The Study of Malachi | Lesson 1

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Okay.

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All right, so I think before I go verse by verse through Malika chapter one, verses one through five. I think that just in our small group and our time that we've been able to spend in Malika so far, we've definitely been able to see the evidence of God's love in Israel is being questioned, right? At the very beginning, you see the questioning of God's people are asking, how have you loved us God? So I thought with our time together, I'm gonna jump to a couple of places throughout the Old Testament, just to help you, maybe these are new stories to you. And if they are, it's okay, just try to hang on with me. Some of these stories may be familiar to some of you that have taken chronological, but when we get to Malika, the last prophetic book of the Old Testament, God is speaking to his people and he's declaring his love. It's a declaration of his love. I have loved you says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us?

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So that questioning for those that have read through scripture are like, why could they be in that place of questioning? Cause clearly God demonstrates his love all through the Old Testament for his people. In Hosea, this was around 755 to 710 BC. So this is just a few hundred years before Malika, right? Cause when did we say that Malika was written around the 400s? Okay, so this was just a few hundred years before was the book of Hosea. Any of you taken Hosea on Sunday morning with Barbie? There's a few of you I know that are taking Hosea on Sunday morning with Barbie. And we've done that Bible study before, but the picture there and the charge during that time, God uses a man, a prophet, his name was Hosea to be a picture of his covenant love for Israel. And then Gomer was a picture of Israel. So you had Hosea, a picture of God, Israel, or Gomer, a picture of Israel. And Israel was an adulterous wife to Hosea. So you have this picture of Hosea's marriage to Gomer was to depict God's marriage to Israel in Hosea chapters one through three. So what was the charge there in that time? Gomer, unfortunately she left her husband and she got to the point that she began to start selling herself to pay for her favors, right? She was a prostitute and we see that in Hosea. And so the charge for Israel that God has given during about 300 years before Malachi was spiritual adultery.

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So that was the charge. And how God demonstrates his love during that time for them is he tells Hosea to go again and love a woman who was loved by another man and is an adulterous. So he tells him to go and buy her back. So what a picture of love that you have. God is saying that although you have spiritual adultery when they put anything above God, right? And they were worshiping idols and things like that during that time, when they put anything above God, that's spiritual adultery. And he's saying, I love you so much that I will not break my covenant with you although you break in your covenant with me. And he sends Hosea to represent his love for Israel and says, I want you to go and marry a woman who was loved by another man and is an adulterous. So that during 300 years before Malachi, I was spiritual adultery. That was the charge of Israel. You can clearly see the evidence of God's love there. In Ezekiel, this is 592 to 570 BC. So it went from spiritual adultery as the charge. And now it's just a little bit later, Israel's unfaithfulness to the love of God, the charge was even worse than adultery. It was harlotry during that time.

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And this is about 150 years before Malachi.

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So it's kind of telling you the spiritual heart condition of the Israelites from Hosea to Ezekiel. And we're about to end up in Malachi. So Ezekiel, about 150 years before Malachi, if you were to turn to Ezekiel chapter 16 and read that, I'll give you a description of what God says in that. God says the Israel was like an unwanted baby who was thrown out wallowing in her blood, Scripture says. It's very descriptive language that God uses. But this baby is a picture of Israel that no one wanted. It was the baby was laughed at that no, I pitied that baby. And the baby was just there and lifeless. And the Lord walks by and he sees that baby, Israel. And he picks that baby up and he cleans that baby off. And he begins to feed that baby. And he watches that baby grow. And she grows and she prospers and to the point where she is of age to Mary. And he enters covenant with that baby, Israel, right? And this woman now Israel in Ezekiel 16 is lavished with beautiful blessings,

Ezekiel 16 · chapter mention

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adorned with fine jewelry, Scripture says. But what she does in Ezekiel is although she is loved by this person that walked by and saw her and picked her up and fed her, nurtured her, loved her, gave her everything she ever needed and everything her heart could ever want.

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She takes what was given to her as all of the blessings, the adornment, the fine jewels, and she takes that and she gives it to her other lovers.

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Okay, so spiritual adultery was the charge,

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but Scripture is saying it's even worse than that. That was Hosea. Now it's harlotry to the point of

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she's even paying her lovers to lie with her rather than being paid by her lovers. That's how the spiritual downfall took place with Israel. So you see God's love in Hosea, you see God's love in Ezekiel, and then you get to Malachi. And you're like, okay, this was 300 years before Malachi was Hosea, 150 years in Ezekiel. And now Malachi, how is it that the people have fallen so far away from God that they question his love, that they even question his love? And Malachi one, one through five, I'm gonna read it to you and that's what we're gonna sit and camp out on. It says the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, I have loved you says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother declares the Lord, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated and I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert. If Edom says we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.

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The Lord of hosts says they may build, but I will tear down and they will be known as the wicked country and the people of whom the Lord is angry forever.

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Your own eyes shall see this and you shall say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. So after the exile, the people have returned back into the land, the wall was rebuilt, the temple was restored and now the people have returned to worship.

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Although they had returned physically, their hearts were far from God. They did not learn anything from the lesson that was supposed to be taught to them through the exile. They learned nothing. So the first thing point that I wanna bring out about God's love, I think it's just so interesting how God says when they question God's love, because I told you last week the Oracle is a burden of the word of the Lord. So Malachi the messenger, his name means my messenger, this messenger is so burdened by the word that has been given to him and what's taken place that he is sharing this. And they start it with the love of God. And when they question the love, this is how God says that I'm gonna defend it to you. This is what he says, I have loved Jacob but he so have hated. So the first thing that I want us to see about this love that God is talking about here, it's God's covenant love.

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They had grown skeptical of God's love, Malachi 1-2, we see that. The second thing that we see in Malachi about God declaring his love, they have grown careless in their worship. In Malachi 1-7 it says, by offering polluted food upon my altar, but you say, how have we polluted you? By saying the Lord's table may be despised. So in Malachi 1-2, you see that they have grown skeptical of God's love. In Malachi 1-7, you see that they have grown careless in their worship.

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The third thing we see in Malachi is they have grown indifferent to truth.

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In Malachi 2-9 it says, you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.

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So the third thing is that they've grown indifferent to the truth.

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The fourth thing that we see in Malachi with these people

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is they've grown disobedient to the covenant.

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It says in Malachi 2-10, have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another profaning the covenant of our fathers?

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So we see that they are disobedient to the covenant of their fathers.

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The fifth thing, two more that I'm gonna share with you about the people in their spiritual condition. They have grown faithless in their marriages.

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In Malachi 2-15 it says, did he not make them one with the portion of the spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? He says, Godly offspring. That's what he was after. That's what he was seeking. So guard yourself in the spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

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So we see so far I've said that they have grown skeptical of God's love, careless in worship,

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indifferent to the truth, disobedient to the covenant,

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faithless in their marriages.

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And lastly, they've grown greedy.

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In Malachi 3-8 it says, will man rob God, yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? And your tithes and your contributions, Malachi 3-8 says.

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They have grown greedy.

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So we kind of get an idea of the spiritual heart condition of the people just through those scattered verses.

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And so the first portion that we looked at in our small group was Malachi 1-1-5 and it's like God is opening up. The burden of the Lord is I have loved you. I have loved you says the Lord.

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So Israel's question, how have you loved us? And God's answer is, is not Esau, Jacob's brother. Well, the answer is yes.

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Yes, he's his brother, but what does he mean by that?

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I believe the answer to this question contains the key to the essence of love.

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The answer is yes. Yes, Esau is Jacob's brother and you were able to see that in your homework. And not only is he Esau's brother, but he's his twin brother.

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But Esau, he was also the older brother

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that by all customary rights and privileges would have been the main heir of the father's blessings.

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So in your homework, you were able to see that God speaks to their mother. And he says that not only are you gonna have twins, but two nations are in your womb. One will serve the other, the older will serve the younger. That's contrary to what would normally have taken place.

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So the first thing that we wanna look at with God's love and his declaration of love is his love is electing.

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He's like, is not Esau, Jacob's brother.

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In Ephesians 1, four through six, we learned something about God. It says, even as he chose us, his people, his covenant people, in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. According to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

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So one of the things that we can't fully understand or grasp, but his election, his love,

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it's from his choosing. My love, God's love for us is electing. That's one thing I think he wants them to see because every Israelite would have known that Malachi is proclaiming this truth in front of, would have known that Jacob and Esau are brothers

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and the covenant love towards Jacob and Esau grown into the Edomites and their downfall.

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So that is number one. My love for you is electing. The second thing that I think that God wants us to see is that his love is unconditional.

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And we can look at many different scriptures. I have three that I wanna reference, but his love is unconditional. You can look all through scripture and see that. What about John 3.16? Everyone knows that, right? Or at least we learned that in VBS when we were younger and grew up with it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. It's unconditional. It's not by anything that we do.

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Romans 5.8 says, "But God shows his love for us. "And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

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It's not because we were good people or did anything to deserve that love. It was given to us. It was, he chose to give us that love.

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In Genesis 25.23, when God is speaking to the mother of Jacob and Esau, it says, "The two nations are in your womb. "Two peoples are within you." So this was told to her when the babies were in her womb, what was gonna happen?

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That one shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger. This wasn't anything based upon what they did or didn't do.

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So number three I want us to look at. So not only is God's love electing, it's unconditional.

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It's sovereign.

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We can look at creation alone and see his sovereignty.

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In Genesis 1.27 through 28, what does it say? So God created man in his image and his likeness. He created him male and female. He created them and blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply "and fill the earth and subdue it. "And have dominion over the fish of the sea "and over the birds of the air,

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"the birds of the heaven and over every living thing "that moves on the earth. "You see, just in creation alone, "his sovereignty over creation."

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In Psalm 115.3, it says, "Our God is in the heavens. "He does all that he pleases."

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So these are some big things that are happening just in the very opening of Malachi, of God showing that his love is,

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it's unconditional, it's electing, it's sovereign.

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And not only is it sovereign, but it's free.

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One of the things that we see about God's love through scripture is a verse I like to look at is Ephesians 2, eight through nine.

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For by grace, we all know this one, we have been what? Saved. Is it by our own merit?

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What does it say? By, through faith. And this is not your own doing. It's like if you didn't catch that in the first part of the verse, right? He goes on to say, "It is not your own doing. "It is a what? "Gift of God. "Not a result of work so that no one may boast."

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That's Ephesians 2, eight through nine. So those four truths that I want us to take away from the first part of Malachi is when God is speaking through Malachi to these people, they would clearly understand what he's saying. "If not Esau, Jacob's brother declares the Lord, "yet I have loved Jacob. "I have chosen Jacob.

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"I have chosen him." Because Jacob is Israel, right? Is the Israelites, God's covenant people.

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So his love, one more time, I'll repeat it. His love is electing, his love is unconditional,

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his love is sovereign, and his love is free.

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Now, then we get to the other part of the scripture that I think people are a little bit uneasy with. Look at what the rest of the scripture,

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"An oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, "I have loved you," says the Lord, "but you say, how have you loved us? "It's not Esau, Jacob's brother, declares the Lord, "yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau, I have hated.

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"And laid waste his hill country, "and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert."

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Okay, before I go any further where Esau says, but when we rebuild, okay, let's look at Esau a little bit. So what does he mean if he means that his love is unconditional, it's electing, it's free, and it's sovereign to his chosen people group, the Israelites, Jacob.

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What does it mean for Esau?

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It says, "Esau, I have hated."

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We don't fully understand it, but there are things that we can see about Esau, and it's not based off of anything he has done or hasn't done, but looking at Esau, right,

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he started out as a young boy, who was a twin brother of Jacob.

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Did you see any pride in his heart at all?

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I think I saw a lot of pride in his heart just as an individual and a lack of reverence for God, but also as they grew into a nation, what were they called? The Edomites.

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Did you get in your homework where you got into Obadiah?

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It's just one chapter, and if you didn't get in your homework where you read Obadiah, I want you to get there, I want you to read it, because it says a lot about this nation, the Edomites.

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God opposes them.

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And in Malachi 1, 1 through 5, he not only opposes them, but he also says that he will continue to oppose them.

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But if you read Obadiah, what does it say about their heart?

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What did they wear like a necklace? Do you all remember?

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It starts with a P, pride.

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Pride, they wore as an adornment. So not only did they have pride in their heart and try to hide the pride in their heart, but they flaunted it for others to see.

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So in this first part of Malachi, God opposes them, the nation of Esau, the Edomites, he will continue to oppose them.

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He also turns them over to their wickedness.

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What does it say?

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I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert. So he's turning them over to their own wickedness. So it's not like God chose Jacob and he pass bought by Esau.

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This is a wicked people group, we do know that. We see their lack of reverence for God,

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but also we see their lack of reverence for even his judgment.

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Because it says, "I have laid waste his hill country "and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert." So he's poured them out over to their own wickedness.

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If Edom says what? This is their heart, y'all, right here. We are shattered, but what will we do? Rebuild the ruins.

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So as God is turning them over to their wickedness and they're getting a taste of his judgment, they still don't bend the knee.

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They don't bend the knee.

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They are full of pride, they glowed about it, they parade around about it. So they have a complete lack of reverence for God. And what does God say in Malachi?

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He says they will try to rebuild, but I will what?

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Tear down. I will tear down. And they will be called the wicked country and the people of whom the Lord is angry forever.

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Eventually, they're completely destroyed, this whole people group, this whole nation in the book of Obadiah, because of why?

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Pride, pride.

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And God says your own eyes, the Israelites, God's chosen people group, your own eyes will see this and you shall say great, is the Lord beyond the border of Israel?

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So God reveals his love for Israel, why? Why is he wanting them to see it? To humble them.

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Because they're walking around all proud and pious.

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Because what were they doing? They came back into the land and they had the wall rebuilt, they restored the temple and now they're returning to worship and they lack reverence to God. They're going through the motions of life and going through the motions of worship, but their heart is far from God.

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And they began to doubt God's love. And I told my small group earlier this morning, doubt is not like the unpardon sin. It's okay to have doubt. It's okay to doubt at times. But what do we do with that doubt? We bring it to God. Because I'm telling you, we're humans, just like these people are.

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And based off of the situation they could have returned in Jerusalem and been in, they could have looked at the circumstances of their life and thought, where is God really?

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And I don't wanna dismiss any hardship that anybody's going through because there are oftentimes that we can end in a situation and we're in and we're bound up and we just don't know what to do.

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And it's okay to bring your doubting to God. It's okay to question Him. He can handle your questions, but He helps you with your doubts. He helps you with your insecurities. You pray to Him, you read His word and you will grow. That doubting, I told them my small group earlier, actually helps people grow spiritually.

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If you handle it rightly, you bring it to God and God will help you with that doubt. What do you do? You read His word, you pray and He will show you truth.

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And that's what He's doing in Malakata, His people. They have grown so complacent toward Him.

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He loves Israel. And I think we can easily see that through creation, through the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the way through the Old Testament, Him freeing them out from slavery in Egypt,

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Him sending profit after profit after profit to tell the people to repent and turn to Him. He wanted to bless them, but He had a covenant with them. And the covenant, if they walked in obedience, blessing comes.

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If they walk in disobedient, curse happens.

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And when there's a famine in the land in the Old Testament,

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that's judgment on the land because of sin. God deals with sin and He wants to bless His people, but they're just going through the motion and they're causing people to stumble.

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They're not only affecting their relationship with God, but they're hurting other people as well and their relationship with the Lord. Because in the next day, the next week's homework, He starts to single out the priest, God's messengers, those who are to represent God to the people and bring the people's requests to God. His people that are supposed to represent Him, His representatives right there in that land, He starts to single them out because they're the ones that are causing others to stumble.

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And they're the ones that are accepting these blemish offerings brought to the Lord.

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So I just wanna close.

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You know, it makes me think of just, have you ever been in a situation, and I can think of a time in my life when I began to question the love of someone that I know that loves me unconditionally.

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I remember being a teenage kid. Do y'all remember being a teenage kid?

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Did anybody have like just the most pleasant teenage experience?

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Okay, good, I'm not alone.

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I was a brat.

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I didn't realize I was a brat until I got older and then I went back to my mom and I said, oh, I'm so sorry. But there was a time and I remember this like it was yesterday. And I just cannot believe the words came out of my mouth. I was sitting on my stairs. And I wanna think the reason that this happened is because I didn't get to do what I really wanted to do. Right, have you ever been there?

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I did not get to do what I really wanted to do. Now, my mom, she was wise and she knew that if I hung around a certain group of people, that I really wanted to hang around because they were the popular group and they were doing all the parties and all the things. If I hung around those people, I was gonna become like those people.

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And she warned me and she was like, I don't like them.

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I don't think this is a good thing for you. And I remember being so bratty. And I sat on those stairs and I said, you don't love me.

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And I will never say that again.

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Because her response was not like, it was out of love, but it was direct and it was deserved. And I remember thinking in that moment, it was all like, she just wanted to keep me from doing what I wanted to do.

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The same thing in this situation. These people, they were just comfortable.

[01:29:35:02 - 01:29:52:00]

They were just comfortable living day in and day out, doing the work of the temple and all of that. And divorce and their wives or their youth and marrying foreign women, they were taking the better for their self and giving God their leftovers. And they were content in that.

[01:29:53:13 - 01:29:55:09]

And then they questioned God.

[01:29:56:21 - 01:30:04:00]

Because why? God's favor was not upon them. They were wanting God's favor while walking through

[01:30:05:00 - 01:30:23:21]

the motions of life and worship. But God did not give them his favor. So it makes me think of that little teenage girl, that little bratty teenage girl that I grew up one day and I remember going back to my mom and I'm saying, I'm so sorry I treated you that way. I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you.

[01:30:25:00 - 01:30:38:03]

Did she love me? Absolutely she loved me. That's why she restricted me from doing certain things. It's because of love. That's why God set a boundary in the garden,

[01:30:39:04 - 01:30:40:04]

is because of love.

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That's why he sent them out of the garden, is because of love.

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That's why he sent us on Jesus, is because of love. He loved the people of Israel. He loves us. So help, I guess we could close with this

[01:30:56:09 - 01:31:07:10]

and we could pray and asking God to help us, not look at the circumstances around us. Not look at wherever we find ourselves, but to trust in him.

[01:31:08:12 - 01:31:20:15]

Because he does love us and he will give us direction and care for us. Let's pray. God, we love you and praise you. And we're just so thankful Lord for who you are God. We're so thankful for even this message in Malachi

[01:31:21:20 - 01:32:01:22]

and these people as they doubt your love Lord and the condition that takes place in their lives because of that. They're doubting your love and they're not handling it rightly and they're just complacent in their worship toward you. God, I pray that you will help us as women of faith Lord to look at the cross, look at the demonstration of your love for us. Even when everything else is crazy around us and it feels like everything else is like coming in on us in all directions Lord. When we feel buried by the circumstances and the difficulties of life Lord, in that moment Lord, show us the cross.

[01:32:02:22 - 01:32:46:21]

Help us keep our eyes on the cross because that will in turn bring us out of that and keep our hearts focused and inclined to you Lord because you do love us and you are working everything out for good for those who love you and are called according to your purposes. We know that truth. We can claim that truth in the middle of a difficult circumstance Lord. I just pray that we continue to see Lord that you chose us, that we are your children out of the love by election, by the unconditional love that you offer by the sovereignty, by your sovereignty Lord. Help us to receive that love that you're trying to extend to us through the reading of your word and draw us close to you in Jesus name, amen.

[01:32:49:13 - 01:33:17:14]

Sorry, y'all. Next week we'll look at the second part of chapter one. So that will be week two of your homework. So just try to get into that week two and come if you don't finish all your homework. I know some of it can be hard and some of it's long but do what you can pray and ask God to help you prioritize that time and come back and we will discuss week two's homework in our small group next week.