Malachi- When You Doubt God's Love 1: 1-11

Intro.

You take God’s holy word and find the last book in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament.

Today, we begin a new series on the book of Malachi.

(Historical Setting)

Malachi ministered in the fifth century B.C., about 100 years after Cyrus had issued the decree in 538 B.C. which permitted Jews to return from exile to Judah.

In response to the prophetic ministries of Haggai and Zechariah, the Jews had rebuilt the temple, completing it in 515 B.C. Houses had been reconstructed. Most likely in Malachi’s day the wall of Jerusalem was being rebuilt or had been completed (by Nehemiah’s crew).Life was not easy. The Jews were under the political dominion of Persia, Harvests were poor and subject to locust damage (Mal. 3:11). Most hearts were indifferent or resentful toward God. Both the priests and the people were violating the stipulations of the Mosaic Law regarding sacrifices, tithes, and offerings. The people’s hope in God’s covenant promises had dimmed, as evidenced by their (a) intermarriages with pagans, (b) divorces, and (c) general moral ambivalence.

Sound familiar?

God’s people were looking toward the future, toward the Messiah, looking for a return to the glory day, and it wasn’t happening. And what were they thinking? Does God really love us?

That kinda sets the stage here.

When you were a child, did you ever doubt that your parents loved you?

I mean, sometimes after you got a spanking or sometimes when you wanted them to give you something and they wouldn’t give it to you?

Or you wanted to do something and go somewhere and you didn’t get your way and you doubted your parents’ love?

And then later on you grew up and you realized how silly and how immature you were.

Now we’re going to be dealing with some immature people who in Malachi’s day doubted God’s great love for them.

And I’m speaking to some people here today, some people who are having financial difficulty, some people who are having health problems, some people who are having financial problems, some people who are not getting what they want, not getting to do what they want to do, some people who are in difficulty who may be doubting God’s love.

And so the title of our message today is, “When You Doubt God’s Love.”

Malachi 1:1–5 (ESV)

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. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

Malachi 1:6–8 ESV

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 1:9–11 ESV

And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

Very similar were the people in Malachi’s day. And what God said to Malachi, I feel certain that God is saying to the people of our day. Now Malachi starts out and he says to the people of God, he says in verse 2, “I have loved you…” And they answer with a smart question; I mean, a smart aleck question, what I call a silly question. They say, “Oh, you’ve loved us? Where have you loved us?” Now the implication is, “God, if you really love us, why are we having so much trouble? If you really love us, why all of this difficulty?”

And this is the first of seven insolent, sarcastic questions that the people of God ask God in the book of Malachi. And the very first is, “How have you loved us? With a sneer they say, “Oh yeah, well, if this is love, no thanks.” That’s the idea. “Where have you loved us, O God?”

You would think for a silly question that God would give a silly answer, a sarcastic answer, but He doesn’t. He’s not like us. God answers a very, very sincerely about the love of God, and He gives them four statements about God’s mighty love. And I want to give you those four statements, those four wonderful truths, because some of you, may doubt God’s mighty, mighty love, especially if you’re not getting your way, especially if you’re having difficulties and problems.

I. God Loves with a Sovereign Love

Look again at vs. 2

Malachi 1:2 (ESV)

“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

Now Jacob and Esau were brothers. As a matter of fact, they were twins. And God says, “I loved one of them and I hated one of them.” Well, right away, that’s going to cause you a lot of theological questions. A lot of problems are going to begin in your mind to hear God say, “I loved this one and I hated that one.”

Now what on earth does this mean?

Many believe that God just simply elects and predestines some to go to heaven and some to go to hell.

Now, I believe, and this is sometimes a point of disagreement between Christians, God did not just simply choose Jacob to go to heaven, and God did not choose Esau to go to hell. But God saw that Jacob would have a heart for Him and Esau wouldn’t. The Bible calls it “foreknowledge” in 1 Peter. Jacob would have a spiritual sensitivity and Esau wouldn’t. Each man had a right to choose Him. And the Bible says, “Whosoever will, may come.” But God has elected those who choose Him. The elect are the “whosoever wills,” and the non-elect are the “whosoever won’ts.” And if you want to be saved, you can be saved! Now let’s continue to read here. Look here in Malachi chapter 1 and again in verse 3. He says, “I loved Jacob,” and then in verse 3 he says, “I hated Esau…”

Now that gives us another problem, doesn’t it? I mean, how could God hate somebody? Well, friend, this is not hate in the sense that you and I use the term hate. It’s not an emotional hate. It is not personal animosity. God doesn’t have any of those childish and wicked feelings in His heart. No. All that means is that He preferred one above another because one chose Him and the other didn’t.

Let me show you how the word hate is used in the Bible. Let’s look to Luke 14.

Luke 14:26 ESV

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Okay. That’s what Jesus said. Well, I want to tell you I love my father and mother. And I want to tell you something else. I love my wife, and I love my children, and I love my brothers and sisters. So does that mean I can’t be a disciple? Not at all, if you understand how God is using this word here when He says that we’re to hate them. It simply means preference.

You see, listen. Jennifer knows that she’s not number one in my life. She knows that. She knows that she’s number two in my life, and she knows that Jesus is number one in my life, and she wants it that way, because she knows that I’ll love her a whole lot more making Jesus Christ number one than I would if I made Jennifer number one. Do you understand? I can now love her with the love of the Lord. I can love her as Christ loved the church. She likes it that way because Christ is number one.

All he’s talking about Jesus is saying, “You must prefer me above all others.” He’s certainly not teaching us to hate our father and our mother and our brothers and our sisters and our children. No, not at all. And that’s the same sense in which the word is used here in the book of Malachi: just simply because here was a man named Jacob, and God did not love Jacob for what he was, but He loved Jacob for what He knew He could make out of him, because Jacob would chose Him. And there God set upon him His sovereign love. And it is a sovereign love. Thank God for that love.

He didn’t have to love us. We love Him because He first loved us. He just chose to love us. Hallelujah for that. Friend, Jacob wasn’t much to love if you look at him, but God took this man Jacob and made a prince out of him. Learn this. Learn this. God does not change you so He can love you; He loves you so He can change you. You see, it’s the very fact that He loves us, no matter what. Just as we chose Him, His love begins to work in us.

Sometimes we don’t understand God’s love. Sometimes it seems like what God is doing is so cruel and so callous.

They doubted God’s love. But, my dear friend, I want to tell you it is a sovereign love. And if you’re in difficulty, don’t look at circumstances to try to prove God’s love. You look at God’s character to prove His love. He loves you with a sovereign love.

II. God Loves with a Strong Love

Malachi 1:3 ESV

but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

Look at vs. 3 again.

God brought judgment upon wicked people. And God says, “I brought judgment upon wicked people as proof of my love.”

Now, dear friend, did you know that hate is proof of love? Did you know that? Did you know that you cannot love without hating? And if you don’t have any hate, you don’t have any love? Did you know that? If you don’t have any hate, you don’t have any love.

You see, you cannot have a quality without having the opposite. For example, you can’t have hot without cold. There can be no hot without cold. There can be no high without low. There can be no big without small. There can be no love without hate. For example, if a judge loves justice, he’ll hate crime, isn’t that right? If a doctor loves his patients and love help, he’ll hate disease. If people love God, they will hate sin, isn’t that right? Now if you don’t hate sin, you don’t love God. God said, “I love Jacob. And, therefore, I hate those that would harm him.”

Again, it is not an emotional hatred. It is a choice against all that is wrong.

III. God Loves with a Steadfast Love

Malachi 1:4 ESV

If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ”

Not only is God’s love a sovereign love, and not only is God’s love a strong love. But, friend, God’s love is a steadfast love. It is not fickle. It doesn’t change.

God says, “I’m going to keep on acting the same way I act.” Now Edom, representing the power of Satan, says, “We’re going to make a comeback.” But God says, “And you come back, I’m going to knock you down.”

There is a perpetual warfare against sin. And, my dear friend, we already know how

it’s going to end. Sin can’t win and faith can’t fail. Satan sails a sinking ship, and Satan rules a doomed domain.

1 Corinthians 15:24 ESV

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

And if you’re going through trouble, and if you’re going through difficulty, and if you think that God has forsaken you, He has not. Notice that God is not finished yet. Friend, God’s not finished yet. The old devil keeps trying to make a comeback, but he’s not going to do it.

Edom says, “We’ll rebuild. We’ll do this. We’ll do that.” But God says, “Oh no. Listen. I have indignation forever.” If you doubt God’s love because you’re in trouble, just wait a while, friend. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.

IV. God Loves with a Seeking Love

Malachi 1:5 ESV

Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

What is God saying? God is saying this love is not just for the Jew. This love is not just for Jacob. This love is for all people. Look in verse 11

Malachi 1:11 ESV

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

that’s us! Beyond the border of Israel. Hallelujah! For people who live in

this day. “From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof…” There is no place where God’s love does not seek. people of all colors, all conditions, all circumstances, all classes, all characters, all companies, God loves you! Remember it. God loves you! I love that verse in Ephesians 3:18 where Paul is praying for the saints,

Ephesians 3:18–19 ESV

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

There’s no one He doesn’t love: east and west, north and south. A man may go to hell unsaved, but he’ll not go to hell unloved. Not unloved. If you want to be saved, you can be saved.

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty,     At Calvary.