Would you join me tonight in
the book of Malachi? Malachi chapter 2. Malachi chapter 2, and I'd like
to read verses 11 through 17. In preparation for tonight's
lesson, we find that sometimes the idioms and figures of speech thoughts that the Israelites
have and Malachi is explaining are hard to decipher everything
about them, but Almost all of this passage of scripture. The
Lord is letting Israel know things are not real good there is a
real ruin by the fall and Malachi was caused to preach this message
to them and But yet couched in this passage of scripture is
a passage of scripture that really was an encouragement to me. And
I pray that it will continue to be because we find God says
something to them that is of most value. It is such a blessing. So the book of Malachi chapter
two, and I'd like to begin reading with verse 11. And as we read
through here, some of this is um, It is written in a language
that is Hebrew. a musical verse uh... there's a lot of poetry about
it a lot of figurative speech a lot of uh... shadows and types
and pictures in this passage of scripture and as i said earlier
some of it is just difficult to put into our perspective but
we can realize God through his preacher Malachi is saying things
are not good Malachi chapter two verse eleven Judah hath dealt
treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness
of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter
of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man
that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacle
of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of
hosts. And this have ye done, again, covering the altar of
the Lord with tears, with weeping, and much crying out, insomuch
that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with
good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness
between me and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast
dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy companion, and
wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one, yet
had the residue of the spirit, and wherefore one, that he might
seek a goodly seed? Therefore take heed to your spirit,
and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting
away, For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord
of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit,
that ye deal not treacherously. Ye have wearied the Lord with
your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied
him? When ye say, Every one that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he that delighteth
in them. Or, Where is the God of judgment? In this passage
of scripture we find that Malachi was was caused to preach. The
Holy Spirit brought this message to him of the ruined by the fall
and every aspect of the human relationship has been affected
by it. Whether it be with himself, whether it be with others, or
whether it be with God. And this passage of scripture
shares with us that the people that this letter is written to,
just as much as it is to us in our day, that these folks had
a problem with themselves. These folks had a problem with
a relationship with their neighbors their family and they had a problem
with God and there's just no way that you can get around a
problem with God or if you have a problem with if you have a
problem with God you don't have other problems and it's It takes
the grace of God the restraining power of God the mercy of God
to keep us what we might call on the straight and narrow and
It's not in us, it's God doing it. The conduct towards each
other as well as their reverence to God was greatly and shamefully
spoken of here. There's great trespasses against
God and against the neighbor and against the family. And the
Bible is full of examples of both types of transgressions
towards self, we We have yet to be able to measure the transgression
that Adam had against himself. We're yet unable to measure the
effects of the transgression that Adam had towards his wife
and towards his future children when he disobeyed God. It's immeasurable
the damage that was done by Adam towards himself and towards others
and towards his family, and towards society before society had ever
got started. It was a wreck because everybody
that was going to be in that society is already a wreck. And
we find that evidence as we follow a very short amount of Bible,
the first six chapters of the book of Exodus, excuse me, of
Genesis, and we see that God looks down and says, I am going
to wrap this up and save eight souls out of this. the problem
they had with God, the problem they had with one another, the
problem they had with their family, the problem they had with instructions
and they just want to arrive. And after it's all happened and
it's not very long, we find them going up on the Tower of Babel
and saying, we don't care about God anymore and we'll do it our
way. And God said, well, we're going to do this. So God has
been involved so many times to demonstrate the fact that the
fall has been of great effect upon society. Now, in retrospect,
when we look at Israel and we look at the relationship that
God had with Israel, turn with me to the book of Numbers, if
you would. The book of Numbers chapter 14, this one verse sums
up a great deal of the history of Israel in regard to what took
place during those 40 years that they wandered in the wilderness.
In the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 14, Numbers chapter 14 and we're
gonna stop at verse 22 numbers chapter 14 in verse 22 this is
a statement that covers the history of Israel from the time they
crossed the Red Sea till they're about the time to going into
the promised land and this doesn't record any of the problem after
they get into the promised land, but it tells us here because
all these men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these
ten times." Well, those are the great things that they did. God's
not measuring the incremental statements. He's measuring the
great things when they they got mad at Moses because there wasn't
water got mad at Moses because it wasn't bread got mad at Moses
and really they're mad at God and God in reflecting on this
is ten times have not hearkened to my voice and That's the great
times the measurable times. And no doubt most of those folks
at least could say, I know what he's talking about. It isn't
the little lie that they told about getting into the cookie
jar. It's the great lie they told about God. So I know what
he's talking about. Now it's not going to change
me. Those miracles didn't change him. God's word didn't change
them, they still were the same folks until the preaching of
the gospel, the Holy Spirit gives them the new birth. So these
10 times, surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoke me see
it. Well, there's going to be a seed that's going to go through.
There's going to be a seed that's going to pass over. Because the
Messiah has not come, and he is going to come through the
tribe of Judah, and this tribe has to get down to Bethlehem. So there's going to be a seed
that he's going to oversee. There's going to be a seed that
he's going to care for. But there's a whole flock of these folks
that have tempted him ten times. He said, that's enough. how his
mercy endures for a long time, even towards the non-elect. But
towards the elect, his mercy endures forever. He will never do this to his
elect, but he has the right to do it to the non-elect. Now,
Jacob suffered almost the same kind of problems with his father-in-law. When he wanted to get married,
his father-in-law told him some things. Well, turn with me back
to the book of Genesis, if you would. Back to the book of Genesis
chapter 31. Genesis chapter 31, we have Jacob
reflecting on his wages. Now this is the father-in-law
towards the son-in-law, so we see how easy it is for the relationship
between two pretty important people can fall apart when there
is no respect of God. Genesis chapter 31, and we want to read verse 7 to
begin with. Chapter 31 of the book of Genesis. Here in verse 7 We hear these words Genesis chapter
31 verse 7 and your father hath Deceived me and changed my wages
ten times We're going to find almost in this verse what we're
going to find over in the book of Malachi But God suffered him
not to hurt me and Now he's changed my wages. I'll take the speckled. Okay. Then all the animals have
speckled. Well, we can't let that happen.
So his father-in-law says, okay, choose something else. I'll take
all the white ones. Okay. Can't have that. You can have
all the blotched ones. No. And there's too many of those.
So he can't have that. So he just keeps changing and changing
and changing. And Jacob brings this up. He's
changed my wages 10 times. But as it tells us there in verse
7, a wonderful statement, but God suffered him not to hurt
me. Now in that same chapter, verse
41, thus have I been 20 years in thy house. I served thee 14
years for thy two daughters and six years for thy cattle, and
thou hast changed my wages 10 times. Notice the relationship
between man to man. This is just an ongoing issue
in the fall and then We think we'd have more respect towards
Almighty God that led Israel out of Egypt through the problem
through the wilderness Wanderings about ready to enter into the
promised land and we have God's in you have Rascals these ten
times now turn with me if you would to the psalms this subject
is brought up in the psalm psalm here psalm 95 The relationship
that natural man has with natural man the relationship that natural
man has with God and is brought out here in the scriptures brought
out here in the book of Malachi as we've been reading there,
but in the psalm psalm 95 Turn with me to psalm 95 the Number of verses in the Bible
that deal with this kind of subject there is no end There is no end
psalm 95 verse 10 40 years long was I grieved with this generation
and said it is a people that do err in their heart and they
have not known my ways upon whom I swear in my wrath and that
they shall not enter into my rest. These 40 years, if we measure
that, that's the time they left Egypt to the time that the generation
went into Jordan. Forty years. Two years waiting
for the tabernacle to be built at Mount Sinai. Thirty-eight
years that they wandered around because they would not go into
the Promised Land. Tim came back with an evil report.
Joshua and Caleb came back and said, God is able, God is able,
God is able. No, He can't. No, He can't. And
we won't do it. So, thirty-eight years. Forty
years. I've been wearied by you. Well,
I think forty years is quite a bit of mercy. He had a lot of mercy. God had
a lot of mercy towards Israel for those 40 years, but he said,
enough's enough. And he was not going to let them
go into the promised land. But in the midst of all, Jacob
brought it up back over there. He said, he's changed my wages
10 times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. Through all of
this, we have those verses of scripture, just like we have
in Malachi chapter two, in the latter part of that chapter,
there's a passage that comes out that shares with us that
Jehovah describes himself in this glorious character, the
Lord God of Israel. With all this going on, and with
all the rebellion that I've witnessed, Forty years, and how many years
since then, and how many years since then, and the measurement
of time, and the things that people did in opposition to themselves,
to their family, to society, to Almighty God, God is able
to say in all of this, I am still the Lord God of Israel. Now to Israel, to spiritual Israel,
They say, hallelujah. Can't do it myself. I'm unable
to do it myself, but we have a Lord God who is able. He is
able. He's never tried to do anything. He's always set out and on purpose
to do what he intended to do. So this glorious character spin
out, shared out. And if you look here in the book
of Malachi chapter two, once again, I'd like to just read
that verse. verse 16 Starts with that phrase
and that is capital L capital O capital R capital D Jehovah
This is God Jehovah Jehovah the God or the strong one the mighty
one the Elohim of Israel So God has always had a covenant even
though in rebellion even though his sheep and Before they are
born again, they are rebellious. They have a heart that will not,
on their own, succumb to the power of God. But God is able
to do what he intended to do. As we read there in verse 16,
it says, for one covereth violence with his garment. It's an overspreading. There's just a continuous going
on of the heart and violence. But it's interesting that this
same picture, of a garment spreading over is used by the Lord in what
he's going to do for his people. And we have that brought out
in that wonderful account of Ruth and Boaz when it tells us
in the book of Ruth, I am a near kinsman and you're my near kinsman
and I want you to throw your skirt over me. Well, that means
I want to come under your Guardianship, I want to come under your power.
I want to submit to myself submit myself to you So we're going
to read that in just a moment. But before we do would you turn
with me to the psalm psalm 73 psalm 73 verse 6 In this passage
of scripture in the psalms it tells us how God illustrates
The skirt how illustrates that that Covered violence with his
garment and truly God does that for us? Psalm 73 there in verse
6 Psalm 73 in verse 6 what a blessing
it is that God takes care of his people and he has a covenant
with them and an agreement with them on their behalf and even
though they don't seem to recognize it until he brings them to newness
of life. In Psalm 73 and verse 6, the
scriptures share this, therefore pride compasses them about as
a chain, violence covers them as a garment. And this is what
we are by nature. We just have this character about
us that we're not happy with self, we're not happy with family,
we're not happy with society, we're not happy with God. It's
a problem and everybody has that and it's brought out here among
Israel and yet God said I am the Lord God of Israel now in
the book of Ezekiel chapter 16 Ezekiel chapter 16 we remember
that place where God comes out and looks at Israel Ezekiel chapter
16 verse 8 He's using this picture. He's
using this illustration, this idiom, this shadow of here's
a picture of what my people are like by nature. And here is a
picture of what I do for them. They are not very good looking. As Mike says sometimes, there's
a picture I just can't get out of my mind. Well, here's what
we have. It tells us here, when I passed
by thee, I looked upon thee, behold, the time was the time
of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, thou becamest mine. What is that about? Let's look
at verse three. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is as the land
of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite.
And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy
navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple
thee, and wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None
eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion
upon thee. But thou wast cast out into the
open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou
wast born. No one had any pity. And you know what? That's normal. It is just plain normal. If it was not for God, there
would be no pity. Real pity. And then it says,
and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Hallelujah
live The Creator commanding one more
time live the one that said let there be dry land said live and
this one out there that was going through the form of animation
this one that had a beating heart and breathing and yet had no
spiritual life in them and The Almighty God said, live, and
they lived. I've caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. And then in verse 8, and now
when I pass by thee, I looked upon thee, behold, the time was
the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered
thy nakedness. What another wonderful picture
of the righteousness of Christ, our covenant. I spread my skirt
over thee. You are undone, except for this. You have none of your own, except
for this. And I spread my skirt over thee.
And now, would you join me over in the book of Ruth? And we see
that Ruth, because of her being a kinsman, a near kinsman, she
comes to Boaz. She's sent to Boaz. And here
in the book of Ruth, We have these wonderful words
in the book of Ruth in the third chapter of the book of Ruth in
verse seven. Third chapter in verse seven.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went
to lie down at the end of the heap of corn and she came softly
and covered his feet and laid her down. And it came to pass
at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself And
behold, a woman laid his feet, and he said, Who art thou? And
she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy
skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art my near kinsman." What
a plea. Cover me. I'm a near kinsman. And what a blessing it is. As
we read there in the book of Malachi, I'm Jehovah. I'm the
God of Israel. What a mess is out here. But
I'm Jehovah. I'm the God of Israel. I am the
Lord, the God of Israel. And that means a lot to the church.
As messed up as we can be, I'm God, I'm the Lord, I'm the God
of Israel. I am the covenant God. And I
will not lose you, let you go, let you stray, let you go off. For the Lord, the God of Israel,
faithful, The faithfulness is, and he's such a faithful God
towards the church. For this is my covenant. I am Jehovah, the God of Israel. This is my covenant with you.
I have made this covenant with you, and you're the recipients
of this covenant, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are the directors of the covenant, and the writers of the covenant,
and the interest keepers of the covenant, and nothing shall be
taken away, and you can't lose. I heard today that the stock
market broke 29,000. When's it going to be readjusted? That's the wonderful thing about
God, the Jehovah God. He never has to go into readjustment. He never has to say, well, you're
just coming along fine. I won't turn you loose a while.
I am Jehovah, the God of Israel. I am the Almighty One that oversees. I have an everlasting covenant
with my people. It's not just a day covenant,
a week covenant. It's not just a covenant for
a year. It's not like a lot of life insurance. Once you turn
85, you're no longer covered. This is the covenant God. So
would you turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 11? Romans
chapter 11, for the Lord, the God of Israel, faithfulness of
God towards the churches, It is dramatized throughout the
scriptures. It's spoken of throughout the scriptures. And all of that
stuff, we have a wonderful palm tree, a shadow, a shade in a
dry, thirsty land, and that is, I'm Jehovah, the God of Israel. Things are a mess, but I'm Jehovah,
the God of Israel. Romans chapter 11, and verse
27. Romans chapter 11, verse 27. As we read about this covenant,
this covenant God, this faithful God to Israel, it is so blessed
that God just didn't shut them all off. He brought that tribe
down to Bethlehem. And there the line of the tribe
of Judah came into the world as the God-men. Nancy and I were
looking at something yesterday, I think it was, and how did Jesus
become God? And they were going to go through
the history of the Lord on the earth and find out when did people
start looking at Him as God. Well, some people knew He was
God from everlasting. He's God from everlasting. There's something very significant
about John 1 1 and The church delights in it because that means
he is an eternal covenant God for the church And he will never
ever give up. He'll never change his mind.
He will never say well this group No, the church has everlasting
life All right, Romans chapter 11 verse 27, for this is my covenant
unto them when I shall take away their sins. This is my covenant
with them. I'll take away their sins. And
then in the book of Isaiah chapter 53, Isaiah chapter 53, we read
this and then we're going to be in Jeremiah a couple of readings.
Isaiah chapter 53 verse three, He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. And he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All covenant blessings. He volunteered for this great
work of redemption in the covenant of grace. And then in Jeremiah
32, Jeremiah 32, verse 28, excuse me, 38, Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 38. Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 38
and it says, and they shall be my people and I will be their
God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may
fear me forever. for the good of them and of their
children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them." Well, Isaiah 53 tells us the articles of that
covenant. I'll do this to take away their
sin. I will make them accepted and
acceptable. He goes on to tell us that I
will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put
my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me. Yea,
I will rejoice over them and do them good and I will plant
them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole
soul. So this statement that Malachi
brought out to the people, there were a few. that after all of
that stuff was said about how things were, to hear those words,
I am Jehovah, the God of Israel. And there were a few that could
say, I'm in that. I'm in Israel. I'm in Israel. It's not all Israel that's of
Israel. We know that. But there were some that were
in spiritual Israel, and they recognized the fact God is the
God that did what he said he would do. And there's a wonderful
thought, particularly through the New Testament, and I've heard
preachers bring this up in their messages, the two words, but
God. But God. And there's some wonderful
statements made in the New Testament just along that very line, that
what God It reads it there in the book of Acts chapter 7 when
Stephen is talking about the history of Israel and about Joseph
being sold. And it says, but God was with
him. Joseph understood something about
that, but God was with him. You meant it for evil, God meant
it for good. God was with him, but God was
with him. And when we come to the great
victory of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, he is crying out,
it is finished. He yielded up the ghost. He's
taken down from the tree. He's put into a tomb. And then
we read, but God raised him from the dead. I am Jehovah, the God of Israel.
I'll raise him from the dead. I'll raise the Savior from the
dead, the Lord Jesus. Well, how's anybody ever, ever
going to have this applied to them? But God hath chosen us. How do we ever know the way?
There's a whole flock of those folks. He had God leading them,
a cloud by day and fire by night, and they still couldn't see past
that. They were still blinded. They
had eyes but could not see and ears they could not hear. And
how has it changed for anybody? How did it change for Joshua
or Caleb or Moses or Aaron? How did it change? but God hath
chosen you. And we say, whoa, God hath chosen. There's no reason that we have
in ourselves but God, the covenant God. God is faithful. We find
that everything else will fall on it, but God's faithful. He
is the covenant God of Israel, but I am the Lord, the God of
Israel. And in the book of Philippians,
it talks about a man who was very, very sick. Sick unto death. And I like what is written about
him. Philippians chapter 2. Would
you turn there with me? Philippians chapter 2. Philippians
chapter two and verse 27. This is about Epaphroditus who's
mentioned in verse 25, but in verse 27, for indeed he was sick
nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him. Whoever brought out a sickness
it's because of the mercy of God God's mercy towards us. So they're couched in in gold
in the words of Malachi as he preached to that nation of Israel
couched in letters of gold I Am Jehovah, I am the God of Israel. I And there were a few that could
see and all of that stuff that was going on and all the words
that Malachi said. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. I didn't understand all the problem
that I had between me and my fellow man and society and Almighty
God until after it was revealed to me that it gave me the new
birth and then I could see it. There were a few that could see
and all of that. He is the God of Israel. He'll
never be unfaithful to his folks. And so we close out that chapter
in the book of Malachi just If we don't understand it all, we
can at least see that. I am Jehovah, I am the Lord,
the God of Israel. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So Malachi, a faithful
preacher of the gospel to a whole flock of people that didn't think
they needed it, but needed it as much as anybody else. They
were the descendants of Abraham, but they had no heart. to love
God and the only ones that did were the ones that he stirred.
And then in chapter 3 and verse 1 it says, and I'll send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way. I'll send my messenger. Well
Malachi, that could have been said about him. He's preparing
the way. All of those men that we find
through writing the Old Testament. I'll send my messenger. And after
it's said and done and we have heard something, we say, oh,
thank you, Lord, for passing my way, for passing my way. You are Jehovah, the God of Israel.