IN our last sermon we meditated upon the blessings of the covenant made by God with Levi, which all the Levitical priests which followed were obliged to uphold. We meditated on the blessings of Life and Peace given by God in this covenant. We were reminded that this covenant mirrored and typified the covenant of God in Christ Jesus, through whom all who believe in Jesus are given the gift of life and peace. Now in this sermon we are told of the response which Levi made to this covenant. In this response of Levi we also see what the response should have been from all the Levitical priests who followed Levi, which was sadly lacking in most of the Levitical priests in the time of Malachi. Also in this response to God's covenant described in these two verses before us, we are given the description of what the response to the gospel should be for all ministers of Christ in the church as they engage in their ministry. We are given what should be the right attitude of all ministers in the church as they engage in their ministry, and when this attitude is not present then the church is deprived of the blessing of God in the covenant, but when ministers have this attitude the church is blessed, and the blessings of the covenant are realised. In this response to the covenant of Levi we are also given the right attitude of all believers in Jesus as they seek to trust in him, and honour him throughout their lives.

REVERENCE TOWARD GOD.

The first and foremost response to the covenant God made with Levi was reverence before God and awe of his Name. Levi's attitude to God was one of reverent worship and awe of God. The promised blessings of life and peace caused this attitude towards God. The Gospel of Christ Jesus should produce the same response in all ministers of the Gospel, and in the hearts of all who have received life and peace through faith in Jesus.

Reverence is a heart attitude of awe in the presence of God and before Jesus Christ, which produces sincere worship of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, which causes us to bow down in spirit before the Lord in wonder, love and praise, as we contemplate the wonder of the grace of God towards us in Jesus Christ. This reverence is produced by the sight of the pure holiness of God, which shines its presence into our mind, heart and being, which brings us low in conviction of our sinful unworthiness in the sight of God. This reverence is exalted within us as God applies to our hearts and minds by his Spirit the wonder and depth of his saving love to us in Jesus. We bow in reverence before God as we see the wonder of the Saviour dying on the cross and suffering our shame and punishment in our place, so that we may be washed, cleansed and saved from the everlasting death we deserve.

This reverence is what is taught us in the Lord's Prayer when we prayer 'Hallowed be thy Name'. God is holy. God's holiness is a quality far higher and intense than we are able to conceive, but it is made clear in the Bible where God shows in all the Old Testament worship how human sin and falling short of God's glory is so serious in God's sight that there needs to be a washing and cleansing through the shedding of blood of an innocent victim, in order for that cleansing to be achieved. The Bible goes on to show that so great is the holiness of God that the blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse from sin, and that is why they had to be repeated time and time again. The Bible also makes clear that these sacrifices for sin were only temporary, and a stop gap until the true and one and only sacrifice for sin came according to the wisdom and love of God. God's holiness is so great, and human sin so vile, and God's love for sinners so large, that God gave his most precious gift, his one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the degradation of becoming human, and then to give his life as an atonement for the sin of the world. It is here that we see the true extent of God's holiness; the vileness of sin; and the infinite wonder of his sacrificial love, that is poured out in Jesus being made the propitiation for our sins.

Here is the root of all reverence and awe in our approach to God. It something of all this that caused Levi to revere God, and stand in awe of God. When we see our sin as God sees our sin; and see truly how much we deserve to be blotted out of the sight of God on account of our sin; and appreciate how gloriously wonderful is God's love to sinners in Christ that we receive in Christ life and peace; that we then can not help to show him reverence and awe at such grace; and this reverence and awe becomes part of our life, so that when we engage in prayer we pray with reverence, and it is how we approach God, and thanksgiving and praise issues from our whole being naturally. In such reverence and awe we live by faith in the promise of God in Christ, knowing that in ourselves we deserve nothing from God.

God's people who have been given the gift of faith in Jesus as their Saviour need to recapture this reverence and awe in the presence of God.

TRUE INSTRUCTION.

The next thing that we read as a response to God's covenant of grace in Christ which Levi showed, is true instruction. We read here in verse 6 that 'true instruction was in his mouth'. The result of this reverence and awe before God is that there is a serious desire and compulsion to declare only the truth of God, so that people are not led astray from the truth and fail to know and receive the life and peace bound up in the covenant of grace made known by God.

When we have come to know God, and through Christ have been reconciled to him, we appreciate the importance of the truth that has set us free from sin and brought us near to God. We see that only the truth believed and obeyed saves the soul and brings people near to God. We see how useless and offensive to God is anything but the truth that saves the soul.

God has given us his truth in his precious infallible holy word, the Bible. Just as Levi obeyed the covenant of God given and made known to him, and saw that anything less than strict obedience to that covenant was an offence to God, and useless to save souls from the burning justice of God's holiness, so those who truly know the power of the truth of the Bible today, and believe it heartily without reservation today, and have found peace and joy in the presence of God, feel like Levi that nothing but true instruction must be in their hearts and on their lips.

We, who are brought to such reverence and awe of God through belief in the saving truth of God's word, need to be faithful in our belief to never depart from the true instruction of God's word; and be sure that we always faithfully proclaim it. We need also to be faithful and courageous in defending this true instruction, and not be afraid to stand against and speak against all the departure from the true instruction which is so prevalent in the church today.

NOTHING FALSE.

Following from true instruction we find this testimony to Levi that 'nothing false was found on his lips.' Together with declaring the positive, there must be a denial of the negative. In speaking true instruction, there must also be care that nothing false enters into our thinking and speaking.

Satan is always seeking to introduce falsehood into the truth of God. Satan's goals is to pervert the truth, and by this cause people to die in their sins, and end up in everlasting damnation. It is not love to keep silent when damning error enters into the teaching of the church of God. The Old Testament history is full of examples of how easily the people of Israel, the people God has chosen to bless, were led astray in to falsehood, and worship of idols. The truth is that all who uphold error are those who are doing Satan's work, and endangering the eternal welfare of souls. Like yeast in bread, a little lie mixed into the truth, will permeate the whole, and cause the saving truth of God to be corrupted, so that when received by people it will cause them to be cast out of the presence of God.

In the Old Testament worship of God recorded for us in Exodus, we read how departure from the strict instructions for worship caused death, and to be separated from the number of the saved people of God. We have only to read Exodus 30 to appreciate this. When error is introduced into the instruction of the church, it means that people who receive that error will be subject to the death for sin and cut off from being members of the saved people of God.

How important it is that no false instruction should infect the ministry of the church, for when this happens the church begins to die, and God's grace departs from the church. We see this happening in the worldwide church in so many ways; and it behoves us who stand for the true instruction of the word of God, to be faithful in declaring the truth, and exposing all departure from that truth of God.

HOLY AND GODLY LIVING.

It is also declared concerning Levi that he walked with God in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. The importance of how a believer lives, and specially those who are ministers in the church, is of utmost importance. Acts speak louder than words. Not only is God concerned about the quality of life in the believer, but the message of the gospel can be denied by living which does not fit the truth. Levi shows the two directions in the life of believers and ministers which add up to holy living and living to please God.

The first is walking with God in peace. What does this mean? In the first place it means that we live before God in faith of the gospel. It is only when we are justified by faith that we have peace with God. In view of this our approach to God must always be in the faith of Christ as our Saviour and our righteousness. We must live before God in humility and meekness, relying only on Christ and his work for us for our acceptance, and with no reliance or dependence on our own merit. All we do and think must be in the light of the fact that without Christ and his work for us we can do nothing, and can find no acceptance with God. We walk and live in peace with God when our whole and only trust is in Jesus.

Then we live in peace with God when we seek to be found in him with no righteousness of our own, and to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection. The victory over sin which is found in being raised with Christ to new life. To know the fellowship of his sufferings, which is the fellowship with God his sufferings have won for us, and so dwell all the time in the presence of God. Also to become like Jesus in his death, which is to live in his victory over sin and Satan which Christ achieved by his victory.

Then a holy life means living before God in uprightness. This follows from living in peace with God, as we seek to live a life approved by God in the faith we hold fast to, in the living in holiness as God is holy, and in living in obedient service of the Lord; doing all things, thinking all things, feeling all things, which conform to his holiness and his purpose for us.

By this we will find our lives fruitful as Levi's life was fruitful. We read that he turned many from sin. It is the life as described above which God is able to use to his glory. Under God's blessing by his Spirit, the holy life will be one which is effective in the conversion of souls, and the building up of believers in a holy and fruitful life. Such a life brings glory to God, and blessing to others.

CONCLUSION.