join me tonight in the book of
Malachi. Malachi chapter 2. Malachi chapter
2. And the preacher, the prophet, the evangelist, the declarer
by the name of Malachi has been given a tremendous responsibility
and that's preaching the gospel to some folks. And part of the
gospel is ruined by the fall. That is part of the gospel. You
cannot preach the gospel without preaching ruined by the fall. And he goes into that like Isaiah
does to a large extent because he's dealing with a group of
people, a bunch of Jews who have no concept that they've done
anything wrong. And it's not bad, it's not negative
if you change God's law a little bit. And so they have. And they've altered it. And they've
altered the covenant. And they've messed up the covenant.
And in this last few verses of this second chapter, I'd like
to read verse 9 down through verse 17. Therefore have I also made you
contemptible and base before all people this God speaking
through the prophet and That's one of the things that Malachi
Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Habakkuk Joel Amos they were very faithful
as Moses was just to declare what God had given them. We don't
have any of the Interjection, well, you know, I think it was
just, this is what God said. Now God's dealing with somebody
he's already dealt with. These people that are being used
to record this or to preach these messages have already been dealt
by grace. God's grace has been made known
to them through the preaching of the gospel. And he has visited
them. He has acquainted himself with
them. He has made himself known to them. He has regenerated them,
just like he does today. So they are faithful to the word. And it's real simple when you
got the word right in front of you. You don't have to deviate. If you got the message, if you
got the lines right in front of you, you don't have to deviate.
So he says here, he says, as the Lord shares with him, I've
made you despised and humiliated you in the eyes of all people. Now that's another translation.
But therefore I've also made you contemptible and base before
all people according as ye have not kept my ways but have been
partial in the law. Or you have, you've been partial,
you've told this group this thing and you've told this group this
thing and you've told this group this thing and you haven't been
honest. with God's Word to these folks.
And my friends, as the old preacher said, the politician said, some
have asked me if I'm for it and some have asked me if I'm against
it. And I'm with my friends. Some are for it and some are
against it. So I'm with my friends. Well, that's the way these priests
have been. I'm with my friends. If they'll give, I will give
them pleasing things. And if they're not, I'll give
them negative things. Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do ye deal treacherously
every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of
our fathers? Judah hath dealt treacherously,
and an abomination is committed in Israel and in 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 tabernacles 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
with crying out, insomuch that he regarded not the offering
any more, or receiveth it with good will in your hand. Yet ye
say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou
hast dealt treacherously, yet is she thy corruption, and the
wife of the covenant. And did not he make one, yet
hath he 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 delighteth in
them, or where is the God of judgment? Well, this continues
on in the next chapter or so too, but we're gonna stop right
there. And I'd like to deal with a couple of verses here In verse
nine, we come to the conclusion that it cannot be expected that
he who is false to his God can be true to his friend. If you
have a bad attitude towards God, you can't help but be untreacherous
to your friend, and that's what he's bringing up. Your attitude
towards God is reflecting on how you're treating people. That
was a good point that was just brought up, and we should remember
that, that all people to us could be lost sheep for the house of
Israel. And when we have an attitude
towards God that he has loved me with an everlasting love,
and I love him with all my being, I love that about Calvin, I just
love you, I just love you, and I miss that, I just love you.
Well, when we have that, we have a different attitude towards
one another, and we have a different attitude towards the people around
us. Corrupt practices are genuine fruit and product of corrupt
principles. So whatever happens, what's going
on in here is going to be really reflected out here. I'll never
forget Brother Henry saying, we don't become a bank robber
when we rob a bank. We become a bank robber and then
we rob the bank. And that just goes in all areas.
So it's the corruption of the heart he's bringing out that
we are ruined by the fall Ruined by the fall and we really never
come to real Conclusion on that until we're regenerated and then
we realize God is right on that I was and I continued to be and
if it wasn't for the grace of God and his spirit in me I'd
still be ruined by the fall In verse 10 it says there verse
10 Have we not all one Father? Now, we could, and I'm sure that
the Jews thought of this, preachers have thought of this, and none
of them were completely wrong, and all of them are probably
right, but there's gonna be some people that felt, don't we have
all the same problem? Adams, my goodness, we can trace
our line right back to Adam. And we find that God said that
I have made of one blood, Everybody turn with me if you
would to Acts chapter 17 Acts chapter 17 and verse 26 This
is brought up over here as we find that when God created man
it didn't matter what color they became after the Tower of Babel
doesn't mean matter what language they spoke doesn't matter what
Customs they had what food they ate in reality it is very easy
to see that all folks, Acts chapter 17 verse 26, that all folks from
the very beginning until now have a common lineage. It's traceable. People in Africa has the same
blood types as we do. And people in South America,
there's one blood And we might have different types, and we're
careful anymore about getting different types. Acts chapter
17, and there in verse 26, the scriptures share this. And hath
made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation. Now God has surely done this,
but we can, maybe not on paper, But in the word of God, we can
trace our line right back to Adam. And before that, we can
trace it right back, on this side of Adam, right back to Noah.
We have common lineage. Doesn't matter what color, what
race, what religion, what, and it really sends the overtone,
ruined by the fall, Adam brought it on and we're carrying it forward.
So we are, as it's brought out here in Malachi chapter two and
verse 10, have we not all one father? We have that commonality. Or to the Jews, well Abraham
is our father. And this is brought up a number
of times throughout the scriptures in the Lord's preaching and teaching
on this earth during his own ministry. It was brought up by
the Jews. Look with me to John chapter
eight. John chapter eight. John chapter 8 and verse 39 Not all one father well to all
of us Abraham is our father or Noah's our father but to the
Jews Abraham and here in John chapter 8 and in verse 39 we
read and they answered and said unto him Abraham is our father
and Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, now
he's talking two languages here. They're talking one language.
He's talking another language. They're talking in the flesh.
He's talking in the spirit. Abraham believed God and was
counted unto him for righteousness, but Abraham was the father of
Israel. Abraham was the father of the
children of Israel. He was the father of all those
that went through the wilderness wanderings and went into the
promised land and was carried off into, where did they take
those folks? Right back to where Abraham came
from. Ur of the Chaldees, into Babylon. So he was their father. And they bring it out. Abraham's
our father. If ye were Abraham's children,
you would do the works of Abraham. But ye, now ye seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. And he goes on. Well, in the
same chapter, in chapter eight and verse 53, it says, art thou
greater than our father Abraham? as these people spoke to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Are you greater than our father
Abraham? Notice in verse 52, then said
the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a devil, Abraham
is dead, and the prophets that thou sayest, if a man keep my
saying, he shall not taste of death. Are you greater than our
father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead, whom
makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, if I honor myself,
my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth
me, of whom ye say that he is your God. And it continues on. But are you greater than our
father Abraham? They agreed with this. This was
a common thought among the Jews. In fact, it was so common they
said if we belong to Abraham, we're okay. We have salvation. It's a general salvation to every
Jew. Now the Gentiles are right out. But us Jews, we're okay. Well, it's interesting the number
of times throughout the Old Testament, Isaiah being one in particular
that shared that the Gentiles would be brought in. When we
get to the New Testament, nobody believed that. Are you greater
than our father Abraham? And then in verse 56 of that
chapter, Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day. Even
the Lord said, Abraham is your father. But he was given something
beyond what you have. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. And then in the
book of Romans, chapter 4. Would you turn there to the book
of Romans, chapter 4? Romans chapter 4 and verse 16. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16,
it says, therefore, it is of faith, that is, that it might
be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed,
not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which
is of the faith of Abraham Who is the father of us all? From
a representative point, he represents every believer. So we can say,
Abraham's my father. He represents a believer. He
represents someone that God acted upon. The God of glory appeared
unto him in Ur of the Chaldees and visited him and brought him
out of that place And he believed God. Now God dealt with him before
he ever was saved. Just like he does with the rest
of us. God was dealing with him in Ur of the Chaldees. God brought
him out. But then it is written, Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. So we look at this and then,
Abraham's your father. Abraham's our father. Abraham
is our father. And over there in the book of
Malachi, it talks about we have this commonality. And they were
agreeing on that point there in the book of Malachi chapter
2 and verse 10. Malachi chapter 2 verse 10 says,
have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? who, why do you deal treacherously
every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of
the fathers? And then in verse 11, we're brought into Judah, a child
of Jacob, you know, to many people, Jacob could be the father. We're
just stepping down through the line, Abraham, Noah, excuse me,
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob? Judah? Not everyone that was
an Israelite was of the tribe of Judah. But everyone that was
of Israel was of the tribe of Jacob. Direct line. Our father Jacob. Now would you
turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32. There was something mentioned
throughout the book of Genesis several times about this relationship
that God had with his chosen people. Jacob have I loved. Brought that up, first book,
first chapter. Verse two, Jacob have I loved. He's bringing that out, and the
Apostle Paul brought it out in the New Testament, carried it
right down to our time. Jacob have I loved. Jacob, why? Well, look over here in the book
of Genesis, chapter 32 and verse nine. And Jacob said, O God of my father
Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto
me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal
well with thee. covenant with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. A covenant God dealing with his
people, represented by Jacob. Jacob have I loved. All the children
spiritually of Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. Jacob have
I loved. And then in the book of Genesis
chapter 50, we have one of the descendants, that son that was
taken off into captivity. In Genesis chapter 50 and verse
24, Joseph had this to say about that relationship. And Joseph
said unto his brethren, Genesis chapter 50 and verse 24, Joseph
said unto his brethren, I die and God will surely visit you
and bring you out of this land, this land unto the land, which
he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And Joseph took
the oath of the children of Israel saying, God will surely visit
you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So 400 years
before it took place, he's making them promise that you take out
my bones. Why? He's the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and I fall under that. I am a child of Jacob. I am a
child of God. And in the book of Exodus chapter
2, just a couple of pages there, Exodus chapter 2 and verse 24, God heard their groanings Their
groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham with Isaac
and with Jacob And he remembers his covenant even to this day
way back over to the New Testament again for one verse if you would
well three verses The book of Luke chapter 20 Luke
chapter 20 And verse 37, now that the dead are raised,
I read it to this verse today and I said, when was this verse
put in here? Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed
at the bush when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The dead be raised. The dead
have resurrection. Speaking of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in a living sense and not in a dead sense. So we have this
relationship. God heard their groaning. He
promised at 400 years, I'll take you out of here because I made
a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just like he's made
a promise, a covenant with all of his people that there will
be a day when I'll take you out of here. I will resurrect you.
I'll move you out of this place, a real Egypt that we live in. I was told today when Donny Bell's
wife passed away, Donny said, well, my wife has left the Land
of the dead to be in the land of the living. And what a statement. We are really in the land of
the dead. And we're looking forward to the land of the living. We're
just a little grove of palm trees in a dry, thirsty place. Just
a small place of comfort. And in the book of Acts, we find
that Stephen brought this up, Acts chapter 3. Well, this is
before he did. Acts chapter 3. there in verse 13 Acts chapter
3 verse 13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the
God of our fathers Hath glorified his son Jesus Who he delivered
up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined
to let him go the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob the God
of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus We have this relationship
There is truly some relationship about God our father Adam our
father Abraham our father Jacob our father and we'll look in
a few moments about the rest of that in Acts chapter 7 when
Stephen is talking about this to a whole group of people that
are pretty upset with him in fact they carry out death sentence
on him in chapter 7 and verse 32, Acts chapter 7 and verse
32, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and
Durst not behold. And this is just in the middle
of some thoughts that Stephen is bringing up to those folks,
those Jews. Now, it's It's true, God has created
us physically, if we've been saved, spiritually. We could
find ourselves in Abraham, because he's the father of the faithful.
We could find ourselves in Jacob, because Jacob have I loved, and
all his family have I loved them. We can find ourselves in Judah,
the line of the tribe of Judah. So we can say, as these folks
are told, we have one father. We have one father and that is
God and there in verse Judah hath dealt treacherously it says
there in verse 11 and An abomination to commit committed in Israel
in Jerusalem for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord Now
I don't understand all that means but that's serious He hath profaned
the holiness of the Lord and I'll probably spend some more
time on that which he loved, and hath married the daughter
of a strange God." Now I thought, in thinking about this, we find
that this is the iceberg math. Mike has shared with me several
times in my study, when we're talking about an issue, he says,
it's iceberg, 10% shows, 90% is below the surface, and you
can't tell what's going on. Well here, 10% is this Judah, says, is married the daughter
of a strange God. That's 10% of the problem. The
real problem is they've gone after other gods. You cannot
worship God and worship and be with other gods because they're
just going in different directions. Other gods are going in the opposite
direction of the living God. Or they're just standing still.
That's what we find in the scripture. Because they have eyes but cannot
see, and they have hands but cannot do, and they have feet
and they cannot walk, and they have mouths but cannot speak.
So they're standing still. And God is on the move. He's
drawing every one of his lost sheep out to himself in time
at the appointed time. It is appointed unto man once
to die, but there's also an appointment to live. And God has appointed
every one of his lost sheep a day of living. And here we have a
problem, it's 10%. You married the daughter of somebody
that worships another God. Well, it's always important to
marry someone, but I think of Nancy, she married a charlatan.
She thought I was a believer. And years down the road, Lord
saves me. Well, could happen anytime, anywhere. I'm glad that we was able to
stay together after that. She's put up with me for a long
time, the way I was. Well, here we have, it says the
daughter of a strange God. Well, it really boils down to
this. Their rock is not our rock. Their hope is not our hope. Their way is not our way. Now
we might have been going that way and we might have been worshiping
false gods, but once the Lord saves us, it's over. We can't
go that track anymore. We can't follow that anymore.
There's such an attraction that God puts within us. There's a
magnetic draw that he does not allow to go that way. We may
hear something sometime that says, oh, that sounds pretty
good. And then think about it. Someone comes along, preaches a message.
Oh, man, what brings us right back? God does that. Doesn't allow us to go off. Well,
I'd like to turn over to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32
for just a moment. The surface problem is marrying
the outside of Israel below the surface. You do not honor God,
you have gone after strange gods. And that's a natural thing to
do. We cannot honor God in our flesh and we cannot honor God
in our own life. We can only honor God in the
fact that he saved us by his grace. That's the only honor
we can give him. So Deuteronomy chapter 32, it's a wonderful
message here. It's a whole chapter long and
I'm gonna break into it. Deuteronomy chapter 32 Verse 1 says give ear. Oh ye
heavens and I will speak and hear Oh earth the words of my
mouth My doctrine shall drop as the rain That's an important
thought It isn't as something that goes from here up. It is
something that comes from here down. I will drop it like rain. It's God to us. My speech will distill as the
dew and the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers
upon the grass because I will publish the name of the Lord,
ascribe you greatness to our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect for all his
ways are judgment. a God of truth and without iniquity,
just and true is He. And then in verse five, they
have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of His children,
they are a perverse and crooked generation. Now, jump over with
me to verse 31. Deuteronomy 32, verse 31. And
it's brought out in here, for their rock is not our rock. And I like the way the translators
put that. It's a small rock, small letter
rock. And then the next one is a large
capital letter rock. That's good. Their little insignificant
pebble carved into something with two eyes and a nose and
two ears is worthless. Their rock is not our rock, even
our enemies themselves being judges. They've seen the acts
of God at Jericho, or soon to be at Jericho. They've watched
it throughout the wilderness wanderings. Their rock is not
our rock. And we know by what the scriptures
tell us, Jesus brought it up in the New Testament as he's
talking to people. This is the fulfillment of the
book of Isaiah. They hear, but don't hear. They
don't comprehend. And we go to the Psalms, it tells
us They go out there, Isaiah, they go out there, they cut down
a tree, they use part of it for fire, they use part of it to
warm themselves, bake their bread, and then they'll cut out a piece
and turn it over to an artisan and have him carve out something,
and then they'll fall down and worship it, and they can't see
the ignorance of it. We can't. Naturally speaking,
we can't. We look at it and say, that's
really foolish. but without the knowledge of God, they can't
see the difference. It's strange. And people will
point their fingers at people doing that and have the same
problem in their very own life as what they're worshiping. So
their God is not our God, and it's, or their little God is
not the true God, their rock is not our rock, and it is brought
out over here in the book of Malachi, you have really messed
up. You are really demonstrating
the fact that you are ruined by the fall. You have one father,
but you've deviated. And we find that everybody under
Adam has deviated from God's command, cannot keep it. And
then it says there in verse 12, and the Lord will cut off the
man that doeth this. So judgment's going to come.
It can't help but come. And there is one last thing. There was a man one time called
Abraham his father. He says, please go to my brothers
and tell them about this place. And Abraham said, if they won't
believe Malachi, they'll not believe though Jesus Christ himself
rises from the dead, raises from the dead. So the prophets have
their word, they have their place, they were the gospel in their
day and time. Jesus Christ has promised all the way through,
I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm the Messiah, I'm going to correct
this among my people, I will change them, I will come and
dwell in them, I will love Jacob's all the way through, I'll apply
this to Jacob's all the way through, but there's a whole host that
won't know the difference all of their life.