Judah Profaned the Covenant: Guard your Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
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 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. 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. “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.”
Sermon
Sermon
Preamble
Preamble
Poluted Offerings
Judah Profaned the Covenant
Intermarriage
Faithless with God’s people
Christian Marriage
Christian Marriage
Spiritual life seems dry?
Feeling barren and lifeless?
Christian husband/wife & family
Regular at church
Don’t get much out of Bible Reading
Faith lost its reality?
They approach Malachi who asks: How’s your marriage?
Protests that came to talk about spiritual life
Yet, Malachi reiterates the question
Malachi has highlighted their Faithlessness with God’s people
They have lost contact with God
Unity and Love of God’s People is essential
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Unity (oneness) of mind and heart among Christian has a very high priority
People run straight into trouble with God through sinful actions and attidtudes towards other Christians
Malachi brings to our attention that this rule applies as much to our marriage as to other people
Lord’s Prayer...
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
These apply to your marriage as much as everyone else in the church
Why does the Lord not answer your payers?
But you say, “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.
Guard your Spirit
Guard your Spirit
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. “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.”
So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth
So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.
The frequent cause of spirirtual barrenness in a person is their “thought life”
Contributory factors
Faithlessness
Mental Health Issues (e.g. depression)
Rejection (perceived or real)
Our thoughts, although hidden from man, are not hidden from God
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Yes, God takes your thoughts seriously...
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
God understands:
We are fallen and sinful
Neurological conditions affect thought regulation
We are instructed to
not act on our thoughts
work at regulating our thoughts
God addresses how we entertain sinful thoughts
We must not be faithless to our husband / wife
“Faithless”: to act treacherously (betrayal/deception), wrong another
Honour on another (consider the passages last Sunday)
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Health Issues - Seek support
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Seek Counselling
Many marriages have a problem of bitterness & blame
romanticised expectation of daily life
resentment
feelings of inadequecy
idealic or romanticised hopes for the future
selfish ambission
not equally yoked
difference in spiritual life / barrenness
sprirtual acting - attends all the services & meetings, but is spiritually barren
using church to get away from the family and reality of life
Your marriage is indictative of your spiritual life
a frequent cause of spiritual barrenness is a thought life which violates your marriage
Society has allowed for impurity to be the norm
sadly we relax the standards of purity which the Word of God indicates to us
We would be hypocrits if we claimed we never had sinful thoughts enter our heads
the point is do we fight them?
or do we tolerate or nurture such thoughts?
The Lord Witnesses
The Lord Witnesses
Marriage is not Man’s invention
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
But you say, “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.
“The Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth”
Marriage is not a covenant before the registrar or the Pastor, but before God
Society promotes that marriage is between the couple alone
The couple as individuals promise before God
to Love & Cherish
nurse & hold dear
protect and treat with fondness and kindness
keep in one’s mind and heart
in Body & Spirit (including thoughts)
When you play with thoughts of seperating from your wife/husband
God will let you know what it is like for you to live seperate from him
Marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church, between your soul and your God
The Lord Seeks
The Lord Seeks
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.
God made marriage for one man and one woman
He established Godly marriages to produce Godly offspring
There is not guarantee that children of Christian Parents will automatically embrace the faith of their parents
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
An unhappy Christian marriage ill though be a profound obstacle to our children becoming Christians
Fatherhood provides a child’s first impression of what the Father in heaven is like
Our marriages are meant to present to our children a picture of the relationship betwen Christ and the church
What do they see?
It is not the Christian parents’ fault that children rebel, we are all sinners
But sometimes a heavy responsibility for the child’s rebellion against the things of God lies with the parents
They have brought the name of God into disrepute with the child through what the child has seen in the marriage
Unhelpful actions and words within a marriage begin in the minds of the partners.
God says “Guard your spirit”
The Lord Hates
The Lord Hates
“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.”
“I hate divorce” says [Yahweh] Yahovah Elohim (Eternal Creator)
God allowed devorce as graciousness towards the innocent party
“To hide a garment of [Hamas] violence” says Yahovah of Hosts
Guard your spirit against faithlessness
Practice Guarding our Spirits
Recognise the problem with our thoughts
Recognise the kind of family situations which promote disunity and do something about it
often quite small irritations that lead to adultterous or bitter thoughts
we need to work at seemingly small but regular causes of friction
we need to understand and help one another
couples need to work the issues out so that the devil is not given a foothold
Take an appropriate action to eradiction the sin
emotional regulation requires change....
situations
thoughts
meanings
reactions (supression)
Work at improving the loving relationship within your marriage
perserverance, patience, thought and love
pray with God, for grace to help you keep your marriage vows and help you love your husband/wife
Satanists specifically pray against Christian marriages
We need to work and pray for our marriage
Churches need to pray for Christian Marriages
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology