen you out of all the nations of the world. Therefore, repent and turn from your sins back to Christ. And he begins his call to repentance with these words that most people, I figure, had not even noticed before.

They're so important that the apostle Paul quotes them in Romans 9. God says, I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, how has thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord, yet I have loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.

In other words, these people at this time, hearts were hardened. That when God says, I have loved you and filled your history with great and glorious things, provided for you, protected you through the years.

They're so hard and they say, well, have you shown that you loved it? Agai, Zechariah made a bunch of promises 20 years ago. We hadn't seen those things fulfilled. How do we know we love it? And he says in his own sovereign way, because I chose Jacob.

I didn't love Esau. I loved Jacob, your father. And it's because of my choice that you have lived this long and you'd have a great future if you turned back to me. So what was it, friends? What was the Southern Kingdom at this point?

Well, they were in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Until the Persians under Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Now, the vast majority of those that returned were of the tribe of Judah.

Hence, we call them Jews. Most of the rest of the tribe did not go back and was scattered all over the earth. But so this remnant of God's people goes back to Jerusalem. They rebuild the temple, but it's nowhere near what it was in Solomon's day.

And then God sends him Haggai and Zechariah. But within two generations, they're back in their old ways. That Babylon erupted off of them, but they were guilty of many of the sins now the Babylonians were destroyed for.

And so God sends Malachi and Nehemiah, the governor, God sends Malachi to go and to call them back to repentance. And their guilt, what was their guilt? Two things, materialism, they were more concerned with acquiring material things and ease and affluence than they were with their own spiritual and covenantal relationship with the living God.

They forgot who God was. They forgot what God had done for them. They no longer had any gratitude for their great and glorious history. They were living like Babylonians in many ways. And the second, and even worse than that, and I preach a sermon on this entitled, and I would urge you to go to sermonaudio .com and listen to this sermon.

The law of awe in worthless worship, that they were going through the right motion. They were doing the things that the Bible says to do, but they were doing them without heart. Their understanding of God became so twisted and so small that when they came before him in worship, there was no real spirit of awe and reverence and respect and worship for that God.

It was simply an external thing. And because they were more concerned with material blessings, they disobeyed God, even though they were doing things correctly in their worship. For instance, God said, when you offer lamb to me, it's got to be a male and it's got to be without blemish, no defects, because these are symbols of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who by his sacrifice would take away the sin of the world.

But they were offering sickly to the lamb. Lambs that were full of defects because the good lamb, the ones that were without blemish would make a lot of more money for them, so they didn't want to waste these good lambs on the worship of God.

They didn't want to give God their best. They wanted to give God their leftover. So they thought that they could still get by and have God on their side if they went through all the motions without a sense of awe and without repentance and without heart.

And so God comes to them and he tells them that he's sick and tired, just like Isaiah, he's sick and tired of their worship. In fact, here's a strong verse in chapter one. God says, oh, that there were one among you who would shut the gate, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on my altar.

I'm not pleased with you, says the Lord of Hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you. In other words, those are strong words and God's saying, I wish somebody would just get up and shut the doors of the temple.

And he is saying the same thing to the church today with their commitment and their priority to materialism and to wealth and to possession and to ease and to affluence because the modern church goes through the right motion, says the Lord's Prayer, confesses the Apostle's Creed, sings hymn, comes to church on Sunday morning and all those things.

But God says to the church in America, I wish somebody was courageous enough to shut the door of the church. I don't want your worship. Your sacrifices make me sick because you live under the idea that you could worship me and be accepted by me and blessed by me when your heart is far from me.

So the people were in rebellion against God. They were hard. They couldn't see, couldn't even remember what God's hand was for them. And that's the point of the first chapter. And then God says, as he always does, I want the temple doors shut.

I know I'm tired of your offering. Your offerings and sacrifices are useless on my altar. But God says, but I'm not going to lose honor. You refuse to honor. You refuse to give me the honor a father deserves.

You refuse to give me an honor that a master deserves. I am after all, says 14th verse, God says, I am a great king and you're not treating me as a great king, so my name will be feared among the nations of the world.

All the various nations. And in verse 11, for from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. You don't want it to be great. You don't have any offering for me, awe and respect and reverence for me.

I'm not losing anything because I will get honor and I will be considered great and our reputation will grow among the nations and in every place incense is going to be offered in my name. That does not mean that we offer incense in the worship of God.

That's an old Testament idiomatic phrase. That means we are going to offer our prayers and our supplications and our intercession to the Lord God almighty. Uh, to his name and grain offering that is pure or my name will be great among the nation.

You remain at the heart and the heart. I'll turn from you. I'll excommunicate you, take you from the church, but I will get glory from the nations of the world. So it is a real repent. No, God has to cut them off.

You know, Johnny Cash sang a song. It's one of my favorite. I quoted it Sunday morning. I didn't sing it, but I quoted it. And the name of the song is God's going to cut you down. I mean, it is a great, I'm telling you, it'll go to YouTube and listen to it.

He talks about the sins that people commit. Cause you could run long from God. You could run on long from God, but God's going to cut you down if you don't repent. And then he talked about how God came to him one time and not literally saved him.

He was in the midst of all of it. And then in a voice, he said that it was sweet, not literally, but in a voice, as sweet as anything could be. God said to me, John, do my will. And John started doing his will.

And then he turns right around and he says, you can run long. You can run on long, but God's going to cut you down. Well, that's what he's saying in chapter two here. But if you repent, you get all these rich blessings of the future.

But I will, my name will be great among the nations of this world. That's the background. That's the people that Malachi's preaching to. Amen. And we, well, we have to go to our first, we have to go to our first commercial break and pick up exactly where you left off there.

And if anybody would like to join us with a question of your own, and we're going to be reserving our questions to the very end of the show. But if you'd like to join us, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. Don't go away. We're going to be right back after these messages from our sponsors. I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Every Christian who's serious about the Reformed faith and the Westminster standards should have and use the eight volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the Westminster Logic Catechism titled Authentic Christianity by Dr. Joseph Moorcraft.

It is much more than an exposition of the Logic Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology. Dr. Moorcraft is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia.

And I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation. For details on the eight volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com. Westminstercommentary .com.

For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Please tell Dr. Moorcraft and the Saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sends you.

I'm Simon O'Mahony, pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally from Cork, Ireland, the Lord in his sovereign providence has called me to shepherd this new and growing congregation here in Cumberland County.

At TRBC, we joyfully uphold the Second London Baptist Confession. We embrace congregational church government, and we are committed to preaching the full counsel of God's word for the edification of believers, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of our triune God.

We are also devoted to living out the one another commands of scripture, loving, encouraging, and serving each other as the body of Christ. In our worship, we sing psalms and the great hymns of the faith, and we gather around the Lord's table every Sunday.

We would love for you to visit and worship with us. You can find our details at trbccarlisle .org. That's trbccarlisle .org. God willing, we'll see you soon.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of thereformrookie .com and co-founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart? Consider restocking your pews with the NASB and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

Hello, this is Brian Niren, president of Hearts for the Lost Ministry. Our sole mission is to serve the local church and work directly with and alongside pastors and elders with their efforts to equip, excite, and educate their flock in biblical evangelism.

We also provide practical experience opportunities in sharing the gospel directly within your immediate community. We accomplish this mission with training and Christ-centered outreach events designed to equip the church and proclaim the good news of the gospel.

Our services are always 100 free. If you're looking to equip and mobilize your church for faithful gospel witness, please partner with us. Hearts for the Lost Ministry, serving the church, proclaiming the gospel.

Contact us today at heartsforthelost .com. That's heartsforthelost .com. Now have a heart and go share your faith.

Greetings. This is Brian McLaughlin, president of the SecureComm Group and supporter of Chris Arnzen's Iron Shopping Zion radio program. SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.

We can be reached at securecommgroup .com. That's securecommgroup .com. But today I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New Hyde Park Baptist Church on Long Island. Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.

In the film Chariots of Fire, Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God. I sensed that same God-given pleasure when ministering the Word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior who died for sinners, and that God forgives all who come to Him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the Bronx in New York City. For details on New Hyde Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.

That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672. That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New Hyde Park Baptist Church. A congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's Word, and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

God bless you. Tom Hanks. Welcome back. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full program is Dr. Joseph C. Moorcraft III. He is the founding pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and the author of a number of books, including the eight-volume commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity.

Today he is discussing Despicable Preachers, and he is primarily focusing on the book of Malachi. And if you could pick up where you left off, Brother Joe. Joseph C. Moorcraft III. Yes, sir. We've been talking about the state of the nature of Israel after the Babylonian captivity, after the Persians have allowed the Jews to go back and rebuild their temple, they rebuild it.

But within a couple of generations, the Jews of that day are falling right back into old habits. They become materialist. They learn from the Babylonians. Their primary goal is wealth and affluence and money, ease, comfort, possessions.

And they no longer had any deep respect and awe for the living God. They forgot who he was. They forgot what he had done for them throughout the years. And though they went through the right motions in worship and life, they were empty of heart.

There was no awe, there was no heart in it. And they thought that externalism was basically adequate just going through the right motion. And so God told them if they repent, they would have a glorious future.

If they didn't repent, God said that he would curse them and he would cut them down and he would turn the gospel to the Gentiles and to the nations of the world where his name would be great. And the sad thing is that Jews never repented.

It's interesting and important to bear in mind that Malachi was the last book of the Old Testament. There were no, God has sent no more prophets for the next 400 years. For 400 years, from the days of Malachi to the day of John the Baptist, 400 years, there was only darkness, no prophet, no word from God because God was punishing them and disciplining them for their refusal to listen to the preaching of the prophets like Malachi and to return and to give him renewed faith and renewed obedience, and Israel has never repented.

Within those 400 years, God raised up the Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes and they battled the Greeks and there was war all through that era. Then in 70 AD, God sends the Romans and destroys Jerusalem and burns the temple to the ground.

And that's the end of the great nation of Judah. For the next, for the past 2000 years, the Jewish people have been hated and offered under people like Hitler and under various other Semitic people, anti-Semites through the years.

And to this very day, their history, their life is always on the edge of fragility. When all of these other Muslim nations continue to threaten them, Israel defends itself, but it's greatly outnumbered in the Middle East.

So Israel never had repentance. This is another subject entirely, but God does promise us in the 11th chapter of Romans that someday God will convert all the living Jewish people at that particular time, a glorious time in the future when God is going to, by the power of his Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the word of God, call his people back to himself, the Jews back to himself, where they become members of the church, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that's for another day. So there's something worse about Israel in Malachi's day than even the state of the people. And that was the state of the priests. You heard the Levitical priests, and this was the family of Levi and the family of Aaron.

God told them that through their generation, the men in their generation would be priests and high priests in Israel, mediators between God and men. And the primary responsibility of these Levitical priests would be twofold.

Number one, to lead people in worship, to guard the purity of worship, to make sure that Israel worships God in the way that God has commanded from their heart, and they didn't do it. I can remember my early ministry, and that's a sort of a confession of then.

In my early ministry, I didn't really see a difference between the first and second commandments. They seemed to be saying the same thing to me. The first commandment says, worship and serve God alone.

Well, I thought the second commandment had to do with engraving images and idols, was saying the same thing. And it wasn't until I realized the difference between the first and second commandments that my ministry and my life took on a whole new dimension.

The first commandment says, you shall worship and serve God alone. The second commandment says, you shall worship and serve God alone, God's way alone, and that if you're trying to worship God in some other way than God's way, it's not worship at all.

So the purpose of these Levitical priests was to make sure that the people of God worshiped Him according to the regulative principle of worship. The regulative principle of worship, what does that mean?

That means how do you determine what you're to include in your worship of God and what you are to exclude? And in Deuteronomy 12, you have an old chapter on worship, and the last verse of the 12th chapter of Deuteronomy, verse 32, God says, don't add to, don't take away from, just do what I tell you.