Honor Your Covenants - Malachi 2:10-3:15

1:36They're not treating the offerings in a way that the priests should. They're allowing the worst of the flocks to be offered, and the Lord is upset with them, and he's telling them to honor his name. Well, now he seems to be turning to talk to all the people that have come back. So instead of mostly talking to the Levites, now he's mostly talking to Judah, is what he keeps calling them. And this time he's going to speak a lot about some different covenants and says, honor your covenants. Be a faithful person. So honor my name and honor your covenants. Be faithful where you're supposed to be faithful. So let's pray before we begin and start to look at this text. Father, we pray that you would help us as we look at a culture that's far removed in time and geography.

2:37We pray that you'd help us understand the attitude that had captivated this people so that we can avoid it. We pray that you would make us people that honor your name and are faithful in our promises and our commitments. Help us, God, as we study. In Jesus' name, amen. Does anybody remember, as we studied Ezra and Nehemiah, what was one of the big issues when they came back as regards to marriage? Right. They married foreigners. And that seems to be something that repeatedly comes up. We see it throughout the Old Testament, but we especially see it in Ezra, where they marry these foreign wives, and the whole nation has this big repentance, and there's weeping, and it's a time where the whole nation turns. But then in Nehemiah, not too long after, they seem to do it again. And Nehemiah really has to get on to them. Well, now, for Malachi, they seem to fall into the same kind of trouble. Now, why does this matter?

4:06They worship foreign gods, and that's going to become very clear in our text today. He makes that very plain. So it's not just that he doesn't like people to marry people from another country, right? It's that the people had just come back, and they've just restored the temple. They've just come back from being scattered in the nations. This is supposed to be God's holy nation. Nation, and yet repeatedly over and over, almost right away, they keep marrying the daughters of foreign gods. This is how he says it. So let's look at the text, chapter 2, verse 10. Have we not all one father?

4:48Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Okay, so the first covenant that he's talking about here is he's talking about the covenant between the people of Israel and their father, that God has chosen them. They, as the people of Israel, have one father and one God. God has chosen them. Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Verse 11. Judah has been faithless. An abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign God. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts.

5:54So we see this issue again, and the Lord is very clear with them that there is a Curse now on their family. Verse 12 again, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. So he is saying that these people have gone and married the daughter of a foreign God and then come back and tried to keep offering sacrifices to the true God. And you seem to get this picture that in the curse he's saying, I wish that person would just be cut off. You know, may that person be cut off if they're going to do that, if they're going to disobey the Lord in this way. Not only did they already know they weren't supposed to do this, but Ezra led them in the word of God and the whole nation repented. And then Nehemiah, it didn't look the same, remember? Nehemiah was having to be really tough on them, and then they repented. And now again, so soon after, they commit this sin, which they know is wrong, that they married the daughter of a foreign God. Now, just think for a minute, why would that be an issue?

7:02Brainstorm about it. Like, why, why, I mean, besides the fact that God said not to do it, what do you think that would look like, Candice? Right. There's going to be conflict in the home. What else? A big one, I think, is the children. He's going to bring up. The children, in just a minute, that when you have a, when they, as Israelites, would have a good and holy marriage, their children were being raised up in good instruction. But if these men who keep coming and sacrificing to the Lord, but they've gone and married the daughter of a foreign God, their children are not getting that godly instruction. They're going to be listening to their mother who worships this foreign God.

7:58It's not going to be a good picture. But that's not all that they've done. Look at verse 13. And this second thing you do, you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, why does he not? Because the Lord was witnessed between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Okay, so now there's a different covenant that they're not being faithful to, and it's the marriage covenant. That they have made promises in marriage that they're not keeping. So look again at verse 13. The second thing you do, you cover the Lord's altar with tears. So they're coming to the Lord's altar. They're crying. They're acting like they have no idea why God is not blessing them and answering their prayers. They come with tears, with weeping. Weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

9:08Verse 14, but you say, Why does he not? Remember, this whole little prophecy, he keeps bringing up the questions of the people, these questions with the bad attitude: why is he not looking at us? How has he loved us? All of these kinds of things. But you say, verse 14, why does he not? Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. So when you get married, when the Israelites got married, the Lord was a witness to that. The Lord saw, and they made a covenant with each other, and likely with God Himself, that they would stay faithful to one another. And yet, in order to go, presumably, marry these foreign wives, they are breaking that covenant with the wife of their youth and going to marry these foreign wives.

10:05Verse 15: Did he not make them one with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. Let's stop there for just a moment. This verse is a little tricky to translate, but I think that I really like what the ESV says. Did he not make them one? I think he's talking about what marriage is. Did he not bring them together and bind them in a union? And when God does this in marriage and he wants this godly union, what is he seeking? What was the one God seeking, godly offspring? So he wants the nation to continue to be godly. He doesn't want Israel to fall into idolatry again. This is one of their biggest issues. It's one of the reasons why they had to be sent off into exile. And so when they come back, why in the world would you go and divorce the wife of your youth in order to marry the daughter of a foreign God who's going to teach the children to not be godly? God wants his godly nation. So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

11:31Now, think about, I don't know, think about what might have been going on in their heads. And of course, we don't know, but I think that this is a pattern for all humans, that as we grow longer in marriage or longer in relationships or something like that, that these kinds of relationships can lose their newness or something. You know, maybe the men were, they had been married. Married to the wife of their youth, and that was getting old to them, or something. They weren't watching over their spirit like he commands them to do. So guard yourself in your spirit. They weren't guarding themselves, and they had allowed them to be able to despise the wife of their youth in order to go and marry this other, maybe more exotic or different or something like that, this other woman. He's saying, Don't do that. Guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

12:39Be proactive about it. Guard your spirit. Pay attention to your spirit and don't let this happen. Now, we're not totally positive that that's what the picture is that's going on, that they're for sure leaving Israelite wives and going to marry these foreign wives. Maybe those are two separate things that they're doing, but it seems like they really fit together, right? And some people would say something like, well, God didn't like when they married foreign wives, but this second thing is he also didn't like when they divorced him in Ezra, since he says a second thing you did, that you were faithless to your wife. But it doesn't seem to fit, right? Because he says, what was the one God seeking, godly offspring? So it seems like the Lord's point is that they had married Israelites. The wife of their youth. And God blessed that union, and they became one in order to raise godly offspring that loved the Lord. But the men were forsaking this union in order to go marry a foreign wife in direct disobedience to God. Verse 16.

13:50The ESV says, For the man who does not love his wife, but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless. He repeats the command again: guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless. I'm going to read verse 16 again in the ESV, and I want you to listen. And if your translation has something very different, I want you to pay attention because I might ask you to read it. Verse 16 again, the first half of it. For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. Does anybody have something different there?

14:39Matt? Read it nice and loud for everybody. For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covers his garment with wrongs. Take heed to your spirit that you do not think you do not feel troubled. Right. So that last part is the same in both the translations, right? But In verse 16 and the ESV, they follow one set of manuscripts, and I think what Matt just read is actually an older set of manuscripts. So, Matt, I'm going to have you read that one more time. Is that okay?

15:15For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with wrong, says the Lord of hosts. To take heed to your spirit, that you do not feel treacherous. Right. So, there's a little bit of confusion there. I know that might make us a little uncomfortable, but either way, I think the Lord is saying that the man who does this, the man who divorces his wife, covers her, or his garment, covers his garment with violence. So, instead of his garment, like in the book of Ruth, being something that he spreads over his wife, it's the same picture that the Lord used of Israel itself. In Ezekiel 16, we read that God spread his garment over the nation of Israel and made her his own. That now God is saying that the person who divorces the wife of his youth covers his garment in violence. It's not a good thing for that wife. It's a violent act towards that wife to divorce her.

16:14The distinction there is just in a pronoun. Is it the man who hates his wife by divorcing her? Which we would say is true in the context, right? Or is it that God hates divorce? That the man who does this covers his garment in violence. And I think it's the second one: that the Lord does not approve of divorce. Divorce doesn't please him. If he's the one who comes and has made the union, if he's the one who has blessed that union with his spirit and he's a witness to that union, it displeases him greatly to see that union be split up just to chase after something that the man wants or the woman.

17:02All right. Any questions? That's a good stopping point. Also a little bit heavy. But let's recap just a little bit: that the first part of Malachi was about how he's saying the people need to honor his name. And now, in this second part, he's saying, honor your covenants. And he mentions too, he mentions his covenant with them: that God has chosen them and loved them and made them into this nation, and yet they're despising that covenant by marrying foreign wives.

17:37Not only are they despising that by marrying foreign wives, in order to do that, they're divorcing the wives of their youth, and so they're going against that covenant. They're not being faithful at all. And so, twice he says, at the end of 15 and at the end of 16, so guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless. And I think. Think that that would be something that directly applies to us as well, right? That our tendency is to be faithless.

18:09Our tendency, what's easy, is to not be committed to the end, but to be faithless, to not be dependable. So we have to guard ourselves in our spirits. Let's keep going. Thomas? Yeah, I just wanted to say something. I don't know if y'all remember when we went through Mark chapter 10, but it was really something that impacted me through that study: is that divorce-mindedness is really kind of the picture there, being there's certainly specific applications in the husband-wife, and certainly in religion here, but just the whole concept of being divorce-minded, being content to put somebody away. I mean, I think there's a lot of ways that we can separate and be may not be a faithful friend or a faithful husband, faithful wife, faithful parent. There's a way you can have a mindset of being content to separate them and send them away. Right. We do that all the time. So, anyway, I agree. I agree. And I think that really ties together the two points he's making in this: they are willing to not be faithful to God, even though God has chosen them and loved them, and they're willing to not be faithful to their wives. They've got. This pattern in their lives where they're willing to repeatedly be unfaithful.

19:37So now he's going to go back to the back and forth with them where he says something and they, you know, like a teenager or like a rebellious sinner, keep throwing up their hands and disagreeing with them by their questions. So look at verse 17, chapter 2, verse 17. You have wearied the Lord with your words. I think that goes back to what he was saying when they were weeping on the altar and groaning and their tears. They cover the Lord's altar with tears and they're asking, oh, why won't you pay attention to us when really in the background they are breaking their covenant with the Lord and with the wives of their youth. And so I think in verse 17, you have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, how have we wearied him?

20:28By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. Or by asking, where is the God of justice? Okay, so now they're busted, right? Because God heard them say these kinds of things. God knows that this is their attitude. They might come and outwardly they're weeping and they're crying and they're giving their offerings and they're offering to the Lord. But remember, number one, in the first chapter, those Offerings are the worst of their flock. You know, if there's an animal with a disease or that breaks his leg, they get excited because they get to take that one and give it to the Lord instead of the best of their flock.

21:12So it's not like their worship is very wholehearted, anyways. But also, they're committed to a life of sin. These offerings are an outward show. And so God says, Your words are wearying me. And they say, How have we wearied him? By saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. Or by asking, Where is the God of justice? So they're basically just saying out loud and having the attitude of, God doesn't care. You know, he doesn't see everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. He doesn't pay attention to who does evil. They're good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or by asking, Where is the God of justice? Saying, you know, it doesn't matter if we have justice on the widow and the orphan or something. It doesn't matter that God says he's going to make sure that those wrongs get righted. They're saying, where is he? He's not paying attention. He's going to bless all of us. We're just going to keep being wicked. You see the attitude there?

22:27Well, they ask, where is the God of justice? Justice. He's coming. Chapter 3. Look at verse 1. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. They are pretending to delight in the Lord with their outward actions. They're pretending like he doesn't see them, and they can do whatever they want in the thoughts of their hearts and in their actions outside of the temple.

23:22And they ask, where is the God of justice? In chapter 3, he says, pay attention. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. What does that sound like? John the Baptist, right? And why don't we turn to Matthew 11 or just listen? It's the next book. Matthew 11, verse 7. As they went away, Jesus. Began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.

24:32Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And we can flip back to Malachi. But he quotes the verse that we just read and says that verse was talking about John the Baptist. He is the messenger who's going to come before the Lord. Verse 1 again, Malachi 3:1, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way for me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. And so you get the picture that maybe they had this cavalier attitude because they know that when they got back from the exile, the Lord never entered the temple again like he did in Solomon's day with the smoke and Glory. And maybe they're having this cavalier attitude towards the sacrifices, and they think God can't see, or he's not there, or he's not paying attention. Where is the God of justice? And God says, I'm going to send my messenger, and then the one that you seek, the one that you say you seek, I think is what he's saying, the one that you seek, he's coming to the temple.

25:54The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. So the messenger of the covenant or the angel of the covenant, I think, is the Lord Himself. I think the Old Testament uses that language for him in other places too, talking about the angel of the Lord. I think the Lord, this is a prophecy of when the Lord is coming, but when he comes, verse 2. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old.

27:00And as in former years. Okay, so let's back up again. There's a bunch there, but verse 2, when the Lord comes to his temple, no one's going to be able to stand it there because when he comes, he's going to purify it. They're pretending like they want the Lord to show up. They're pretending like they're weeping and groaning and begging for the Lord. But when he does come to his temple, They're not going to be able to stand it because he's like a refiner's fire. Does anybody remember what that picture is like in the Old Testament, the refiner's fire? Anybody want to tell that picture for us?

27:48What do you think they're refining? Yeah. Yeah, and you know, in the Old Testament, we often hear the word dross or something like that, that the Lord is purifying us, purifying his people and getting rid of the dross. And so they would crank up the heat on this metal. You know, they'd get the metal out of the rock, but it'll have all the dirt and stuff in it, right? And so they'd heat it up, and the metal would melt and go to the bottom, and the dirt and stuff would go up to the top, and that's called the dross. And they'd scrape off the dross, and then you'd have a more pure metal, and then crank up the heat a little more, and then more dross would come to the top. You need to scrape it off. This refining fire, this hot fire. That's what the Lord is going to be when he comes to his temple. So the picture is, I think, that it's not necessarily pleasant, right? That, yes, he's going to purify things, but he's going to do it by cranking up a fire.

28:50And I think that that Fuller's soap is the same picture that they use that for laundry, this compound or something that they use for laundry to clean it, that they're cleaning and refining. And so the people aren't going to be able to stand it when the Lord does come. Verse 3. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah in Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. And so one of the effects of God coming to the temple and refining it and purifying it is he's also going to refine his people. He's even going to refine the Levites so that after he comes, there's going to be a day, and I think there's a separation here, but after he comes, there's going to be a day where they give sacrifices again, but now they're pure. They're not like we're reading at the beginning of Malachi, where they're fake sacrifices and impure sacrifices that the Lord isn't pleased with. But instead, He's going to refine the Levites, and because he refines them, they're going to give pure sacrifices someday.

30:08Probably most Christians, I don't know if this is true, a lot of Christians would take that to mean that the Levites who become Christians, then instead of offering temple sacrifices or something like that, they're able to offer sacrifices of prayer or offer their body as sacrifices, like we read about in Romans 12, something like that, after they become believers. But I think the most natural reading of it is to say that, no, he's actually going to purify the priesthood again, and someday there are going to be sacrifices again. And I think we read about that again, or we read about that also at the end of Ezekiel, in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel, where he talks about those sacrifices as well. But either way, the prophecy is clear that these people are pretending like they love the Lord and they want him to come.

31:03And he says, My messenger is going to come who's going to prepare the way for the Lord. And the Lord is going to enter his temple, but it's not going to be a pleasant thing because he's going to purify the temple. And you're what's wrong with the temple. And so you're going to be purified. And even the priesthood is going to be purified to give holy sacrifices again someday. Verse 5: Then I will draw near. To you for judgment, I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Let's read that again, verse 5. Long verse, I know. Verse 5, Then I will draw near to you for judgment.

31:59I will be a swift witness. Let's pause there for just a moment. So the Lord is saying that someday after these things take place, he is going to draw near for judgment on all these people. And we'll look at who the people are in just a minute. But again, he uses that word witness, that he's a witness against them. And just like last time, we saw that he is seeing their sacrifices. He's watching them. He's paying attention. They're acting like he doesn't see. And he keeps repeating this idea of, I see you. You can't trick me. I'm a witness against you. And he's saying that again in the judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely.

32:44Let's pause there. So the sorcerers, obviously those that are following, maybe because of their foreign wives that worship other gods or something, that are doing magic practices or something that's been false. Forbidden by the Lord. Against the adulterers, the Lord is going to be witness against them, those that are unfaithful in their marriages. Against those who swear falsely. I think that we have a really good conception of this because we see so many court cases or we hear, you know, even if it's on TV or something like that, but we know that witnesses are not supposed to say false things on the stand. And culturally, it was the exact same for them, right? They depended on these witnesses. If you have two or three witnesses, but you can imagine that wicked people would get two or three friends and say, okay, I want you to get on the stand and swear falsely so that we can have this widow go to jail so that we can have her property or something like that, right? These people who are swearing falsely. Against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages. So they hire someone to come and work their fields, but then they don't give them the wage that they promised or the wage that they deserve. The widow and the fatherless. Against those who, other people that are oppressed, the worker, the widow, and the fatherless. Against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. So again, the Lord is saying, I'm the Lord of hosts. I am a witness against you. And there's going to be a judgment someday. And I've seen it when you've thrust aside the foreigner and oppressed the widow, the people that you're serving. Supposed to be taking care of and reaching out to and being compassionate to.

34:40Any questions? It's another good stopping point. What immediately jumped into my mind is what I hear a lot today when I talk to people about their sin. They'll admit their sin, but usually what follows out of their mouth is, but I'm good, almost these words, you know, but I'm good because what I've taken from that is there's a mistaken people are mistaking God overlooking a sin, which he does not do, but God forgiving a sin, but which requires a putting the God we're able to obtain forgiveness for our sins through the sacrifice by Jesus Christ. That's not the same as God overlooking a sin, which is ignoring it. That would be an unjust God. So I think it's an important distinction to remind people that God is not overlooking your sin. There's forgiveness available, but that's not a good thing.

36:00I think we definitely can see this attitude in our own culture and in people that we interact with, and even in our own hearts, sometimes. Right. Right. Any other comments? The Lord does see. And I believe in chapter 3 that I encourage you to keep reading that this week, those first few verses, I believe that is a direct prophecy of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ when they come, and how Jesus Christ was unbearable to the people in the temple because he was there as a refiner. He was purifying them, and that he purified his people.

37:17So we have that they are supposed to be honoring their covenants, yet they have been faithless to the Lord. They've been faithless to the wives of their youth. And then they have this attitude like he doesn't see and he doesn't care. And so they can treat anybody however they want and pretend like they want God to come back. And God is saying, I am going to come for judgment, but I'm also going to come to the temple, the place where you're doing all your fake sacrifices, and it's going to be purified.

37:57Let's go to one last thing. One more evidence of this bad attitude and this faithlessness in chapter 3, verse 6. For I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, oh children of Jacob, are not consumed. Let's pause right there. Now, what did he start this verse with? The word for, right? I think what he's doing here is he's explaining why they're living as his chosen people right now and not just being judged right now. So he's just said, I am coming to judge. And then verse 6, for I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, oh children of Jacob, are not consumed. And so they're taking God, not consuming them right now as an evidence of he doesn't care, or there is no God of justice, or where is he, at least? And he's saying, look, it's because I've chosen you. And so I'm not going to just let you be consumed, but there is going to be a day of judgment. Verse 7. From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

39:20But you say, how shall we return? Now, probably, given the attitude of the rest of their questions, it's probably they weren't not, they weren't probably just convicted and are honestly acting, asking, sorry, can't speak right now, are honestly asking, how do we return? You know, oh, no, we need to return. And that's made clear in the next exchange. Verse 8. Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you?

39:59In your tithes and contributions. Okay, so let's think through that one more time. So back in verse 7, for from the days of the fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? And God answers, in your tithes and contributions. It's a little confusing there, right? Because he jumps right from the question right to his answer. But his point is that the people of Israel are always turning aside. And what he wants them to do is turn back to him.

40:45And they're kind of feigning ignorance, like, oh, how would we do that? How would we turn back to you? As if they didn't know the sins that they were committing. And so he brings up one of them, another one, besides the divorce and besides the unfaithfulness. And it is that they are robbing him. But you say, how have we robbed you? And he says, in your tithes and contributions. So since they are keeping back the tithes that they, as God's covenant people, were required to give, they are robbing God.

41:22Turn for just a minute, or just listen, to the end of Leviticus. Leviticus 27. I think that this mindset was supposed to be their mindset about what the tithe was when they were supposed to give the tithe according to the law to the Levites in the ministry of the temple. I think this was supposed to be their mindset. Leviticus 27, verse 30. Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's.

42:00It is holy to the Lord. He goes on to talk more about the tithe, and we could turn to other places in Deuteronomy, but we don't have time. But I think that that simple idea that when they are taking up these things from the field, there's a tenth of it, and that tenth is the Lord's. And so I think God is perfectly justified in saying that when they don't give that tenth to him, they're robbing him. This was a requirement for them. God has been blessing them in the land. And God is saying, When I bless you, you take that tenth, and that is mine. And you give it to the Levites for the ministry of the temple. Okay, I think that was supposed to be their mindset. And we read in Deuteronomy, you can write down Deuteronomy 14 and Deuteronomy 26 if you want to look later. But we read there that they were required to give these tithes, and when they didn't, God would withhold these blessings from them. And he says, But when you do, then you can come and pray for these blessings. That's Deuteronomy 26.

43:13And so, as he keeps going in Malachi, we're back in Malachi 3 now. How have we robbed you and your tithes and contributions? Verse 9, you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe. And to the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need, I will rebuke the devourer for you. It's probably the locusts or whatever is hurting their crop. I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. Let's stop there. So his challenge to them is to do what they are commanded to do, to bring that tenth and give it to the Lord's. It's his, anyways, and when they hold it back, they're robbing him. But it seems like they have, since maybe they've fallen on hard times with locusts or something like that, and they've looked at those hard times. And since what they're bringing in from the field is not as much as they like, what goes out of their budget is that tenth. They say, okay, this is not bringing in what we want, and so we just need to keep that tenth for ourselves, even though it is the Lord's. And he's saying, no, that's mine. You go ahead and give that tenth, Israel, that you're supposed to give. I dare you to. And just challenge me and see that I won't open up the storehouses for you. And bring the rain again, cause the locusts to leave and bless you so that all the nations call you blessed.

45:09That's his challenge to them. Now, I think that that is something special for them, right? That that is this deal that the Lord had set up with them in Deuteronomy: you bring in the tithe and then you ask for this blessing, and I'll give it to you. And I think God is making that same challenge to them again. You're holding it back, there's been scarcity or something, but I dare you to go ahead and be faithful to your covenant, do what you need to do, and I will bless you.

45:49But I think that there's certainly a principle there for us, right? I think that, number one, negatively, their attitude can be our attitude as well. That we can be pretty quick to have that rotten attitude that says, you know, I don't need to give to the Lord anyways. I know I'm forgiven, or I know I'm part of his chosen people. I also think that we can have that temptation of when things get scarce for us, the first thing to go out the window is our giving to the Lord. And no, it's not quite the same as Israel.

46:31You know, it's not quite the same as them. They were a nation. They were God's chosen nation. But I still think that those impulses, we can have the same impulses that those people had: no, I can't give to the Lord right now, or I'm not going to give to the Lord. I'm not going to be generous with my money. And I don't know if we have a specific rule to make sure we give exactly 10%. You know, every Christian needs to give 10%, but I think that we see that all over Scripture, right, as a good model to be held up, that Abraham did it to Melchizedek, that that's what was required for the people to give to the Lord. And the New Testament, I think it's pretty clear. The Lord is clear that where your treasure is, there your heart is also, right? And that we are to be people who are cheerful givers, who love to give regularly and of our own free will.

47:29And so just a challenge for us as we think about these principles that, no, there might not be these specific rules on us, but I think that that negative attitude can creep into our heart pretty quick because we're greedy or we think we never have enough. And I just think that if you were standing there in that day, you would see that in their heart and you would say, you know, this is what the Lord expects of you. You can trust them.

47:56You can still be faithful. And I think that we can. Trust him as well. We can be generous as well. Look at verse 13 to close this off. Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, How have we spoken against you? You have said, it is vain to serve God. It's useless to serve God, is what they're saying. You said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

48:29And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. That's where we're stopping for tonight. So don't read ahead. Give away some surprises that are at the end of the book. But he's saying again, he's confronting them with this attitude. They're still having this attitude that the Lord doesn't see. Why would we change? Why would we be sorrowful over our sin? Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. People are able to do whatever they want in this land. So we're going to divorce our young, the wives of our youth. We're going to marry foreign wives. We're going to break the law by keeping back our tithes.

49:16We're going to test the Lord by having this attitude, by even inviting him to come and praying and weeping and offering these fake sacrifices. But of course, The Lord is witness against them. He sees their evil hearts, and he's calling them to be faithful. This morning I was at another church, and I preached about John, 1 John 2, verse 15 through 17. And the call in those verses was to, he says, do not love the world or the things in the world. And he lists those out, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life or the pride of livelihood or possessions.

50:03And he's saying, you don't follow those cravings because that's what the world is following. They follow what their flesh craves. They follow what their eyes crave. That's what's driving them. That's how they're acting, instead of paying attention to what our heavenly Father wants. And I think that's exactly what these people are doing. They see something that they shouldn't have, and they crave after it. And so they ignore what their Father has told them. And they run after that thing. They run after the lust of the eyes. They run after the lust of their flesh. Of course, they're not going to give money for the temple because they're craving after things.

50:48And John's warning to the Christians in 1 John is that you, as Christians, don't do that. You can still be tempted even now to do that. And so I think Malachi can bear that. Same warning to us, right? That our tendency can be to have that negative attitude, to pretend like the Lord doesn't see us instead of being a cheerful giver, or instead of joyously keeping watch and keeping guard on our spirits so that we stay faithful. I think that's the call for us to not chase after those cravings, but instead pay attention to what our Father wants. Let's pray, Father.

51:32We thank you that you've made us your own. You've done so much for your people, and we have found forgiveness in you because of the price that Christ has paid. And so, Father, I pray that this cavalier attitude that is pervasive in the people that Malachi is describing, I pray that that wouldn't creep into our hearts, but that we would honor your name and honor our covenants and promises, be faithful to you, be faithful to our spouses, be faithful to our commitments.

52:30Help us, Father, be like you, the faithful one. We thank you that the messenger came to prepare the way for Christ, and Christ came and did his purifying work. And we pray, God, that you would continue to purify and refine us in our hearts as we seek to please you. In Jesus' name, amen.