Episode Transcript
You take your Bibles and turn to Proverbs 13, verse 17.
Proverbs 13, verse 17.
The title of the message tonight is Faithful Messengers.
Faithful messengers.
Proverbs 13, 17.
Is everyone comfortable tonight?
Everyone cool enough?
Anyone not cool enough?
All right.
What about you all online?
Can't help you there.
In our text tonight, Solomon is addressing the topic of you looking at your text now of a wicked Messenger, a wicked messenger.
And the Hebrew word translated messenger here Is most often translated in the Bible angel.
Angel.
So if you have your Bible open and you like taking notes in your Bible, then write the word angel. outside the word messenger there.
Same Hebrew word, most often translated angel in the Old Testament.
The word angel and the word messenger mean the same thing.
Angel means messenger.
Messenger means angel.
So when we think of a wicked messenger, we should begin by thinking of a wicked angel.
Because that's what the word means.
And a wicked messenger named Lucifer was the start of all the wicked messengers who've come after him.
A messenger is someone who is sent out, who's dispatched by the authority that's over him to speak and to act.
On the principal's behalf, or that master, that authority's behalf.
A wicked messenger.
However, goes beyond or outside his master's authority.
Now he goes in his master's authority But he doesn't fulfill his master's agenda.
I'll repeat that again.
It's important we understand.
A wicked messenger goes in his master's authority.
But he doesn't fulfill his master's agenda.
And that's a dangerous combination because the messenger carries the credibility Of the Master.
Can you understand why?
The Messenger carries the credibility of the Master.
When Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, was serving in the temple, an angel, a messenger of God, appeared unto him and delivered him a message from the Lord.
But Zacharias expressed some doubt about the message the angel gave him.
And the angel didn't like that.
And the angel rebuked Zacharias.
And listen to why the angel rebuked him.
It's in Luke 1:19 through 20.
And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee.
And to show thee glad tidings.
And behold, thou shalt be dumb, or unable to speak, and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words.
Which shall be fulfilled in their season.
That this wasn't one of his family members speaking to him This wasn't some homeless guy on the street.
This wasn't his neighbor coming over and telling him this information.
This was the angel Gabriel, who stands in the presence of Almighty God.
Whom that is, God had sent him to tell Zacharias this message.
So Gabriel carried the credibility of his master.
He was the angel of the Lord.
He was coming in the credibility of the Lord.
He was his spokesman.
Every time I went to work when I was in law enforcement, I was acting as a messenger, an angel.
Of the state of Texas.
They gave me a badge and credentials that let people know that I represented the state.
I was speaking and acting.
On the state's behalf.
So when I spoke like Gabriel, or when I acted like Gabriel.
I wasn't speaking for myself.
I was speaking in the authority of the power that sent me, that commissioned me to go out I represented that authority, so I carried with me the credibility of the power I represented.
Now, if I was a wicked messenger, like we're studying about tonight, I could really do some damage, couldn't I?
With that credibility.
And sadly, there are some who have.
Several years ago, Brother Shepherd may remember, there was a highway patrolman.
Who was stationed down on the border, near the border.
And he was traveling in his black and white patrol car.
He was traveling into Mexico. picking up a load of drugs, plus the drug dealer, handcuffing the drug dealer, and driving them back across the border into the United States.
And he was telling the authorities that he was transporting a prisoner from Mexico.
It was a great idea, but he was actually transporting narcotics.
And the drug dealer in the United States, giving them safe passage.
What was it?
He was a wicked messenger.
And the Bible says a wicked messenger, look back in your text, falleth into mischief.
And that's exactly what that trooper did.
He fell into mischief.
He fell into trouble.
And again, the first messenger that did this, the first wicked messenger, was Lucifer, a wicked angel.
That's what the devil, the original wicked messenger, did, and I'm sure Satan had a lot of influence, just like this trooper.
And just like any ambassador or someone that's going on behalf of an authority, they carry those credentials.
And if they misuse their position, they can do a lot of damage.
Satan had a lot of influence on those angels because of his position, no doubt about it.
But when he fell into mischief, that's when the angels should have fallen out with him.
Any messenger who distorts his master's message should never be heeded.
I have a Catholic friend of mine Who disagrees with much of the Catholic Church.
But he refuses to leave because it's supposed to be the mother church.
And it's wrong to leave that establishment, the mother church.
Listen, the Bible says that man was made a little lower than the angels.
Little lower than the spirit messengers.
And the Catholic Church believes that the first Pope was the Apostle Peter.
Now, as far as hierarchy goes, it's God, angels, and then man.
God's made us a little lower than the angels, the Bible says.
And then, when it comes to men, there's a hierarchy spiritually.
And the apostles were the top of that hierarchy in the human race Then you'd have preachers and prophets and teachers, and it would go on down.
And so they believed. that the Pope had the credentials or the authority of an apostle, and so the next thing up over the apostle would be the angels, the spirit messengers.
But the Bible says, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1, verse 8, but though we, now that's the apostles of God and those who serve them.
Or an angel from heaven, now that's the angels of God, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
So never let somebody's position cause you to tolerate their corruption.
That's what a third of the angels did in heaven.
They let Lucifer's position Caused them to tolerate his corruption.
They took the message that was distorted because of the position the messenger held.
And they do that also in churches today because I am an angel of God.
When you look there in the book of the Revelation, when addressing the pastors to the angel of the church of whatever, that's the messenger of God.
It's the same thing.
So listen to what God's word says in Malachi chapter 2, verses 1 through 7.
Malachi Chapter 2, verses 1 through 7.
Now, this is concerning the Old Testament priests.
And an Old Testament priest in the temple.
Would be equivalent to a New Testament pastor in the church because they both had the same type of responsibilities.
As far as teaching is concerned, okay?
I act on behalf of God in the church.
They acted on behalf of God in the temple.
Yes, we have a different ministry.
But at the same time, it's Christ centered and they had an obligation to teach God's people God's Word.
And so in Malachi 2, 1 through 7, God says, And now, O ye priests, This commandment is for you.
Now he just singled them out.
If ye will not hear, And if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you And I will curse your blessings.
Yea, I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart.
Your heart's not in the ministry.
He says, verse 3, Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts.
And one shall take you away with it.
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
Basically, what he's saying is this.
I named Levi and his descendants to be priests and servants unto me in my temple.
You've messed it up.
You haven't cherished The sacredness of your calling.
And so, what I'm going to do is take your filthy Godless religious service like dung and smeared in your face.
Because that's the way God thought about it.
He said, I just smear it in your face.
I'll show you what I think about your religious service.
Because you don't care anything about me, you don't care anything about your service to God, you don't care anything about the truth.
Now he goes on to say about Levi in verse 5: My covenant was with him of life and peace.
And I gave them that is life and peace to him for the fear with which he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
In other words, he feared the Lord.
The law of truth was in his mouth.
And iniquity was not found in his lips.
He walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
For the priests Lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.
In other words, And if you'll notice there, the word priests, it has an apostrophe after the T.
So it's talking about the individual priest.
That a priest's lips should keep knowledge.
That is, you should be able to go to a priest and say, Priest.
What does this mean in the scriptures?
Priest, what should I do?
What would God want me to do in this particular situation?
Priest, how should I interpret the word of God here?
Last night, I believe it was, one of our church members sent me a text.
And said, I've got a question about this particular Bible verse.
Could you explain it to me?
I explained it to him, sent it to him.
Now, what is that?
That is the preach's lips keeping knowledge.
The ability and the willingness to convey the knowledge of the word of God to the people.
So, watch what he says here.
He says, verse 7, for the priests' lips should keep knowledge, and they, now that's not talking about the priests.
That's why I told you that apostrophe comes after the T, not after the S.
If it came after the S, we're talking about priests plural.
When we're talking about they, we're talking about the people, the people the priest ministers to.
So, for the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.
The people should come to him to get that knowledge from his mouth.
What?
Of the law of God.
Why?
For he is the what?
Messenger.
Of the Lord of hosts.
So we're talking about a wicked messenger in the book of Proverbs tonight.
These priests In the book of Malachi, that Malachi was referring to, were wicked messengers.
They did not keep knowled On their lips.
Their heart, their mind was not for knowing, teaching, and obeying God's Word for His glory.
And so God says, All right.
Well, I'm going to curse your blessings where I would have blessed you before.
I'm going to curse you now And I'm going to put a curse on you, and I'm going to put this commandment on you so that hopefully you'll fear my name so that I can keep my covenant with Levi.
That we're going to continue this priesthood like this.
The priests were the messengers of the Lord, but God cursed them and took them away because they fell into mischief.
That's how come you don't see priests.
Working in the temple anymore.
Levites aren't serving anymore.
By the time Jesus came, These messengers of the Lord, these priests who were the messengers of God, had fallen into mischief.
They'd fallen into mischief so badly that the messengers Crucified the message when he came.
Jesus was the word of God.
He was the word made flesh.
He was the message of God.
Made flesh among us, he was the subject of the priest's message because the priests were to keep knowledge and to convey the meaning of God's law.
And the meaning of God's law, you could not study the law of God Without tripping all over the fact that there is a necessity for an innocent substitute to shed his blood and die for the guilty.
There is no way you could study and even remotely be an Israelite and have some shallow idea of the sacrifices and not figure that out.
There's no way.
So when the sacrifice came, they said, Let's crucify him.
Let's put him away.
We're not going to have this man.
Jesus was the messenger of the Lord.
He was the message of the Lord.
And Jesus, being the messenger of the Lord, he was a faithful ambassador.
Solomon said, but a faithful ambassador.
Look back in your text.
But a faithful ambassador.
So a wicked messenger falls into mischief, but a faithful ambassador, that's a whole nother story.
The Hebrew word translated ambassador here, it literally means to be under pressure.
In fact, one of the ways this word is translated is hinge, a hinge, just like that door, how it swings on the hinges.
Do you know why?
When you open that door, where's all the weight of that door?
What's holding that weight?
The hinges are.
And so all the pressure of that door is on those hinges.
And so sometimes this word is translated as a hinge.
But here it's translated as an ambassador.
And again, the reason is the pressure.
The pressure that is on the ambassador as an ambassador of God.
As a messenger of the Lord, a faithful messenger is going to have the pressure.
The constrainment of God's Holy Spirit upon him so that he can't but help speak the word of God and do the will of God.
That's a faithful ambassador.
The idea is that God's word is so pressed upon his heart.
God's work is so pressed upon his heart that the work and word of God is a pressing matter to him.
Make sense now?
When something is a pressing matter, it's a matter of urgency.
It's a matter of utmost importance to that messenger.
Speaking of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 18, verses 4 and 5, the Bible says, and he, that is Paul, reasoned in the synagogue. every Sabbath day, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was what?
Pressed In the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
It wasn't any fun to go testify that.
Those Jews hated Paul, but he was under immense pressure.
The Holy Spirit of God pressed him in his spirit so that he couldn't help but Just like a Jeremy of y'all ever drink sodas?
They drink sodas sometimes.
Now, boys, let me ask you, boys.
I think I know the answer.
Have you ever taken a soda and just shook it up real good before you opened it?
I figured you did.
What happens when you?
It just kind of explodes, in it.
That's pressure building up in there.
And if you think of that soda can like a soul.
In a spirit inside a man.
And God puts that pressure in there, it's not comfortable until it comes out.
It's got to come out.
I can't just look at a synagogue over there And be in this city, and know the descendants of Abraham my father are in there, and know that the Savior that is being read about in that synagogue has come.
And has died and risen again and has fulfilled it.
I cannot pass by there unless I go in there and tell those people.
That's what Paul's thinking.
He was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
I tell you what, you get a man of God today.
You get any pastor today, any Bible teacher today.
Who is a child of God, and he can testify to you of the feeling of being pressed in the Spirit to teach God's Word.
Am I right, Brother Shepherd?
Pressed.
Pressed.
Speaking of himself, the Lord Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, verse 50.
He said, but I have a baptism to be baptized with.
Now he's talking about his crucifixion.
He's about to be crucified.
He's now going to be washed down into the clean Jordan River.
He's about to be plunged down into our sin, down into our iniquity, and then down into the grave, and then up out of it.
That's his baptism.
It's going to be rough.
He says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I?
What's that word?
Straightened.
You know what that word is?
Yeah, that's right.
Shh.
Pressed.
Same Greek word is pressed for the Apostle Paul.
How he was pressed in the Spirit.
Jesus is saying, How am I pressed?
Till it be accomplished.
Well, I tell you, this was something Jesus wasn't going to let go of He was pressed in the Spirit.
Jesus was, when those two passages then, listen to this, as a faithful ambassador.
Jesus was pressed to do the work of God.
As a faithful ambassador, Paul was pressed.
To tell the word of God of what Jesus did.
So Jesus was pressed to do the work of God, to talk about that particular scripture.
Paul was pressed.
To tell the word of God in that particular scripture.
And when God's word gets told and God's work gets done, it is, look back in your text now, it is health.
It's health.
It means it's curative.
It fixes problems.
It makes the sick whole again.
And that's exactly what those faithful ambassadors did.
They made the sick whole again.
Because Jesus was a faithful ambassador, the work of the gospel got done.
Because Paul was a faithful ambassador, the word of the gospel got told.
And that means because of faithful ambassadors, we all have been delivered from death.
And given eternal life.
Truly, a faithful ambassador is health And with that, we'll go ahead and close tonight.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you for the pressing of your Holy Spirit.
Oh, Lord, the only reason you press Upon the spirits of your messengers is because your word is a pressing matter to you.
It is a pressing matter.
That the gospel be told, that the lost sheep be found, that the dead, Father, and the blind be given light and life.
Thank you, Father, for making our good, our souls, Be a pressing matter to you.
And we pray, dear Lord God, that you will impress that matter upon our hearts, each and every one of us.
Lord, that we will, as you told the priest, to take it to heart, to live for the glory of God.
And to take your glory to heart.
In Jesus' precious name, let us all be faithful ambassadors.
Amen.
