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Neglecting God’s Word
Malachi 2:1-9
November 13, 2022

You are aware that we are studying through the book of Malachi
And you are also aware that the theme of the book is INDIFFERENCE.

Malachi is God’s messenger sent to relay God’s burden to His people.
And God’s burden is that His people are indifferent towards Him.
In short, they just don’t care what He thinks.

It stemmed from a failure to realize God’s sovereign grace in their lives.
They had failed to see God’s great love for them.
• God had chosen them.
• God had saved them.
• God had brought them back into their land.
• (All things that He has done for no other nation)

And yet they still couldn’t see how great His love for them had been.

Their failure to see God’s great love for them had in turn led them to a LACK OF GRATITUDE; which is the ROOT of indifference.

They aren’t grateful so worship of God is not important to them.
They don’t see the need to prioritize the glory of God in their lives.

And Malachi is systematically showing them
Exactly what their indifference looks like.

LAST WEEK: Malachi revealed their “Profane Worship”
• Despising the sacrifice and the altar (valuing it too low)
• Bringing the blind and lame for sacrifice
• Scoffing and sighing at the work involved in bringing it

And God finally just said, “Shut the gates!”
• “I am a great King and I deserve better than this!”
• “Your offerings are evil, they are useless, and they are actually harmful to you, because instead of a blessing, I’m going to give you a curse.”

You could see how burdened God was with His people.

Hopefully you have taken this to heart as well.
Several of you have commented to me on the difficulty of the message.
• And I don’t particularly delight in difficult messages,
• But we don’t want to be a burden to God either.

One even asked me this week,
If the rest of Malachi is going to be as hard to handle as the first part?

And I guess the answer to that question is:
IT DEPENDS ON THE LEVEL OF OUR INDIFFERENCE.

Books like Malachi aren’t difficult at all unless they are talking about us.
And if they are talking about us, it only proves how badly we need it.

So last week we looked at their PROFANE WORSHIP

THIS MORNING we move on to their next burden to God;
Their next area of indifference and that is:
THEIR INDIFFERENCE TOWARD GOD’S WORD.

Now before we begin working through the text,
Let’s make a few notable observations at the outset.

1) THIS IS DIRECTED AT THE PRIESTS

It is clearly articulated in verse 1, “And now this commandment is for you, O Priests.”

The main emphasis of application is to those who are in leadership
And charged with the proclamation and enforcing of God’s Law.

It is fair to assume that the attitude of the priests
Had trickled down to the people and so all share in this burden,

YET IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT
THE HEAVIEST BURDEN FALLS ON THOSE IN LEADERSHIP.

That means those who serve in a leadership role
Must really examine themselves here.

• Myself as pastor for sure. (though I’m not a priest in the Levitical sense)
• Those who serve as deacons, since in the current Baptist climate deacons
enjoy a sort of leadership authority in the congregation.
• Those who are currently training as elders, certainly must understand the
weight of burden that comes with leadership.

Those who lead and make decisions for the people
Have to pay attention here.

And yet, no one can exempt themselves from such an application.

After all:
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

In the New Testament we are all called “a royal priesthood”
Charged with proclaiming God’s excellencies.

So while we’ll lay the heaviest portion of this burden at the feet of those in leadership, none get to take the week off here.

2) THE LINK BETWEEN GOD’S HONOR AND HANDLING HIS WORD CANNOT BE DISMISSED.

The text will make it abundantly clear that
God absolutely links how you treat His word to how you honor His name.

You can’t separate your devotion to God from your devotion to His word.

It is IMPOSSIBLE (for example) for someone to say,
“I love God, I just don’t love His word.”

There is an inseparable link between the two.

You understand this even in your earthly relationships.
• Guys, if you are watching a football game
• And your wife is talking to you and you are not paying attention.
• And then all of a sudden she asks, “Are you listening to me?”

You know things just got serious.
• You will be tempted to say, “Yes, I’m listening”,
• But beware the following question. “What did I just say?”

At that point, you know it has nothing to do with knowledge.
Your wife is not asking anymore if you know what she’s talking about,
Now it is an issue of respect and honor.

You understand that certainly with God.

Jesus said:
Luke 6:36 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

• Do hear the perplexity in the Lord’s question?
• It just doesn’t make sense that you would call me Lord, but not obey Me.

Or how about:
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

• Jesus distinguishes who is truly saved by their obedience to His word.

You just can’t separate the two.
We’ve all read the glorious Psalm 19 or even the glorious Psalm 119
Where God’s honor is shown in the way the Psalmist loves God’s word.

So it’s not just about the Bible here today.
It’s actually about God’s honor.

We AREN’T just talking about IGNORANT people or ignorant priests.
We ARE talking about INDIFFERENT people or indifferent priests.

These are priests and people who do not care about God
And they show that through their lack of care for His word.

That being said, let’s work our way through this text this morning.

We’ll break it down into 4 points.
#1 GOD’S CONFRONTATION
Malachi 2:1-2

I hope you see that there is A CONDITION listed here for the priests.
You see the words “If” and “then”.

There is a condition here.
(2a) “IF you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “THEN I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.”

And this of course comes straight from the Mosaic Law.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God:”

Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Blessing or curses have always been directly linked to obedience.

That was the central issue of the Old Covenant.
• If you hold up your end of the deal (obedience) then I will hold up My end of the deal (blessing).
• If you break your word (disobedience) then I will still hold up My end of the deal (curses).

AND THAT IS LAID OUT HERE FOR THE PRIESTS.
Don’t forget that the central part of your ministry
All centers around what you do with My word.

NOW, CERTAINLY
• We have been redeemed from the curse of the Law.
• Christ fulfilled the Law.
• He redeemed us from the curse of the Law having become a curse for us.

We are now under a New Covenant and we want to make that clear.

But that DOES NOT MEAN that the general principle of obedience and blessing are totally removed from the situation.

Romans 2:5-11 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

Romans 6:15-19 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”

It is still a reality from God’s word that to walk in OBEDIENCE
Is to invite BLESSING into your life
And to walk in DISOBEDIENCE
Is to invite judgment or PUNISHMENT into your life.

That principle hasn’t changed.

And so we understand the principle
And here these priests are being confronted with it.

They are being told to handle God’s word appropriately.

HOW?

1) “If you do not listen”

The first implication is that they must be those who listen to God.
• They have to know God’s word.
• They have to know what God is saying.

If the one in charge of teaching God’s word doesn’t know God’s word
Then we already have a massive problem.

But as I said, this trickles even beyond the priest.

Many times in the Old Testament the people showed their indifference and irreverence toward God in their refusal to listen.

Isaiah 28:9-10 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’”

The Hebrew there is such as though it sounds like Charlie Brown’s mom speaking. They simply don’t want to hear God’s word.

Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

That reality is echoed in the New Testament.
2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,”

Jeremiah 18:11-12 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.” ’ “But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

We don’t want to do what God says.
That is an attitude of indifference.

And it was not only in the people, here it was also in the priests.
• They didn’t want to hear from God.
• They didn’t want to take the time to study God’s word.
• They didn’t care what God had to say about the subject.

They wouldn’t listen.

But that wasn’t all.
2) “and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name”

That has the idea of what you do with God’s word.
It’s one thing to hear it, but what do you do with it?

James said:
James 1:21-22 “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

That was the warning here from God.
I don’t just want you to know what My word says,
I want you to honor Me by taking it to heart.

• I want you to believe it.
• I want you to apply it.
• I want it to be more important to you than any other thing.

I want there to be a sober reverence regarding what My word says
So that all other arguments stop and God’s word is given the day.

And God said IF YOU DON’T do that, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings;”

If you don’t honor My word then I’m not going to honor yours.
• You can declare people blessed, but I won’t bless them.
• You can declare people forgiven, but I won’t forgive them.
• You can declare people pleasing, but I won’t accept them.

If you don’t honor My words, I won’t honor yours.

And then comes the sobering reality.
“and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.”

God says, “In fact, this is already happening.”
• You are not listening.
• You are not taking it to heart.
• You are not honoring My name.

I am already cursing your ministry.

That is God’s confrontation to those priests.

AND ANY MAN who sits in leadership should heed this warning.
• It is not enough to have God’s word you must listen to it.
• It is not enough to listen you must take it to heart.
• You must honor God with what you do with it.

Consider the VILLAINS of the New Testament:
Matthew 23:1-4 “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

Do you see the problem of the Pharisees?
• Oh sure, they claimed to know the Law.
• They even sat as experts, but they didn’t do it.
• They tied up burdens on people, but they didn’t take His word to heart.

In fact Jesus said about them:
Matthew 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’”

There was indifference there.
There was no concern for God’s word.
It’s no wonder Jesus confronted them so harshly

And you see why God is confronting the priests here in Malachi’s day.

God’s Confrontation
#2 GOD’S DISDAIN
Malachi 2:3-4

Now we ask the question: HOW FRUSTRATED IS GOD?
• When we talked about PROFANE WORSHIP God said, “Shut the gates!”

Here we see God’s frustration again.
(3) “Behold, I ma going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.”

What in the world is God talking about?
• What is this “refuse” that He is going to “spread…on your faces”?

Exodus 29:10-14 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. “You shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. “You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. “You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. “But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.”

You want the definition?
“refuse” is the word PER-RESH
It means “fecal matter, offal, dung”

It’s the colon and the stuff found inside it.

It was unclean and unacceptable to God
So it was hauled outside the camp and burned.

Do you want to know how frustrated God is with these priests?
“I’m going to take that colon and I’m going to smear it on your face and then carry you outside the camp in the wheel barrow with it!”

If that causes you to sit there wide-eyed then you get the picture.
God is incredibly agitated!
He is sick of the way these priests are handling His word.

AND WE SIMPLY ASK OURSELVES:
HOW SERIOUS IS IT TO GOD THAT HIS LEADERS HONOR HIS WORD?

Can we just state the obvious and say: “Very serious!”

• What manner of arrogant man nullifies God’s word to the people?
• What manner of lazy man ignores God’s word when leading the people?
• What manner of cowardly man omits God’s word to satisfy the people?

I’ll tell you what kind of man.
AN INDIFFERENT MAN!

James 3:1 “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”

Does that verse weigh a little heavier now?

It matters to God whether or not
Those whom He has entrusted to teach and enforce His word do it.

These priests didn’t teach.
These priests didn’t enforce.
And God’s disdain for them is evident.

They were treating God’s word like a suggestion
And God is frustrated.

So He’s going to humiliate them and cast them aside.
(4) “Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,” says the LORD of hosts.”

AFTER God thoroughly humiliates them,
THEN they will see that perhaps honoring His word was important.

You see the frustration of God.

God’s Confrontation, God’s Disdain
#3 GOD’S INTENT
Malachi 2:5-7

Here God clarifies what they should have been doing.
Here God clarifies what the role of the priest actually was.

And first you see the OBLIGATIONS of the covenant.

(5) “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.”

• GOD’S OBLIGATION was to give life and peace.
• AARON’S OBLIGATION was to revere God and stand in awe of His name.

But what does that look like?
What did it look like for Aaron to revere God and stand in awe of His name?

(6) “True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.”

There you have it, the three-fold expectation of God
From a leader who honors Him.

1) HIS WORDS
“True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips;”

Very simply put, the priest was supposed to teach the truth.
He was not to dabble in man’s opinions.

1 Timothy 4:7 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;”

1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

So it is here.
• Preach the word!
• Teach the truth!
• Accurately handle the word of truth!
• Certainly don’t distort what is true.

Paul gave the Galatians that intense warning that
If you change the gospel you are to be anathema!

God simply expects His leaders to deliver His word
As He said it to the people.

FAILURE to do that IS DETRIMENTAL to God’s people.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

2) HIS WALK
“he walked with Me in peace and uprightness”

God expects His leaders to practice what they preach.

1 Timothy 4:12 “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.”

1 Timothy 4:16 “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

And certainly this was something Paul took very seriously in his own life.

1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”

That is quite a responsibility.
And that is the calling of the leadership.

God expects His leaders to teach the truth
And then live the truth as an example for the people.

His Words, His Walk
3) HIS WORK
“and he turned many back from iniquity.”

There is perhaps the hardest one for today.
Good old fashion enforcing of God’s truth.

To approach someone allotted to your charge
And to tell them on the authority of God’s word
To stop doing what they are doing.

It is a requirement of God for His leadership.

2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Titus 2:15 “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

This is the expectation.

AND WHEN YOU PUT THEM ALL 3 TOGETHER
You get the picture of what it looks like
When someone honors God by honoring His word.

• Can you truly say a man honors God when He won’t learn God’s word?
• Can you truly say a man honors God when He won’t teach God’s word?
• Can you truly say a man honors God when He won’t obey God’s word?
• Can you truly say a man honors God when He won’t enforce God’s word?

GOD’S WORD IS EITHER AUTHORITATIVE OR IT IS NOT.

You cannot claim to be a man who seeks to honor God
If you won’t teach His word, or obey His word,
Or if you omit or nullify God’s word because people don’t like it.

That is to honor men not God.

God expects all believers, but especially those
Who sit in roles of leadership to care for His word.

Titus 3:8-11 “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.”

2 Timothy 2:14-19 “Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

IT IS AN INDIFFERENT MAN
Who will sit in a seat of leadership but fail to know, obey, and enforce God’s word to the people whom God has allotted to his care.

(7) “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”

Do you see that?
• If anyone here is protecting the truth of God it should be the priest.
• If anyone here is an available resource for God’s will, it should be the priest.

“FOR HE IS THE MESSENGER”

THAT’S HIS JOB!
Not to neglect, not to omit, not to substitute, not to ignore,
But to teach, obey, and enforce.

ANYTHING SHORT OF THAT IS INDIFFERENCE TOWARD GOD.

And look, I lay that right at my feet. This is directed right at me.
And in our current structure it is laid right at the feet of those who have been ordained as deacons who sit in a leadership role in our church.
And I would lay it at the feet of those men who are training to do the work as elders.

Can we say that we are not indifferent to the honor of God
When we examine how we handle His word?

God’s Confrontation, God’s Disdain, God’s Intent
#4 GOD’S VERDICT
Malachi 2:8-9

You see what the priests were supposed to be,
Now comes God’s assessment of what they current priests actually are.

(8) “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts.”

You were supposed to teach truth and obey it,
But instead you have DEPARTED from the truth.

“you have turned aside from the way”

You were supposed to enforce the truth and turn them back from sin,
But you have DECEIVED the people.

“you have caused many to stumble by the instruction.”

Your teaching doesn’t lead men to honor God,
Your instruction leads them into sin.

And here is the verdict:
“you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts.”

You have failed to keep your agreement.
You are not doing as you should.

(9) “So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.”

Do you see that?
I’m going to dishonor you like you dishonor My word.

How do we dishonor Your word?
You “are showing partiality in the instruction.”

• You are distorting the truth according to your hearers.
• You are not preaching My word in its pure form.
• You are changing it to make it more acceptable to sinful people.

And so God is going to judge you.

That is God’s final verdict on these indifferent priests.

SO WHAT IS OUR TAKEAWAY FROM THIS?

Certainly the heaviest burden here has to fall at the feet of those in leadership.

Anyone who has seated themselves in a position of authority had better examine themselves to see if indifference toward God’s word exists,
And if it does we must repent.

It’s clear what God thinks of leaders
Who won’t pass His word along to His people.

But this also applies to us all
Since we are all a priesthood
And we are all charged with carrying God’s word to the world.

Can you see that God cares deeply about how His word is handled?
• Is it listened to?
• Is it taken to heart?
• Is it applied?
• Is it taught?
• Is it enforced?

God was burdened by these indifferent people
Who failed to honor Him because they failed to honor His word.

THIS MUST NOT BE US!

Isaiah 55:7-11 “Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

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Facing Persecution
Psalms 142
November 6, 2022

The last couple of weeks we’ve talked about
“Facing Slander” & “Facing Temptation”.

Tonight we discuss “Facing Persecution”

It is not a pleasant subject,
But it is one that the church must prepare herself for.

While life has taught us that persecution can be regional
And that certainly there are some geographical areas or some periods in history
Were persecution is worse,
We still know the Bible makes some universal promises to the church.

Things like:
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

It is impossible for a believer to faithfully follow Christ
In a world that is following Satan and not be persecuted for it.

Now in that reality we are also given some tremendous PROMISES.

Like:
Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

1 Peter 4:14 “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

And we even get tremendous EXAMPLES of those
Who SAW THE BLESSING in persecution, like:

Acts 5:40-42 “They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

IN SHORT, the Bible gives a great deal of information
Regarding the promise of persecution, the blessing of persecution,
And even how to endure persecution.

The entire letter of 1 Peter is written to suffering believers to explain to them how to handle the persecution they face.

1 Peter 3:14-16 “But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”

1 Peter 4:1-2 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

And we could even throw in the book of Hebrews here as well
Which also addressed persecuted believers.

Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

There is much content in Scripture regarding how to face persecution.

TONIGHT we turn to Psalms 142
To learn some more valuable information regarding this reality.

WHAT WILL WE BE LEARNING?
It’s stated in THE HEADING.

“Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.”

Tonight’s Psalm travels on the same tracks as Luke 11
When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to “teach us to pray”

That is what David is doing here.
He is teaching us how to pray in the midst of persecution.

This is tremendously valuable since Scripture also says that
“we do not know how to pray as we should” (Romans 8).

And that might be especially true in times of persecution
When our flesh really only wants one thing, and that is relief.

So here we find a Psalm of tremendous value,
• And perhaps one that needs to be ear marked and readily available to you
• So that you’ll know how to pray on the day when you face persecution.

So let’s work our way through it tonight.

We see in the heading that this Psalm was written by David,
“when he was in the cave.”

That’s a little vague
Yet most theologians and commentators agree that this is a reference to when David was fleeing from Saul and was hiding in the cave of Adullam.

That makes the setting 1 Samuel 20-22
Which you may also remember is the time period that
Also inspired Psalm 34, 56, & 57.

HERE’S THE SETTING.
1 Samuel 20
• David and Jonathan have that plan about discerning if Saul really wants to kill David.
• David skips dinner, Jonathan reports to David with that plan of shooting the arrow and telling the lad to either go further or come nearer to find it.
• The plan worked, Saul showed his hand, and David was forced to flee.

1 Samuel 21
• David fled to Nob and the priest Ahimelech
• Ahimelech fed David some of the consecrated bread and gave him Goliath’s sword.

• David then fled to Achish, King of Gath (Goliath’s home town),
• But when he arrived bearing Goliath’s sword he quickly found he made a mistake.

He was brought before Achish and he was terrified,
Which is when he wrote Psalm 56.

In order to escape Achish David feigned madness,
Which is what Psalm 34 is about.

And then David fled to Adullam and hid in the cave,
Where he wrote Psalm 57.

So we have much of this journey well chronicled by David
Psalms which teach us a great deal about God
And even give us the song to sing in such circumstances.

FOR EXAMPLE:
We have learned that God camps around His own and delivers them even in times of great danger.

Psalms 34:7 “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.”

Psalms 34:10 “The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Psalms 34:15-18 “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalms 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.”

We learn that through such trials and hardships we learn that God is truly for us.
Psalms 56:9 “Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me.”

And we learn that in the midst of such peril God does not fail to send His lovingkindness and truth to save us.
Psalms 57:2-3 “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.”

All of those truths were learned by David
During this time of persecution in his life
And each of those Psalms gives us the song to sing in such times.

BUT PSALMS 142 IS NOT A SONG
It is “A Prayer”

It is impossible to be dogmatic about this,
But I’ll tell you how I perceive this all came together.

1) David is in the cave seeking and praying.

He is a man of confidence in this prayer.
Psalms 57:3 “He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.”

David is in that cave singing and praying
And fully expecting God to deliver him from his current predicament.

2) God answers David’s prayer according to David’s request.
1 Samuel 22:1-2 “So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him. Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.”

In response to David’s prayer
God actually sends his brothers and 400 might men to him.
These would become the foundation of David’s kingdom.

3) And David now teaches them about the prayer he prayed and how God answered it.

(Verses 1-2) is DAVID’S DECLARATION to the men as to how he prayed in the midst of persecution.

(Verses 3-7) is DAVID’S DESCRIPTION of what specifically he learned and prayed during this time.

And this is really valuable to us.

So let’s begin to examine the text.
#1 DAVID’S DECLARATION: What I do when I am persecuted
Psalms 142:1-2

I can almost picture the men coming in that cave and finding David.
I can hear David telling them the whole story about:
• Fleeing from Saul
• Getting fed by Ahimelech
• Being terrified and delivered from Gath
• And then finding this cave

And someone in the group blurts out.
“David, how did you handle it? How did you survive?”

And David says:
“I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make supplication with my voice to the LORD. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him.”

David’s answer is: I PRAY!
I take every ounce of my burden and my fear and my need
And I lay it before the God who cares for me.

We love the specific nature in which David speaks about his prayer.
Words like:
• “I cry”
• “I make supplication”
• “I pour out my complaint”
• “I declare my trouble”

David holds nothing back.

It should not be seen as a lack of reverence,
But rather a genuine expression of total trust.

When a person is facing physical issues,
• And especially when they don’t know the cause,
• And they go to the doctor for a diagnosis and help.

The doctor will say, “What’s going on?”
• And if that person is really concerned and worried about what they are facing
• They will lay out every little ache, pain, and detail.
• They’ll hold nothing back.
• They want the doctor to have every ounce of information so that maybe the
doctor will understand and be able to treat it.

Such a scene doesn’t indicate a desire to complain to the doctor,
It just reveals desperation and hope that the doctor will be able to help.

That is where David is.
• David said, “I cry aloud with my voice” because he wants to be heard.
• David said, “I make supplication with my voice” because he wants his desires known.
• David said, “I pour out my complaint” (better translated: “troubled thoughts”) because he wants God to have full disclosure of what concerns him.
• David said, “I declare my trouble” because he wants God to see the situation fully.

And of course we see the real emphasis of the verses
In the fact that every line shows us where David pointed his prayers.

“to the LORD” or “before Him”

When these men want to know what David did,
• He doesn’t lay out some strategy for escaping Saul.
• He doesn’t lay out some keen plan for outwitting Achish.
• He doesn’t talk about his survival skills to find a cave.

When David is persecuted he goes straight to God
And he lays out before God every single detail.

THAT IS OBVIOUSLY GOOD ADVICE.

And it’s obvious that David’s prayer resonated with God
Because God sent his brothers and 400 men to join him in that cave.

We have here an example of a prayer of David
THAT GOD ANSWERED QUICKLY AND FULLY.

So the next question might well have been: WHAT DID YOU PRAY?
What did you say?

Teach me how to pray in such times of persecution.

And that is the second part of this Psalm.
David’s Declaration: What I do when I’m persecuted
#2 DAVID’S DESCRIPTION: What I pray
Psalms 142:3-7

This is the portion of the Psalm that we are expressly interested in.
Here David gets specific for us.

And we find, not only what David said,
But when you listen to his prayer
It also becomes clear what David believed.

Prayer and faith go hand in hand.
What we believe about God most certainly dictates how we pray to Him.

For the remainder of this Psalm we’re going to break down David’s prayer
Into 6 things David believed about God.

6 things David believed about God
And because of these things you will also see
6 ways David encouraged himself to respond to God in his persecution.

These are the things you must remember when you face persecution.
These are the realities about God you must usher up into
The forefront of your mind as you pray to Him in dangerous times.

So let’s look at them.
1) HE IS A GOD WHO SEES – Follow Him (3)

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me.”

David here speaks of a time when he was at his whit’s end.

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me.”
Or, “When I wanted to quit”

• When I reached that point that I was totally beside myself.
• My endurance seemed gone, I certainly was out of answers.
• I didn’t know what to do.

But it was in that moment that I realized, “You knew my path”

You knew where I had been.
You knew where I had traveled.
And perhaps even more importantly, You know where I am headed.

Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

God has seen every aspect of this with David.
• He saw Saul’s rage.
• He saw Ahimelech’s kindness.
• He saw the danger David faced in Gath.
• He saw how David fled.

And what David is realizing now is that more than even just seeing,
GOD WAS DIRECTING HIS PATH.

God has been in sovereign control this entire time.
And God knows where David is headed next.

AND THAT IS GOOD,
Because while David knows danger is present,
He doesn’t know where it is…
“In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me.”

David knows that Saul is out to get him,
But doesn’t know where his next move should be.

We studied last week:
Psalms 141:9 “Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, And from the snares of those who do iniquity.”

So in David’s ignorance he prays to the God who sees.
• You know everything about this situation.
• You know where to walk and where to avoid.

The implied encouragement of David in such times is to: FOLLOW HIM
Yield to His word.
Obey His truth.
Wall according to His commands.

He alone knows the entire situation
He alone knows how to guide you through the mine field.

David is keenly aware of that in his persecution and it resonates in his prayer.

2) HE IS A GOD WHO STAYS – Approach Him (4)

“Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul.”

Surely the arrival of the 400 has proven that
David might have been overreacting a little bit.

But certainly as he was alone in that cave he must have felt totally alone.
There was no one to help him.
There was no one to give him counsel.
There was no one to comfort him.

HE WAS ALONE.
Except he wasn’t. God was with him.

God never leaves us nor forsakes us.
He has promised to be with us until the end.

Paul had a similar moment near the end of his life.
2 Timothy 4:16-17 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.”

This is a good thing to remember as well.
• Persecution has a way of isolating the persecuted.
• Persecution has a way of driving friends away as they protect themselves.

It is not uncommon that when a man is persecuted,
He is persecuted alone.
We saw even the disciples flee from Jesus in the garden.

But a tremendous reminder is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
God will never leave you.

Psalms 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”

And here in that cave David learned that too.
Even when all else flee, GOD STAYS.
He is there.

So draw near to Him.
So approach Him.
So come before Him.

3) HE IS A GOD WHO SHELTERS – Rest in Him (5a)

“I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge,”

One might be tempted to assume that the cave was a pretty good refuge,
But not to David.

David wasn’t hiding in a cave, he was hiding in the LORD.

And thus any comfort, any rest that David might achieve
Would not be because this cave was such a perfect hiding spot.

David would rest only because he knew that
God was keeping watch and protecting him.

We talked about this Wednesday night in youth.
• We had Noah floating in a boat.
• You might be tempted to think that Noah’s safety and security was bound up in that boat.
• But think about it for a moment.
• The whole earth was covered with water and Noah is alone in that boat.
• He would spend 1 year and 10 days in that boat.
• Do you suppose there were ever times where he wondered if he’d make it?

And yet we read with the youth:
Genesis 8:1 “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.”

• And before long the ark rested.
• And then the dove rested.
• But all the while Noah’s rest was not in this boat, but in the fact that God remembered him.

We think of the disciples on the boat in the storm and Jesus is asleep.
• They wake Him up crying, “We are perishing!”
• Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith.
• They were trying to take refuge in a boat, Jesus wanted them to take refuge in Him.

The greatest plans and the greatest fortresses are still able to fall apart,
But taking refuge in God is true safety and peace.

That is actually what David learned back in Gath
And articulated in Psalm 56.
Psalms 56:3-4 “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?”

David learned that God shelters and thus we rest in Him.
We must remember this too in dangerous and scary times.

4) HE IS A GOD WHO SATISFIES – Enjoy Him (5b)

“I said, “You are…My portion in the land of the living.”

This one is really amazing and must certainly be remembered
As we would definitely have a tendency to forget it.

But here is David in the midst of persecution.
• He faces the loss of all things.
• He has been run out of his home.
• He has no food and had to eat consecrated bread to survive.
• He found great danger in Gath.
• And now he is in a cave all alone.

It would be very easy for David to fall into despair
As he takes inventory of all that he has lost.

But David learned something.
God is not just to be petitioned in our persecution,
BUT GOD IS TO BE ENJOYED THERE.

Do you remember Paul’s famous statement to the Philippians?
Philippians 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

We all remember Paul talking about losing all things and gaining Christ.
But did you recognize what he said at the end?
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings…”

Paul learned in the midst of suffering
That there was a deeper fellowship with Christ to be gained.

He learned to enjoy Christ more during persecution than during times of ease.

I’m reminded of the Cory Ten Boom book “The Hiding Place”
She speaks of the first time she and her sister Betsy were stripped naked and paraded in front of the German officers at the prison camp.

Corrie Ten Boom wrote:
“How there could have been any pleasure in the sight of these stick-thin legs and hunger-bloated stomachs I could not imagine. Surely there is no more wretched sight than the human body unloved and uncared for.
“Nor could I see the necessity for the complete undressing: when we finally reached the examining room a doctor looked down each throat, another–a dentist presumably–at our teeth, a third in between each finger. And that was all. We trooped again down the long, cold corridor and picked up our X-marked dresses at the door.
“But it was one of these mornings while we were waiting, shivering in the corridor, that yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me.
“He hung naked on the cross.
“…The paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh–at the time itself, on that other Friday morning–there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.
“‘Betsie, they took His clothes too.’
“‘Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. ‘Oh, Corrie. And I never thanked Him…’

There these women were in the midst of a German prison,
Stripped naked and humiliated
And in that moment they enjoyed Christ and the sacrifice He made.

That it is the “fellowship of His sufferings” Paul spoke of.

DAVID WAS DOING THE SAME.
Instead of falling into self-pity, David ascended into worship.

He reminded himself of that glorious treasure he had in God.
“You are…My portion in the land of the living.”

Asaph said:
Psalms 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”

This must be remembered in times of persecution.

We pray to a God who sees
We pray to a God who stays
We pray to a God who shelters
We pray to a God who satisfies
5) HE IS A GOD WHO SAVES – Call on Him (6-7a)

“Give heed to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me. Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may give thanks to Your name;”

Certainly NOT LOST in our moments of persecution
Is that fact that God also saves.

He is our one hope of deliverance.

Some might be tempted to see these 400 men who rushed to the cave as David’s deliverance, but they’d be foolish if they failed to see why they arrived.

GOD SENT THEM.
They were an answer to David’s prayer.

In our persecution we certainly do not lose sight of the fact
That our God saves.
Our God delivers.

That was the entire emphasis of David in Psalms 34 when God delivered him from Achish.
Psalms 34:15-18 “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

• David knew that God is just.
• David knew that God draws near to the brokenhearted and lowly.
• David cried out to God to be saved.

WE CERTAINLY REMEMBER THIS.
No situation is beyond hope.
No circumstance is beyond rescue.

So long as Jesus rests in the heavens,
Seated next to the right hand of the Father, THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE.

Hebrews 6:19-20 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Certainly in such times
• We remember God toppling the giant.
• We remember God shutting the mouths of the lions.
• We remember God opening Paul’s prison doors.

But more than any of that we remember God raising Jesus from the dead
Which is a reminder that there is literally nothing man can do to me
That God can’t undo.

He is a God who saves and like David we call on Him.

6) HE IS A GOD WHO SUCCEEDS – Wait on Him (7b)

“The righteous will surround me, For You will deal bountifully with me.”

That was David’s trust.
That was David’s hope.

He prayed that prayer alone in a cave.
And now he relates that prayer to the 400 righteous men who have surrounded him because they saw the evil mounting in Saul.

Again, this was a conviction David developed
Through this time of persecution.

When he entered this cave and sang songs of praise, he said:
Psalms 57:2-3 “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.”

David believed that.
David prayed in accordance with that.
And now David is standing in the fulfilment of that prayer.

GOD NEVER FAILS.
He accomplishes His purposes.

Isaiah 40:28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

These are the things to remember during moments of persecution
And these are the things we pray.

• He is a God who sees so we submit to follow Him.
• He is a God who stays so we draw near to Him
• He is a God who shelters so we rest in Him
• He is a God who satisfies so we enjoy Him
• He is a God who saves so we call on Him
• He is a God who succeeds so we wait on Him

We may not be persecuted today,
But persecution is promised and on that day remember how to pray.

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Bringing Profane Worship
Malachi 1:6-14
November 6, 2022

As you are aware we have begun a study of the book of Malachi.
• Malachi was the last prophet of the Old Testament
• He preached 400 years before the time of Christ.
• He also preached a century after the Exile was over.

Israel is firmly reestablished in her land
And she has fallen into INDIFFERENCE.

Malachi is raised up to confront the indifference of Israel
And to break the news to them that despite their anticipation,
They are not ready for the Messiah they desire.

He has shown up to deliver GOD’S BURDEN to the people.

LAST TIME we saw looked at the indifference of Israel as seen through their INGRATITUDE.

God opened the book by announcing His love for Israel,
But was hit with the question, “How have You loved us?”

Somehow Israel had been able to grow short-sited enough
That they had failed to remember the sovereign electing love
Which God had shown in choosing Jacob instead of Esau.

Their poor memory had led to ingratitude
And this ingratitude was the root of their indifference.

THIS MORNING we begin looking at the FRUIT of their indifference.

THEIR INDIFFERENT WORSHIP OF GOD.

In our text this morning God is primarily taking issue with the priests
Because of the way they have instructed and led the people.
• They have made a mockery of worship.
• They have made a mockery of the sacrificial requirement.
• And in so doing they have made a mockery of God.

What you’ll see in our text is that
GOD IS TERRIBLY OFFENDED at what is being offered to Him
And the PEOPLE DON’T EVEN SEEM TO CARE.

THAT IS INDIFFERENCE.

SO THIS MORNING WE OPEN WITH QUESTIONS REGARDING WORSHIP.

• What does it mean to worship God as He deserves?
• What would acceptable worship to Him look like?
• Would God consider my worship to be profane?
• Does my manner of worship rightly exalt God or is it an insult to Him?

These are the types of things we must address in our own hearts
As we examine the profane worship of Israel.

Now, we ARE going to study this text in outline form,
But we are NOT going to look at it in chronological order.

I want us to examine it in a way where we’ll grasp the weight of the issue
So we’re going to bounce up and down through the text.

We’re actually going to start with what God says last,
But I assure that even though it is the last thing God says,
It is without a doubt at the forefront of His mind.

4 things
#1 GOD’S EXPECTATION
Malachi 1:6a, 11, 14b

(6a) “A son honors his father, and a servant his master.”

(11) “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.”

(14b) “for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

I know that is to jump around a little, but I want you to recognize
In this passage that God identifies Himself with 3 titles.

• He is a FATHER WHO DESERVES HONOR
• He is a MASTER WHO DESERVES RESPECT
• He is a GREAT KING WHO IS FEARED AMONG THE NATIONS

We understand Him as FATHER
• The one who cares for us
• The one who provides for us
• The one who begot us as sons and daughters

We understand Him as MASTER (or Lord)
• The one who guides us
• The one who rules us
• The one we submit to and follow

We understand Him as KING
• The sovereign of the world
• The one deserving all glory and honor
• The one we honor and worship

You understand the basic implications to those titles.
GOD SEES HIMSELF AS ALL THESE THINGS.

And you see that with each of those titles
Comes GOD’S EXPECTATION as to how He should BE TREATED.

As a Father He expects to be HONORED

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

As a Master He expects to be RESPECTED

Ephesians 6:5 “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ;”

As a King He expects to be FEARED (reverential awe)

Jeremiah 10:7 “Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You.”

YOU THE EXPECTATION OF GOD.

Verse 11 is certainly THE HEART of the idea.

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.”

• That is all people, everywhere.
• That is every knee.
• That is every tongue.

And this is certainly what is coming.

There is coming a day when God will stop all rebellion
And all men will worship God with all their hearts.

Isaiah 66:23 “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

Psalms 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.”

Philippians 2:10-11 “at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We are currently in a time of God’s mercy
• Where He is redeeming His enemies to Himself.
• He is right now saving men from their sin
• He is transferring His enemies into His kingdom.

But there is a day coming when salvation will be complete.
There is coming a day when God will destroy His enemies.
And there is coming a day when every knee will come and bow to Him.

AND ALL THE EARTH WILL GLORIFY GOD.
• There will be no rebellion.
• There will be no insubordination.
• The day is coming in which all will worship God fully.

• On that day “incense is going to be offered to My name”
• On that day there will be “a grain offering that is pure.”

The day is coming when worship will be the chief priority of all men Their one desire will be to worship God as He deserves.

THAT WILL HAPPEN.
It has already been determined by God.

God says (14b) “for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

There’s just none like God.
• He is destined for glory and He will receive it.
• Some day He will be worshiped by every tribe and tongue.
• Some day He will be glorified forever by all His creation.

That is the FUTURE expectation of God for all nations.

BUT IT IS THE CURRENT EXPECTATION OF GOD FOR HIS PEOPLE.
Someday every nation will bow, but God’s expectation today
Is that those whom He has redeemed will worship Him now.

• Certainly our Father deserves honor.
• Certainly our Master deserves respect.
• Certainly our King deserves reverence and awe.

That is what God expects from His people.

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT HE IS GETTING FROM ISREAL.

God’s Expectation
#2 GOD’S EXPLORATION
Malachi 1:6a

“‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is my respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.”

What we see here is that God is on a search.
He is searching for the honor, respect, and glory that He deserves.

WHERE IS IT?
• God attended the worship service this morning expecting to be honored.
• God attended the worship service expecting to be respected.
• God attended the worship service expecting to be glorified.

WHERE IS IT?
You can see here that God is looking for it.

Jesus told the Woman at the Well:
John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

God is seeking worshipers.
God is seeking those who worship Him as He deserves.

The problem seen here is that He is not receiving it.
• There is no honor
• There is no respect
• There is no fear

And the ugly problem of Israel has once again reared its head.

300 years prior to Malachi, Isaiah was saying the same thing.
Isaiah 1:2-4 “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

And now here they are returning to that same problem.

God is searching for honor, respect, and glory from His people
And the people are not bringing it.

Instead, there is the OPPOSITE.
THERE IS ACTUALLY ENMITY.

God directs His question to the “priests”
Whom God says “despise My name.”

“despise” is BA-ZA in the Hebrew.

It is the same word for what Esau did to his birthright.
Genesis 25:34 “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

It wasn’t that Esau didn’t want an inheritance it is that he valued it so cheaply.
To Esau, his inheritance wasn’t worth as much as a bowl of lentil stew.

That stew was more valuable than his inheritance.
In comparison, he despised his birthright.

That is what God says to these priests.
You “despise My name”

The way you treat Me in your worship is despicable.
YOU VALUE ME SO LOWLY.
The manner in which you worship is despicable.

IT IS THE PICTURE OF A PEOPLE
Who come to worship and bring their gifts or offerings or songs or whatever to God.

God looks at it and says, “Is that all you think of Me? You must really despise Me to bring Me such an offering.”

I think we can agree this is getting serious.
• God came looking for glory and what He found was disdain.
• He is seriously offended by what His people brought Him.
• Their worship as profane to Him.

God’s Expectation, God’s Exploration
#3 GOD’S EXPLANATION
Malachi 1:6b-8, 12-14a

(6b-8) “But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.’ “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.”

(12-14a) “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ “You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the LORD of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the LORD. “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord”

Here is where
• God chronicles their indifference.
• God lays out their offense.
• God specifies the profane nature of their worship.

God told those priests that they “despise My name”

And in utter arrogance and disrespect they immediately respond to God, “How have we despised Your name?”

It’s as if they don’t believe it.
It’s as if they think God is being too nit-picky.
So God is about to break it down for them.

To understand it best, we need to break it down too.
Let me give you 4 aspects which God outlines about their profane worship.

1) DEFILED FOOD (7a-8)

“You are presenting defiled food upon My altar.”

Leviticus 2:1-3 “‘Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. ‘He shall then bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all of its frankincense. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. ‘The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy, of the offerings to the LORD by fire.”

• A grain offering was very simply a voluntary expression of devotion to God.
• It was not to atone for sin; there was no blood involved.

It was just an offering given to God on His altar as a soothing aroma
To express your love and devotion to Him.

And the SIMPLE COMMANDS were
• That it had to be “fine flour”
• If it was a cake it had to be “unleavened”

And instead of bringing “fine flour” they were “presenting defiled food”

That word “defiled” can also be translated “polluted”
It wasn’t pure, it wasn’t clean.
Perhaps it was even rotten.

You see the similar expression down in verse 12, “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.”

It was just bringing something defiled and less than pure to God.
It wasn’t a fine meal, it was a plate of rotten leftovers.

Defiled Food
2) DESPISED OFFERINGS (7b)

Here again the priests are challenging God’s right to be disappointed.
They say, “How have we defiled You?”

And God responds, “In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.”

This is what the PRIESTS ARE SAYING.

Some commentators note that most likely it is what they said in their hearts
Which makes more sense for to say this out loud would be incredibly shocking.

But whether in their heart or on their lips,
God hears it just the same and He sees their disdain.

• They say that “The table of the LORD is to be despised.”

• We see it again down in verse 12, “you say, “The table of the LORD is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.”

There’s that same “despised” like what Esau did with his birthright.

WHAT IS THIS?

It is priests who have a very low view of what they bring to God.
To put it another way: THEY DON’T CARE WHAT YOU BRING.

IT MAY HAVE EVEN BEEN that
They ENCOURAGED the people to just bring whatever.

The verb tense there indicates them saying
“The table of the LORD IS TO BE despised.”

They encouraged the people to bring whatever because it didn’t matter.
They encouraged the people that their junk was enough.
• Don’t bother with the fine flour.
• Do you have any old flour?
• Do you have any flour with weevils in it?

Just bring that, it doesn’t matter.

Only it’s NOT JUST the grain offerings that they do this with.
It’s with all of them.

(8) “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.”

God had been extremely clear about this as well.
Leviticus 22:20-25 “‘Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. ‘When a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a special vow or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. ‘Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the LORD, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the LORD. ‘In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member, you may present it for a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted. ‘Also anything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the LORD, or sacrifice in your land, nor shall you accept any such from the hand of a foreigner for offering as the food of your God; for their corruption is in them, they have a defect, they shall not be accepted for you.’”

God was extremely clear about the type of offering He would accept.
But clearly the priests didn’t care about such rules.

They saw the sacrificial system as a good way
To get rid of your old sick and crippled livestock.

Just bring it to God, it doesn’t matter.
They crippled cow is gonna die anyway, might as well make an offering out of it.

(This is a sin offering, and the GOSPEL IMPLICATION
Is to bring something less than the righteousness of Christ to God)

To which God says, “Why not offer it to your governor?”
• Why not take it to the sale?
• Why not give it to pay off your debt?

WHY? Because it’s not worth anything!
And yet you bring it to God.

I hope your starting to make some connections here
Between acceptable worship and profane worship.

You bring God what no one else would accept and say,
“Well it’s good enough for God.”

My how you must value Him!

Defiled Food, Despised Offerings
3) DISDAINFUL ATTITUDE (13a)

“You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the LORD of hosts,”

“sniff” there is a word that simply means “to breathe; blow; sniff at; seethe”
It is the word used when God “breathed” life into man’s nostrils.

Here it is a mocking gesture of disdain.
IT’S A MASSIVE SIGH.

• It’s a priest in the temple charged with offering the sacrifices,
• But when the person brings something in to offer he’s all put out,
• And he rolls his eyes and sighs.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna make me go through this whole offering procedure before God. I’m tired, I want to go home.
Do you really have to bring it now?”

ARE YOU PICKING UP ON THE INDIFFERENCE?
• Just bring whatever, it doesn’t matter.
• Who cares what shape it’s in, only bring it tomorrow,
• I don’t feel like doing it now.

That is the attitude of their worship.
It’s too hard
It’s too tiring

4) DELINQUENT VOWS (13b-14a)

“and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the LORD. But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices as blemished animal to the Lord…”

• This is a guy who vowed to God to bring some animal or some offering.
• But he doesn’t want to give God one of his,
• So instead he goes and steals someone else’s and takes that.

• Or he told God he’d give him a male,
• but instead he sees the opportunity to off load some crippled old one instead.

Who enjoys purchasing something online with the promise of it being what you need only to receive a broken piece of junk in the mail?
That’s what was happening to God.

(Let Ananias and Sapphira come to your mind here)

You put it all together and it just resonated
How little honor, respect, and reverence they felt toward God.

He sure must not be worth much to them
If that’s all their going to give Him.

CHURCH we must evaluate our worship under this analogy.

We know what it is to give and receive gifts in our culture.
• Christmas is right around the corner and there will be a lot of gifts exchanged.

Perhaps you’ve bought your wife something for an anniversary
Or a daughter something for a sweet 16.

There are ways to look at a gift we receive
And through that gift assess our value to the person who gave it.

Was it quality?
Did they give me something nice or was it a piece of junk?

How much effort did it require?
It may not be something purchased, it might be something made or searched for. How much effort did it take, or did they just pick something up at a convenient store on the way over?

How valuable is it?
Sometimes we measure by what it actually cost. That they would spend such a high price on you certainly speaks to how they value you.

We think of David acquiring Onan’s threshing floor.
1 Chronicles 21:22-24 “Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the LORD; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be restrained from the people.” Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all.” But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”

Or we think of Mary breaking that alabaster vile and pouring it on Jesus’ feet and that it was so valuable that the disciples actually scolded her for wasting it on Jesus.

Or we think of Abraham offering his son, whom he loved to God.

Or we think of the widow who gave all that she had to live on.

Or we think of the sinful woman who loved so much that she wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

You understand how a gift can make you feel loved.

Well it can also make you feel disdained
And that is what the worship of Israel was doing to God.

BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR WORSHIP?

How much effort did you put into that Sunday school lesson?
• Would you have studied more if your class had 200 people in it?

How much time did you put into that sermon?
• Would you have worked harder if John MacArthur or Steve Lawson were attending?

Was the song service an afterthought?
• Would you have worked longer if a group of worship leaders was coming?

The special music was it rehearsed as though it was for a King?

How about those who simply participate in the service?
WHEN WE SANG,
• Who were you most concerned about hearing you?
• Were you more concerned about what God was hearing or the people next to you?

WHEN WE GIVE,
• Is your offering a reflection of your love for God?

HOW ABOUT THE ATTITUDE OF COMING TO WORSHIP AT ALL.
• Is it tiresome to you?
• Is it wearisome to you?
• Is it too long?
• Is it too boring?
• Is an hour to long to have to sit and contemplate the word of God?

• Is Sunday school too much?
• Is it too much to ask to return and worship on Sunday night?
• Is worship on a Wednesday night just unnecessary?

We tend to gravitate towards what is easiest for us
And then just tell God, “Here take this, it’s good enough.”

I wonder if that’s how you proposed to your wife?
“Here’s a ring I found in a cracker jack box, it’s good enough.”

Or how about when you have to pay your rent,
“I’m not going to pay what we agreed, here’s $100 that’s good enough.”

Or go to your boss and say,
“Work is too tiresome, I’m only going to work half of the day from now on.”

Those are things we would not consider doing to people
And yet we tend to offer it to God.

How do you suppose your worship today made God feel?
How do you suppose your preparation for worship this week made God feel?

Should He feel honored and respected and revered
By the way you worshipped or should He feel disdained?

DO YOU GET THE POINT?
• How about a real effort?
• How about a real sacrifice?
• How about we don’t just take the easy rode?

How about we show God through our worship how important He is to us?

Matthew Henry said:
“If we worship God ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for sacrifice; if we do it carelessly, if we are cold, and dull, and dead, in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and do not make heart-work of it, we bring the lame; and, if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn. Is it not a great affront to God and a great wrong and injury to our own souls?”
(Henry, Matthew [Matthew Henry’s Commentary; Zondervan; Grand Rapids, MI; 1961] Pg. 1195)

So God has an expectation, but that expectation was not being met.
And when God’s people said, “What do You mean?”
God gave them the explanation.

But there’s one more point to be made.
#4 GOD’S EXASPERATION
Malachi 1:9-10, 14a

Here is God’s response to what they brought.

And allow me to break this one down a little more as well.

1) EVIL (8)

God says a broken sacrifice like that isn’t just indifferent, it’s evil!

• It isn’t close…
• It isn’t the thought that counts…
• It is evil.

It is nothing less than a pathetic offering from a selfish heart
That cares nothing for God.

I heard a story once
• About a man who traveled and every time he came home he would bring his
wife a gift.
• Upon coming home one time he had bought his wife a watch out of one of
those 25 cent variety machines at a truck stop.
• When he gave it to her she was so upset she immediately slammed the watch
on the ground and crushed it with her foot.

Does she just hate plastic watches?
No, she hated what that watch said about the way he valued her.
TO HER THAT GIFT WAS EVIL.

That is what God says.
You bring Me what no one else would take.
THAT IS AN EVIL OFFERING.

2) USELESS (9-10)

Here God squashes any notions of effectiveness.
“But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us?”

Really?
You’re going to bring me a blind, 3-legged goat and then ask Me to bless you?

“With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.”

What do you think the answer is?
NO!!!

To which God goes on:
(10) “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you.”

God would rather close the door of the church
Than to receive worship like that.

Isaiah 1:11-14 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”

God is not pleased!
Your worship is useless!
God wont’ accept it.

You’re not going to receive a blessing for such an offering as this.

3) HARMFUL (14a)

“But cursed be the swindler…”

Instead of receiving a blessing, you’re going to receive a curse.

I’m sure after that woman crushed the watch the man likely realized
He would have been better off bringing nothing home than that watch.

These people offended God by disdaining Him so greatly
And despising Him so greatly as to bring Him worship
Of such little cost and of such little effort.

CHURCH, IT’S WHAT WE CALL INDIFFERENCE.

We are forced to ask how valuable God is to us?
We are forced to ask what He is worth?

These people brought God junk and God was offended.
• He said, “I am a great King”
• He said, “My name will be great among the nations”
• How could you treat Me so disdainfully?

AND THUS WE SEE AGAIN,
THEY WERE NOT YET FIT TO STAND BEFORE HIM.

WE MUST BE A PEOPLE WHO
Worship Him like the King He is!

Download here

Facing Temptation
Psalms 141
October 30, 2022

Tonight we come upon the 141st Psalm.

If you’ve studied it, then you are aware that the Psalm would be really easy to grasp and understand if it weren’t for verse 6.
• If you read ahead and it stumped you just know that you are in good company.
• I read commentaries from some of the greatest theological minds of the last 300 years and even they can’t come to a consensus.

It is difficult,
But even without being absolutely dogmatic as to the meaning of verse 6
The total thrust of the Psalm is clear everywhere else.

David is contemplating the threat and reality of temptation.

Some have seen this Psalm as temptation which is accompanied by slander or even persecution, but at the core, it is still temptation.

When we think of temptation our minds are always drawn to that famous passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul said:

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

Of course that verse is one of the most misquoted in our world today.
People often say, “I know God won’t give me more than I can handle.”

That’s not what that verse says.
• This verse isn’t about hardship or trials or suffering
• This verse is about temptation.

And as an introduction to our Psalm tonight
It would be a good idea to remember the promises Paul spoke of there.

1) TEMPTATION IS COMMON
No one gets an extra-special unique temptation.
• The temptations you will face are the same that all men have faced since the dawn of creation.

You can go read the account IN THE GARDEN when Satan tempted Eve
And see that his TACTICS HAVEN’T CHANGED.

2) TEMPTATION IS CONTAINED
God won’t let you be tempted beyond what you are able.
• There is a sovereign limit placed upon the temptation which Satan is allowed to throw at you.

So you don’t get a special temptation and you don’t get an irresistible temptation.

3) TEMPTATION IS CONQUERABLE
There is always a way of escape.
• It is implied then that you run, but there is always a way out.

That we know to be true of temptation.

TONIGHT we look at a man who understands
The realities of facing temptation.

His description almost paints temptation like a Carnival Barker
Summoning you to “Step Right Up” and give his booth a try.

David knows they are out there.
And he knows that to fall into their trap means certain destruction.

You actually see that in verse 7, where David gives an evaluation of the EFFECT of these tempters on his culture.

(7) “As when one plows and breaks open the earth, Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”

“Sheol” is the place of the dead.

David looks around at the society and sees that
The tempters have been very effective.

“They’re killing us!”, David might say.

I think of the effects of the internet or smart phones on our culture.
• I think about what these things have contributed to the spread of pornography
and sexual immorality and coveting and boasting, etc.

The internet just represents non-stop temptation.
And we could say with David, “IT’S KILLING US!”

Now this Psalm is not about the internet, but it is about temptation.

AND IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN REAL.
It was real without technology and it is real with technology.

What we find in Psalms 141 is how a man of God approaches it.
You can’t escape being tempted. Even Jesus was tempted.

But since it is common and it is coming,
The man of God certainly takes proper steps to be prepared for it,
And proper steps to resist it when it comes.

Psalms 141 show us how David approached it.

Let’s look at 3 things David did to overcome temptation.
#1 PRAYER
Psalms 141:1-6

The Psalm opens with 2 verses which show not only that David prayed
But his commitment to prayer in this battle.

As we already noted,
• David knew that sin was wrecking his culture.
• He knew it was killing us.
• He had seen more than his fair share of neighbors fall to its tactics.
• Even David himself had fallen to temptation.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians,
In the verse directly preceding that passage on temptation:
1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

It doesn’t do anyone any good
To have an arrogant attitude regarding temptation.
It has captured and conquered the greatest of men.

And to treat it NONCHALANTLY as though it’s not a threat to you,
IS A MAJOR MISTAKE.

David did no such thing.
HE PRAYED.

But look at the ATTITUDE behind his prayer.
(1-2) “O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”

Do you see the URGENCY of David’s prayer?
• “hasten to me!”
• “Give ear to my voice WHEN I call to You!”

Listen God, when I cry out that I need You; I need You!
I don’t need You next week, I need You right now.

David prays about temptation like a man without a “plan-B”
If God doesn’t show up to help, I’m sunk.

YOU SEE THAT URGENCY.
When a tiger jumps in the room,
You don’t need help an hour from now, you need it right now!

Do you see the DESPERATION in David’s prayer?
• “Give ear”

David DOESN’T approach God and say,
“Hey, you got a minute? Is this a good time?”

David is calling 911 here.
• Drop what You’re doing God and listen to me.
• It is urgent and I am desperate.

Do you see how seriously David treats temptation?
He does not have an “I got this” attitude.
He’s in over his head and he knows it.

Do you see the FAITHFULNESS in David’s prayer?
“May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”

“counted” there can also be translated “Fixed”
And that is what David is referring to.

• “incense” was burned before God every morning.
• And the “evening offering” given every night.

They were fixed occurrences before God, and David says so is my prayer.

I’m not about to face the day or the night
Without petitioning God for help against the temptation of sin.

As I was contemplating this I thought about our culture
And our commitment to TAKE MEDICATION.

• Some have to take it every morning, some every evening, some both.
• And to most people, it’s a pretty big deal.
• You understand that there can be consequences to missing it.

David has that attitude with prayer in regard to temptation.
• He’s not going to mess around.
• He’s making sure to bring God into the battle.

He’s urgent
He’s desperate
He’s faithful

There’s a good place to STOP & PONDER our battle against temptation.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.
• He talked about hallowing God’s name. (Important)
• He talked about seeking God’s will. (Important)
• He talked about requesting God’s provision (Important)
• He talked about asking God’s forgiveness (Important)

And then He said:
Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

If there’s one on the list we are prone to omit it’s that one.
• We understand worship in prayer.
• We understand praying for God’s will.
• We certainly understand praying for provision and forgiveness.

But often overlooked is that Jesus also told us
To pray that we would not be tempted.

IT’S THAT IMPORTANT.

And so here we get to ask ourselves that first reflective question.
Do I pray that God would protect me from temptation?

When I’m out of food or out of money and can’t pay the bills, I’m certainly urgent and desperate faithful to pray for provision.

When I’m sick or injured or in pain, I’m certainly urgent and desperate and faithful to pray for healing.

And yet the reality is that we are ALWAYS in danger of temptation.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

TEMPTATION IS REAL
And David was committed to praying for God’s help against it.

We start there.
• If you’re headed out in the tall grass you know to watch for snakes.
• Well, you live in the snakes domain, and you’d better ask God for help.

THAT’S JUST THE ATTITUDE OF DAVID’S PRAYER.

Let’s look at the SUBSTANCE of his prayer.

(3-5) “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies. Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.”

I want to start first at the end of that passage.

Look at that last line of verse 5.
David says, “For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.”

That is certainly part of David’s prayer life and it should be part of ours.
• We pray against wicked men.
• We pray against the spread of their wickedness.

Certainly that prayer mostly consists of their repentance and salvation,
But we pray against them none the less.

We have no problem asking God to “break the arm of the wicked”
Or to “knock out the fangs of the young lion.”

• We’ve talked repeatedly about those imprecatory Psalms
• And we have no problem asking God to put a stop to the spread of evil like
abortion or sexual immorality or greed or slander or corruption.
• We constantly ask God to heal our land and purge the evil from it.

But if you’ll notice David starts that line with “For…”

That is to say, “I pray all these other things because I am praying against the wicked.”

To put it another way, It would be pure hypocrisy for me to pray against the wicked but not to pray against wickedness in my own life.

Jesus taught us that didn’t He?
Matthew 7:1-3 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

It has to start at home.
It has to start in your life.

You can’t pray for God to clean wickedness out of the culture
If you don’t also pray for God to clean the wickedness out of your life.

Romans 2:21-24 “you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

And so as David rightly prays against the wicked
DAVID ALSO PRAYS AGAINST HIS OWN WICKEDNESS.

And he hits all the major areas.

(3) “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

There’s a good place to start.
James said:
James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”

That’s putting it clearly isn’t it.
The tongue is a major issue for humanity.

James would go on:
James 3:6-10 “And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

David understood this.
That on any given day he would likely face no greater temptation
Than the temptation to sin with his tongue.

Think of all the things we categorize as temptation today.
• Our culture is obsessed with sexual immorality.
• Alcohol is advertised pretty much everywhere.
• Self-centeredness is probably the central motive of every add campaign.

You think of all those things as temptations.

But I promise you none of those are as strong
As the temptation you face daily to sin with your tongue.

Lying – Gossip – Flattery – Slander – Boasting – Cursing – Filthy talk – cruelty

The tongue is indeed a world of evil.
And it is ABSOLUTELY UNCONTROLLABLE.

I can promise you this that the most consistent way
Satan will try to trap any one of us in sin will be with our tongues.

David knows this.
And so he prays for God to “Set a guard…over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

David already taught us:
Psalms 139:4 “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”

And since You know what I’m about to say,
Before I say it, grab my lips and hold them closed!

We need God’s help to keep us from sinning with our tongues.
David takes that with urgency and desperation and faithfulness to God.

NOT JUST THE TONGUE.
(4a) “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing”

Here David speaks of the DESIRES.
Your desires are very much a breeding ground for sin.

James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

And listen, it’s NOT just that our desires lead to sin.
If you listen to Jesus, THE DESIRE IS SIN.

What did Jesus teach us about murder?
Do you want to; are you angry? – THAT’S SIN!

What did Jesus teach us about adultery?
Do you have lust; do you want to? – THAT’S SIN!

What did Paul say in Romans 7 was his great sin?
COVETING

All of that occurs in the heart.
That’s the origin.

And David knew it.
• He needed God’s help to control his desires.
• He needed God’s help to control what he wanted.

Many a man has fallen prey to Satan’s temptation
To covet, lust or hate nowhere but in the confines of his own heart.

And David knows that.
He needs God to steer the direction of his heart.

AND THAT’S STILL NOT ALL.
(4b) “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity;”

Here David speaks of his ACTIONS.
• It is the temptation to join in with the wicked.
• It is the temptation to say what they say or laugh at what they laugh at.
• And we’ve all fallen there.

Remember Psalms 1?
Psalms 1:1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

And there’s a progression there.
• A man first hears the counsel of the wicked.
• The next thing you know he’s standing in the path with sinners.
• And finally he ends up in the seat of scoffers

David knows that.
Every alcoholic started with a first drink under coercion.

When I was in high school it was tobacco.
I don’t care who you are, nobody liked that first dip of snuff, but it’s the desire to walk with the wicked that leads you into that iniquity.

David knew that just a moment of weakness
To join sinners in their sin
Could pay off in a life of sinful behavior.

So he asked God to protect him
From those wicked men who might entice him.

AND ALSO DAVID PRAYED;
“And do not let me eat of their delicacies.”

Here David prayed for protection from his own APPETITE.
James said sin originates with our own lusts.

What is it that makes you want to try that carnival game even when you know they’re cheating?
• It’s your own cravings.
• It’s your own appetites.

Listen, you may have been redeemed and are headed to heaven,
But you still live in a fallen sinful flesh.

And Paul put it plainly when he says you’ve got to beat it into submission

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

Paul understood that his flesh was his enemy and he had to whip it.
• In other places he had to crucify it.
• He told the Colossians to put it to death.

David knows this.
The flesh must be beaten into submission and he urgently, desperately,
And faithfully appeals to God to help that happen.

AND THAT IS STILL NOT ALL.
Look at what else David prays for.
(5) “Let the righteous man smit me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it.”

In those moments where I am not discerning enough or willing enough to buffet my own body…SEND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT!

Send me a Nehemiah who will strike me and pull out my hair
Until I leave the sin that is so offensive to God.

Send me a brother to confront me and expose me and rebuke me
And call me out of my sin.

Isn’t that a great prayer!

How badly do you want to overcome sin and temptation?
Do you want it badly enough to be rebuked?

I know some of you do, that’s why you faithfully attend church
To sit under the preaching of the word.

That’s what David wanted.
• So he prayed for God to guard and protect him from temptation
• And even to send a faithful brother by to help out in the process.

THAT’S HOW YOU FACE TEMPTATION!

And this is where we’re going to deal with verse 6.

We’re going to see it as a climax to David’s understanding
Of the dangers of temptation.

He says, (6) “Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock, And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.”

It is generally understood that judges being thrown down
Is a picture of wicked leaders being thrown off a cliff to their death.

And to it would seem that David is saying that
“There is coming a day when the tempters will be destroyed.”

And on the day when you see the payout for sin and temptation
You’ll see what a favor I’m doing by warning you to avoid it.

I think in light of the context of the Psalm that’s the best way to handle that verse.

• Listen to me warning you about the dangers of temptation.
• And if you won’t listen now, there’s a coming a day of judgment when
you’ll see that I’m right.

But the main point you see is that in order to battle temptation
DAVID TURNED TO PRAYER!

There’s another thing David turned.
#2 TRUST
Psalms 141:7-9

We already examined verse 7 which spoke of the horrible effect
Sin and temptation has had on David’s culture.

“They’re killing us!” David said.

And that prompts his NEXT COURSE OF ACTION which is to TRUST GOD.
(8) “For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.”

You see there that statement, “In You I take refuge”
• We often talk about the importance of being “In Him”
• We know that we must be “in Christ” to survive the judgment.

But do you understand that He is also a hiding place from temptation?
He doesn’t just shelter you from judgment,
He also shelters you from temptation.

• He keeps you from stumbling.
• He keeps you from evil.
• He is the One who provides the way of escape.
• He is the One who directs your path.

You don’t just need to abide in Him during the judgment,
You need to abide in Him every day.

You want an analogy?

In the garden when the soldiers attacked and Jesus was with them, what did Peter do?
• He impulsively attacked and cut off a guy’s ear.
• He was bold and courageous.

But what happened when Jesus was taken away and Peter had to face a slave girl alone?
• He crumbled in fear.

And then what happened when Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to indwell Peter?
• He boldly preached in Jerusalem.

You need the presence of Christ to overcome temptation.
David was trusting God and hiding in Him.

We do this, not only through prayer, but also by remaining in His word.
We let “the word of Christ dwell within [us] richly”.

We hide in Him.

(9) “Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, And from the snares of those who do iniquity.”

• David knew there were traps set that he was unaware of.
• David knew there were snares that he wouldn’t see.
He needed God to guide his steps.

HOW IMPORTANT THEN IS OBEDIENCE IN LIFE?

So many of the commands which God gives are to protect us
From the pitfalls and snares of the devil.

God’s commands aren’t meant to ruin your life,
But to protect you from the devil who is seeking to devour you.

Did not Jesus lean upon God’s word when facing temptation?
Obedience delivered him from the jaws of the enemy.

David is trusting God by obeying God’s word.
That is how you overcome temptation too.

You can’t simply pray for God to protect you from temptation
And then go off living the life of a renegade in disobedience.

You must trust Him.
You must abide in Him.
You must obey Him.

Do what He says even when it doesn’t make sense,
Because He knows what you don’t know.

One more way, quickly
#3 RUN
Psalms 141:10

“Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.”

You can also translate that word “safely” as “altogether”

In other words.
God, let them keep barking and tempting and fall into their own plans,
But let me get out of there!

Help me escape!
• Isn’t that what Paul said?
• That God would provide the way of escape?

Run! Leave!
It’s foolish to sit in a bar
Continually asking God to give you strength not to drink.
Leave.

God has promised that there is ALWAYS a way of escape, take it!
• Did not Joseph run from Potiphar’s wife?
• Those Hebrew boys refused that unclean food.

So much of the sin we fall into would be avoided if we just ran from it.

You have to see sin and temptation as a deadly viper.
YOU’VE GOT TO FLEE.

So if you want to know how to face temptation, then listen to David.

PRAY (urgently, desperately, faithfully)
TRUST (take refuge in His word, and obey it)
RUN

This is how we handle temptation.

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The Root of Indifference
Malachi 1:1-5
October 30, 2022

It was actually 2 weeks ago that we introduced this book of Malachi.
(Last week was D-Now)

And this morning we are ready to begin our study of this book.

Hopefully you remember THE THRUST of the book.
“The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.”

“oracle” means burden.
This book represents God’s burden.

Malachi even makes the statement, (2:17) “You have wearied the LORD…”

God’s people have created a burden for God.
Malachi arrives on the scene to express that burden to the people.

And while various problems are addressed,
They all come from the same source and that is INDIFFERENCE.

GOD’S PEOPLE JUST DON’T CARE WHAT GOD THINKS.
• The exile is a distant memory.
• Zerubbabel’s temple is now 100 years old.
• Nehemiah finished the city walls around 25 years ago.
• The people are settled in the land.

AND GOD IS NO LONGER A PRIORITY IN THEIR LIVES.
They are failing to “love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength”

Well let’s begin looking a little closer at God’s burden.

THIS MORNING we begin by discussing “THE ROOT OF INDIFFERENCE”

The people are clearly indifferent, but what caused it?
WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

IT COMES FROM A LACK OF GRATITUDE.

Indifferent people are indifferent
Because they are ungrateful.

• They have failed to take inventory of all that God has done for them.
• They have taken for granted how fortunate they are to be children of God.
• They have forgotten what a privilege it is to be able to draw near to God.
• They have forgotten what a privilege it is to be able to gather for worship.
• They have forgotten what a privilege it is to own a Bible and to be able to read and understand it.
• They have forgotten what a privilege it is to know the gospel and to share it.
• They have forgotten what a privilege it is to be able to pray.

Their indifference is because of their lack of gratitude.

You want a good illustration?
Luke 17:11-19 “While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

• There we had 9 indifferent men.
• They were interested in Christ purely for the benefit He could have on their life.
• And the second His power enabled them to get back to their lives as normal
they were gone.

We saw that in Israel’s history didn’t we?
Ever read the Judges?
• When things were hard they certainly cried out to God,
• But no sooner would God deliver than would they run right back into their
comfortable lives
• Where God was no longer needed.

THAT IS WHAT 9 OF THESE LEPERS DID.

But 1 was filled with gratitude.
One returned to give thanks.
And Jesus said this is the one who was saved.

I HOPE YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

And so at the outset of this study I can promise you this:
If your gratitude is not obvious
Then I can promise you that your indifference is.

AND THAT IS WHERE WE’LL BEGIN.

Malachi starts his book off with 3 things Israel had forgotten.
• Forgetting these things is what led to their lack of gratitude
• And their lack of gratitude was the root of their indifference.

Fixing the problem then is to remember what God has done.

3 things Israel forgot.
#1 THEIR GRACIOUS SELECTION
Malachi 1:1-2

The segment begins with a simple statement.
“I have loved you,” says the LORD.”

Let’s just take that statement at face value for a moment.

“loved” is AW-HAB in the Hebrew.

And it is a pretty universal word for love.
• It is used to speak of human love for one another, even romantic love.
• It is used to speak of the human appetite for things, (i.e. “I love pizza”)
• It is used of humans love for God.
• It is used of God’s love for humans.
• It is used of love between friends.

In some ways it almost seems better to translate the word “desire”

It can be an emotional attraction, a desire, a fondness, a preference,
Or full-on self-sacrificing love.

We know those famous 3 Greek words which are used to describe love.
• We talk of AROS – which is that romantic love.
• We talk of PHILEO – which is brotherly love.
• We talk of AGAPE – which is God’s love.

The Hebrew word AW-HAB seems to encapsulate all of them.

It is the love which Abraham had for Isaac.
Genesis 22:2 “He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

It is the love which Isaac had for Esau.
Genesis 25:28 “Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”

It is also the love which Isaac had for eating wild game.
Genesis 27:3-4 “Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

• It is the word used for Jacob’s love of Rachel.
• It is the word used for Jacob’s love of Joseph.
• It is the word used in both the greatest and second greatest commandments.
• Both to love God and to love your neighbor.

And this is what God announces to Israel here through Malachi.
“I have loved you”

Like Abraham loved Isaac
Like Jacob loved Rachel
Like David loved Jonathon
Like Isaac loved wild game

It is speaks of desire and it speaks of preference.
GOD DESIRED THEM.
God preferred them.

And in this sense it is MORE THAN
Just the general love which God has for the world.

WE KNOW that God loves His enemies.
WE KNOW that God causes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
WE KNOW that God causes His sun to shine on the evil and the good.

But this love is God’s love of preference and desire.

Now you’ll notice that THERE IS A REASON
THAT GOD BEGINS with this declaration.

It is because there is a COMMON COMPLAINT coming from Israel.
“But you say, “How have You loved us?”

This had become a common belief of Israel,
• Namely that God doesn’t love us.
• Or that God hasn’t shown any love to us.

We can understand this in our culture even if we don’t fully understand theirs.

Someone doesn’t get what they want from God
“Well I guess God just doesn’t love me.”

In our society we have somehow linked love with selfishness.
“If you give me what I want then you love me
And if you don’t give me what I want then you don’t love me.”

It seems as though Israel had done something similar.
They had questioned God’s love.

So God is about to set the record straight.

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob;”

When dared to prove His love for Israel,
God turns the page all the way back to Israel’s birth.

You should remember the story.

Isaac had married Rebecca but she was barren.
Genesis 25:21-23 “Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

Here we have a woman whom God graciously caused to get pregnant
And when she did get pregnant she conceived twins.

And God told her she was carrying two nations
And God made this declaration.
“the older shall serve the younger.”

• God showed preference to the younger son.
• God showed His desire was for the younger son.
• God showed love directed to the younger son.

Paul commented on this reality in the New Testament.
Romans 9:10-13 “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”

Paul added that “the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad…”

God just chose the younger one.
He set His love on Jacob.

“I have loved you,” says the LORD”

We are talking about God’s sovereign election of Israel.
It actually began way back with Abram and then Isaac, but it carried on through Jacob.

God just determined to set his love on Jacob.
No reason other than God’s sovereign prerogative.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

It was a totally UNCOERCED love.
There was nothing in it for God.
God just CHOSE to love Israel so He loved Israel.

Ezekiel 16:6-8 “When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ “I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare. “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD.”

God loved Israel. God graciously chose Jacob.

Deuteronomy 10:15 “Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.”

• God just desired Jacob.
• God just preferred Jacob.
• God chose Jacob.

Now, stop there and ponder YOUR SITUATION for a moment.

Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

God has done the same for His church.
• God chose us.
• God desired us.
• God preferred us.

It had nothing to do with our worth or works or value or merit.

It is what Cavinists refer to as “Unconditional Election”.
God just chose us because that is what God wanted to do.

IT JUST PLEASED GOD TO DO THIS.

AND ISRAEL HAD FORGOTTEN THIS.
God chose you.

• Ingratitude creeps in when you forget that you were chosen by God.
• Indifference creeps in when you forget that God chose you when you were unworthy.
• Indifference shows up when you lose sight of God’s gracious selection of you.

DID GOD LOVE ISRAEL?
Of course He did! He chose them above all others.

He has done the same for us.

Now that part is relatively easy.
It is THE NEXT TRUTH that people today have difficulty swallowing.

Their Gracious Selection
#2 THEIR GRACIOUS SITUATION
Malachi 1:3

Here’s the part that people jump up and down and throw a fit about.

Most today like to say that “God chose everybody, the saved people are merely those who chose Him back.”

Well, I’m sorry, but that is not what Scripture says.
“but I have hated Esau…”

Let’s talk about that word “hated” for a moment.

“hated” is SAW-NAY in the Hebrew.
And it is the OPPOSITE of that word AW-HAB

Genesis 29:30-31 “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years. Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

• You see that Rachel was AW-HAB “loved”
• And you see that in contrast Leah was SAW-NAY “unloved”

Deuteronomy 21:15-16 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn.”

• There again we have a AW-HAB “loved” woman.
• And we have a SAW-NAY “unloved” woman.

But that’s not the only way this word is translated.
It is also translated “enmity”
And it is translated “turns against”

See it’s not just a word that speaks of being overlooked.
What God showed to Jacob, He showed the opposite to Esau.

Scripture DOESN’T say
“I have loved Jacob; but I have not considered Esau.”

WHAT’S THE POINT?

GOD DID FOR JACOB WHAT HE DID NOT DO FOR ESAU.
GOD DID THE OPPOSITE FOR JACOB
THAN WHAT HE DID FOR ESAU.

Do you see that?

I know in our desire for “FAIRNESS” and “EQUALITY”
It just flies all over us that God chose Jacob but not Esau.

And preachers and theologians have danced for years
To try and get around that verse.

But if that verse means anything other than
God loved Jacob and God hated Esau
Then God’s argument here makes no sense.

Israel is questioning God’s love.
“How have You loved us?” they ask.

God says, “Go look at Esau and I’ll show you someone I have not loved. You on the other hand must admit that I have done great things for you.”

And that’s the point.
GOD DID FOR JACOB WHAT HE DID NOT DO FOR ESAU.
• God chose Jacob.
• God blessed Jacob.
• God put Jacob first.
• God gave the inheritance to Jacob.
• God gave the blessing to Jacob.
• God gave preeminence to Jacob.

And God did none of those things for Esau.
You can argue this all you want, but it doesn’t change what is true.

And then CHURCH you have to consider this again in your life.

God chose you for salvation.
• God did not choose everyone.

God predestined you to the adoption as sons.
• God did not predestine everyone.

If God had chosen everyone then everyone would be saved.

Wait preacher, what about?
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

You’d do good to answer one question.
• Who is “any” and who is “all” in that verse.
• Peter said that God is “patient toward you”, not everyone.
• Peter is talking about the elect, the chosen. That’s who he wrote his letter to.

That verse says that God is not going to destroy the world
Until everyone whom He has chosen comes to repentance.
He will not destroy this world until everyone of His elect comes home.

The fact is that God has NOT done the same thing for all people.

Again, that may hit you sideways, but He is God and you are not.
Romans 9:19-21 “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”

God is the potter and He can do with the clay whatever He wants.

But HERE IS THE POINT for you who are redeemed.

How does that make you feel knowing that God chose you when He didn’t have to?

How does that make you feel knowing that God preferred you when He didn’t have to?

Do you see what great things God has done for you?
• You were chosen!
• You were selected!
• You were predestined!

And not everyone is in your situation.
• Not everyone is saved.
• Not everyone is redeemed.
• Not everyone has a relationship with the Father.

Yes, it is true, everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.
God never turned anyone away who came to Him.

But the reality is that no one ever came without God’s choosing.
You are redeemed because God chose you.

It is a gracious situation you find yourself in,
And a situation that not all people find themselves in.

Israel was back in their land.
Israel was living in their inheritance.

What about Esau?
“I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”

• Both Israel and Edom were destroyed by Babylon.
• But 170 years later and Israel is back in her land, Edom is not.

Can you not see that I have done for you
What I have not done for everyone?
That is God’s question to those who question His love.

There’s a 3rd point.
#3 THEIR GRACIOUS SUPPORT
Malachi 1:4

Listen to God’s plan for the future for Edom.
“Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

• You are talking there about Edom’s destiny.
• God has destined them for wrath and for wrath they will go.
• Sure they can try to rebuild, I’ll just destroy it again.

God is “indignant forever”
He’s not indifferent forever, He’s “indignant forever”

Psalms 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”

So do you see the difference?
• God chose Jacob, He did not choose Esau
• God put Jacob back in his land, He did not do that for Esau
• Jacob has a promise of a blessed future, Esau has a promise of judgment

And you can’t see how God has loved you?

NOW LET ME MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS RIGHTLY.

God did all this for Jacob
DO NOT ASSUME it is because Jacob was somehow better than Esau.

SURE Esau was wicked.
YES Esau sold his birthright.
NO Esau would not repent.

Esau never received anything from the hand of God that he did not deserve.

In the judgment Esau will not be able to blame God,
Esau chose to sin and Esau will reap the consequences of his sin.

Hebrews 12:14-17 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”

But DON’T assume that God chose Jacob because he was the good son.

Jacob was every bit the liar Esau was.
Jacob was every bit the schemer.
Jacob was arrogant and self-righteous.

Have you read about Jacob’s life?
• How he conspired to steal the birthright…
• How he conspired to steal the blessing…
• How he tried to show off to win Rachel…

The difference between the two boys?
God gave Esau what he deserved.
God gave Jacob what he did not deserve.
• God revealed Himself to Jacob.
• God promised Jacob an inheritance.
• God delivered Jacob from Laban.

The only difference between those two boys
Is that God chose to love Jacob.

AND LISTEN TO ME CHURCH.
THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND THE WORLD
IS THE EXACT SAME THING.

I’ve heard Lee Kidd say it several times.
“If it weren’t for Jesus Christ, I’d either be dead or in prison.”

Listen, if God had not intervened in your life
You’d be just like the vilest offenders you see in the world.

You were no better than Esau.

1 Corinthians 1:26 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you…”

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

Do you understand that none of us were worthy?

WHAT HAPPENED?
• God chose us!
• God loved us!
• God predestined us to adoption as sons.

Every one of those verses are followed by the exact same word:
“BUT”

1 Corinthians 1 said there were not many wise:
1 Corinthians 1:27-28 “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,”

1 Corinthians 6 said that we were fornicators and idolators and adulterers and homosexuals:
1 Corinthians 6:11 “…but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Ephesians 2 said we were dead in our sins.
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Titus 3 said we were foolish and filled with hate.
Titus 3:4-6 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

There’s no way that any of us can say, “How have You loved us?”

Look back to your Gracious Selection,
Your Gracious Situation,
And your Gracious Support.

God loved us and saved us when we did not deserve it.

Israel had fallen into indifference because they forgot that.
Israel had fallen into indifference because they had failed to realize that
Were it not for God they would be no better off than Esau.

Have you forgotten what God did for you?
• Have you forgotten what it was like to be in darkness?
• Have you forgotten what it was like to be in sin?
• Have you forgotten what it was like to be without hope in the world?

Then how is it that gratitude can be so lacking?
• How is it that God can receive no honor?
• How is it that we bring junk to God?
• How is it that we defile His altar, ignore His word, break His covenants, and give preference to every other thing in life over Him?

That’s what Israel was doing because
They had forgotten just how loved they were by God.

But it’s more than that.
This segment ends with a sort of LITMUS TEST.

God makes one statement that will show
When Israel’s indifference has ended.

In other words God says, “On the day when you realize how much I have loved you and your indifference comes to an end, we’ll know it.”

HOW?
How can you spot people who have repented of their indifference?

(5) “Your eyes will see this…”
That is, on the day you see how much I have loved you.

“Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”

On the day your apathy ends not only will you prioritize worship.
You will also prioritize missions.

You want to know the chief characteristic of grateful people?
You want to know the chief characteristic of people who aren’t indifferent?

1) WORSHIP – “The LORD be magnified”

• Worship is not a burden for grateful people.
• Worship is not the last priority of grateful people.
• It is indifferent people who don’t care whether or not worship takes place.

2) MISSIONS – “The LORD be magnified beyond the borders of Israel!”

• Those who are grateful to God.
• Those who are not indifferent long to see God worshiped
• And long to spread His glory across the world.

Do you want to know if you lack gratitude?
Do you want to know if indifference resides in you?
Do you want to know if you have forgotten God’s great love for you?

Then check your worship and check your evangelism.

Is worship your priority or is it just something you have to do?
• People who know they were plucked out of the fire don’t have to be told to give thanks to the one who delivered them.

Is missions your priority or is it something for someone else?
• People who have been delivered don’t have a problem telling people about their deliverer.

Israel forgot that all that God had done for them
And indifference was the result.

The solution was to ponder again the great love God had demonstrated in choosing them while they were yet sinners.

It is the solution to our indifference as well.
• Ponder God’s great love!
• Ponder where you’d be without His salvation.
• You could be Esau, but He has made you Jacob.

Can you not worship Him for that?