Covenant Infidelity

Introduction:

Connection:

Q - What is a covenant? A - A sworn promise and solemn oath with attendant blessings or curses in light of faithfulness or infidelity.

God’s covenant of grace is his sworn promise of salvation and solemn oath of redemption in Jesus Christ, and his issuing of commandments and precepts for our obedience—with attendant blessings or curses in light of faithfulness or infidelity.

Marital covenants are sworn promises of love and solemn oaths of faithfulness with vows of commitments to one another, with attendant blessings or curses in light of faithfulness of infidelity.

You get that point! A covenant is a weighty matter in God’s eyes—because God is a covenant keeping God—and we ought not to be a covenant breaking people. YHWH is God’s Covenant Name—and we are his covenant people. May we bring glory to His name.

Need:

We need to be faithful to God’s covenant and to our human covenants, if we want to walk in God’s blessings—or else we will reap the fruit of covenant infidelity, just as Israel did so long ago. There is nothing new under the sun.

Theme:

Covenant Infidelity

Purpose:

To rebuke covenant breaking with God and man—and to exhort unto covenant keeping with God and man.

Recap:

Last Bible Study we saw the Lord’s strong rebukes against the priests for their infidelity—and we saw how God promised to curse them and bring judgments upon them. We also saw the ideal minister in Levi, who walks in life and peace and fear and awe, who teaches truly, walks in piety, and is filled with God’s power as the messenger of the LORD of hosts. And then we saw how the priests in Malachi’s time were anything but like Levi. But this week God turns his attention from the priests unto the people. As goes the leaders, so goes the people—profaning God’s covenants. And now the LORD comes with oracles of judgment against unfaithful Israel.

Read Text:

Malachi 2:10-16 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Kaiser: Just as the ancient proverb said “like father, like son,” so here one could say “like priest, like people.” Water can only rise to the level of its source, so the spiritual level of a people can only be expected to rise to that level attained by its spiritual leaders. Alas, however, Israel’s spiritual leaders faltered, and the people did so along with them. … So to the long list of indictments against the priests already announced in Malachi 1:6, there is added this: their failure to teach the truth could now be seen in the devastating collapse of marriage and the family as God had ordained it.

(1) The People have Profaned the Covenant and Sanctuary of the LORD of Hosts - vv. 10-12.

Malachi 2:10–12 ESV

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? Judah has been faithless, and 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!

(1) The People have Profaned the Covenant and Sanctuary of the LORD of Hosts - vv. 10-12.

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?

As we begin unpacking this text, the first thing we notice is who the LORD is in relation to his people. It’s common among liberal Christians to speak of the fatherhood of God as universal. Everyone is a child of God. But the Scripture knows nothing of this. Unbelievers, says Jesus, have Satan as their father (John 8:44). God is only the Father, or in fatherly relation to, his covenant people, his sons and daughters.

Kaiser: God’s fatherhood is not related to the whole of creation or to the whole world, but only to his creating the one people of God. God had set Israel apart from the other nations when he made a covenant (Mal. 2:10; cf. also Exod. 19:5–6; 24:8) with their fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Israel was now desecrating that covenant and acting in a treacherous and treasonous manner.

And the tragedy of our text is that it was these sons and daughters were were sinning against one another grievously:

Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

The Hebrew word for faithless means: to deal treacherously with, or to do wrong to. The people of God were dealing wickedly with each other, and in so doing, were transgressing the covenant precepts of the living God—they were failing to live by faith, like father Abraham (Gen. 17; Rom. 4), and they were failing to live in obedience, as Moses commanded (Ex. 19-24; Rom. 7). They were desecrating the holy name, honor, covenant, and people of God.

Hosea 6:7 ESV

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

He continues:

11 Judah has been faithless, and 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.

I trust that you remember from the introduction of this series that Malachi is ministering during the time of Ezra/Nehemiah—after Israel had returned to the land of promise.

Q - And what was one of the major sins of that time? A - Sinful intermarriage with pagans. (See Ez. 9:11-14; Neh. 10:28-31).

What had they been doing? Committing abomination, and profaning God’s temple—by intermarrying with pagan idolaters. The Hebrew word for profaning means: to be defiled, to desecrate, to defile, to render unholy, and to debase. And thus by sinfully yoking themselves with the world, they were bringing the sinful corruption of the world upon the name and temple of God. Christians have a duty to marry Christians!

WCF.24.III. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who are able with judgment to give their consent.a Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord.b And therefore, such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with infidels, Papists, or other idolaters: neither should such as are godly be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their life, or maintain damnable heresies.c (a. Gen 24:57-58; 1 Cor 7:36-38; Heb 13:4; 1 Tim 4:3. • b. 1 Cor 7:39. • c. Gen 34:14; Exod 34:16; Deut 7:3-4; 1 Kings 11:4; Neh 13:25-27; Mal 2:11-12; 2 Cor 6:14).

We know from the rest of Scripture that believers, and God’s covenant people, have an obligation to keep God’s temple holy—and thus they must marry in holiness!

2 Corinthians 6:14–18 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

The holy LORD of the Church—is to be served in holiness by the Church—or else, judgment shall come upon the lawless and disobedient within the church, and even upon the visible church as a whole….

EBC: Not to distinguish between Israelite women and heathen women—or between Christian spouses and unbelievers—is to deny the difference between the God of the Bible and the pagan deities. Malachi said there would be no exceptions to the rule: Intermarriage meant excommunication (v.12).

And thus we see the following warning:

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

What does it mean to be cut off? It means to be cursed and excluded from the covenant and kingdom of God. To be treated as a tax collector and a sinner. To be thrown out of good standing in Christ’s church. To be cut out of the people of God. To be under the ban. And in some cases, it was to undergo the death penalty. Why? For high-handed rebellion and unrepentance against the LORD (Matt. 18; 1 Cor. 5; 1 Tim. 5). And the scary thing about this is that God doesn’t throw out the parents but keep the kids in—the kids go with the parents, because of the solidarity of the household unity. If the parents are thrown out, so are the kids. This it a high responsibility upon parents to walk with God, lest their sin brings consequences of excommunication on their children as well! This is exactly what happened to the unbelieving Jews and their children, as they rejected the Messiah in unrepentance, according to Paul:

Romans 11:20–22 ESV

That is true. They [the Jews & their children] were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Kaiser: God’s response to this violation of his covenant is that such individuals will eventually find their family wiped out, for the Lord will “cut off … all such, root and branch.” … the idiom meant that the entirety of the transgressor’s family would be involved in the “cut[ting] off.”

Leviticus 18:29 ESV

For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.

And so there is a reverence required in this. To be cut off is no light thing. It is to be accounted in God’s court as an unbeliever. It is to be accounted with the domain of darkness—with Egypt, not Israel—with Babylon, not the Church. And this isn’t losing salvation—it’s the proof that you never had it in the first place. Living branch aren’t cut off—dead branches are cut off, and according to Jesus, are thrown into the fire (Jn. 15).

So let us hold fast to the faith and persevere in membership in the household of God. Let us put to death sin in the camp—for we know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. Let us be holy, as he is holy!

(1) The People have Profaned the Covenant and Sanctuary of the LORD of Hosts - vv. 10-12.

Q - Any questions or comments about this first point or verses 10-12?

And from here, we come to see phony religion:

(2) The People have Religious Emotions without Genuine Repentance before God - v. 13.

Malachi 2:13 ESV

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.

(2) The People have Religious Emotions without Genuine Repentance before God - v. 13.

This is a brief point, and we won’t spend much time on it, but let it be noted that emotions have many forms and many roots. You can experience something emotionally, that is not a genuine fruit of the Spirit of God. Think of the Parable of the Sower. Some have temporary joy, but fall away, and are devoid of the Spirit of God (Matt. 13:18-23). Or think of how Paul distinguishes between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow, one being false repentance and the other true repentance (2 Cor. 7:10-13).

And it’s this sort of thing that’s happening here. There is a temporary sorrow over the lack of God’s blessing, not because of conviction over their sin, but because they weren’t able to enjoy the blessing of God. They were sad, not because they grieved God—but because they couldn’t get things from God.

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.

The Hebrew word for no longer regards, just literally means: God’s face doesn’t look at you, it’s not turned toward you. They were sorrowful because they weren’t enjoying the light of God’s countenance and blessings. They came with high levels of sorrow, even with weeping—because God didn’t bless their religiosity, their hypocrisy…

Calvin: But the most appropriate meaning is this—that all wept and groaned before the altar, because they saw that they came there without any advantage, that their sacrifices did not please God, and that the whole worship was in vain, inasmuch as God did not answer their prayers.

Matthew 15:7–9 ESV

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Rather than confessing their sin and covenant infidelity against the LORD, the God of Israel—they were simply grieving the lack of blessing in the land and in the temple of God. Note that there is a big difference between being grieved over the quality of a worship service—and being grieved over the depravity of our own hearts.

RSB: These are not the marks of true repentance here; the people’s actions demonstrate them to be an empty gesture, more in line with pagan rituals than with the true worship of God.

Q - Does the language of this text, of God having no regard for an offering, remind you of another passage of Scripture in Genesis?

This all hints back to the scene of Genesis 4.

Genesis 4:3–5 ESV

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

And Scripture tells us the reason why God had no favour for his worship—because it wasn’t offered in faith—trusting God’s will, and obeying God’s commands (Heb. 11:4). So let us esteem repentance over ritual, and rend our hearts and not our garments, just as God said so long ago through Samuel:

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Let us never rest context with external repentance—lest we are like whitewashed tombs, clean and tidy on the outside, and externally sorrowful—but inside we are dry dead bones, and delighting in sin and wickedness. Let us, as Jesus said, worship both in Spirit and in Truth!

(2) The People have Religious Emotions without Genuine Repentance before God - v. 13.

Q - Any questions or comments from this point or verse 13?

Well let’s continue on now to our last main point:

(3) The People have Broken God’s Purposes in Covenant Marriage and Parenting - vv. 14-16.

Malachi 2:14–16 ESV

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.”

(3) The People have Broken God’s Purposes in Covenant Marriage and Parenting - vv. 14-16.

These are some of the most instructive verses in the whole Bible regarding the Christian household! Why did God not accept the offering of these saints?

14 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.

Remember the context of marrying pagans and idolaters and profaning God’s covenant…. and the backdrop of Ezra and Nehemiah….

EBC: The reference to “wife of your youth” in this verse suggests that the men were divorcing their aging wives in favor of younger women.

Instead of fulfilling the words of God:

Proverbs 5:18 ESV

Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

These Israelites were like the adulterous woman:

Proverbs 2:17 ESV

who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

One writer adds this vivid description of the wickedness of this sexual sin in our text:

Said T. V. Moore, “She whom you thus wronged was the companion of those earlier and brighter days, when in the bloom of her young beauty she left her father’s house and shared your early struggles, and rejoiced in your later success; who walked arm in arm with you along the pilgrimage of life, cheering you in its trials by her gentle ministry; and now, when the bloom of her youth has faded and the friends of her youth have gone, when father and mother whom she left for you are in the grave, then you cruelly cast her off as a worn-out, worthless thing, and insult her holiest affections by putting an idolater and a heathen in her place”.

Bound together by holy covenant union—they ought to have fulfilled their vows in love. Just as it was from the beginning in God’s creational intention and purpose for the Christian home:

15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?

True marriage is two flesh becoming one—being bonded together through covenant union—not just physically, or psychologically, but spiritually and relationally—the Spirit who breathed life into Adam is the same Spirit who binds marriages together in covenant. This alone makes sense of the words of Jesus:

Matthew 19:4–6 ESV

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

There is a union—a one flesh union—how? Not because man has joined them together—but because God has joined them together. God the Spirit is the bond of covenant union, who seals the promises and vows and establishes a new relationship in the marital context. This is a beautiful and a glorious truth. There’s a reason why it’s called holy matrimony! Because the Holy Spirit binds the two into one flesh. But…

Q - What are some of the reasons that God has instituted marriage?

One of the reasons is given in our text tonight:

And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.

What does God seek and desire when His Spirit binds two persons into one flesh in true and biblical marriage in the Lord? What is God’s will for Christian marriages, and Christian households? Godly offspring! Godly children! Godly seed. We cannot separate marriage from procreation. When God instituted marriage he issued a command: be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 2)! To seek marriage apart from children, is to overturn one of the main reasons for marriage! It’s not the only reason—but it is a big one! And notice that it’s godly children! Not vipers in diapers! Godly seed. God desires that these children who are the fruit of this covenant marriage in God’s house, would be trained up according to God’s Word and Will:

Genesis 18:19 ESV

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Psalm 127:3–5 ESV

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Christian marriage organically leads to Christian parenting—and Christian parenting, with God’s blessing, leads to Christian children—godly offspring—as God’s covenant mercy and grace is outpoured from generation to generation (Ps. 103). And so in light of this, God says:

So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

The Hebrew word for guard means: to keep, preserve, or watch. We need to keep our hearts. Preserve our hearts. Watch over our hearts. And we need to guard our souls from sin, temptation, evil, and wickedness. We need to watch and pray, as Jesus taught us, that we might not fall into temptation (Matt. 26:41). The seeds of infidelity lie within us all, in our flesh, and so in humility, and the fear of God, we must strive against sin—and strive in the Spirit for faithfulness, which is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5). Why must we do this, according to Malachi?

16 “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.

The Hebrew word for does not love, is much stronger, and actually means: to hate, scorn, or dislike intensely. We are called to love our wives, as Christ loves the church—not to hate our wives as Christ hates the world. And here we see that the LORD hates divorce, and that those who sinfully divorce are hating their spouses. It’s true that there are two exceptions to divorce—but they are exceptions! And exceptions only exist when the norm is deviated from when sin takes it’s root in the camp, and when the evil one get’s a foothold in the marriage.

WCF. 24.VI. Although the corruption of man be such as is apt to study arguments, unduly to put asunder those whom God hath joined together in marriage; yet nothing but adultery, or such wilful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage; a wherein a public and orderly course of proceeding is to be observed; and the persons concerned in it, not left to their own wills and discretion in their own case.b (a. Mat 19:6, 8-9; 1 Cor 7:15. • b. Deut 24:1-4).

Again the words of Jesus scream at us: Let no man separate what God has joined together! But when man separates what God has joined together, there is a covering of violence and wickedness prevailing. This is a picture, akin to our use of the maritial bed.

RSB: Entering into marriage and obtaining a wife is sometimes portrayed as covering with a garment (Ruth 3:9 text note; Ezek. 16:8). Abusing and divorcing a wife metaphorically stains a person’s garment, making him unfit to enter God’s presence.

Psalm 24:3–5 ESV

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Those who seek to worship God externally, without repentance of heart and life sins of sexual immorality—God turns his face away in disapproval. He cannot take delight in impure and stained worship. This is crucial. And so in Malachi the previous command is issued once gain, to stress it’s importance:

So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” (ESV).

Where does sin come from? The heart.

Luke 6:45 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

And so what must we do? Guard it.

Proverbs 4:23 ESV

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Only in this, will we, by faith in Jesus Christ, and obedience in the Spirit—walk in covenant faithfulness before our God.

And even as we fail, and repent, and get up again—as we are faithless, He is faithful. There is no sin to great, that God will not forgive through true repentance (1 Jn. 1). God has been, and is, so faithful to us in Jesus, so let us be faithful to him, in the Spirit.

(3) The People have Broken God’s Purposes in Covenant Marriage and Parenting - vv. 14-16.

Q - Any Questions or Comments from this point or verses 14-16?

In Adam, we will walk in infidelity, but in Christ, we find true grace and abundant life, to walk in God’s will and blessings for us! So before our conclusion, let’s read some points of application and perhaps add some discussion.

(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:

(i) Instruction, (ii) Refutation, (iii) Consolation, (iv) Exhortation, (v) Admonition, (vi) Examination, and (vii) Glorification.

(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:

(i) Instruction in God’s covenant curses and cutting off of all wicked sinners.

See Romans. 11.

(ii) Refutation of the idea that God accepts all worship as long as it’s truly sincere.

See Isaiah 1.

(iii) Consolation to those who are united by marriage to the faithful Lord Jesus.

See Ephesians 5.

(iv) Exhortation to covenant keeping with God and with man; especially in the home.

See Genesis 17-18.

(v) Admonition against those who are being faithless to their spouses and children.

See 1 Timothy 5.

(vi) Examination of whether or not we are guarding our spirits and hearts before God.

See Matthew 5-7.

(vii) Glorification of the faithfulness of the LORD our God, and his steadfast love in Christ.

See Psalm 103.

(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:

Q - Any questions or comments from these points of application?

And so let’s come now to hear our conclusion:

(C) Covenants Must be Kept in Faithfulness or Else Infidelity will Bring Curses and Corruption upon the Church & the Home.

1 O Jesus, I have promised  to serve Thee to the end;  be Thou forever near me,  my Master and my Friend;  I shall not fear the battle  if Thou art by my side,  nor wander from the pathway  if Thou wilt be my Guide. 

2 O let me feel Thee near me,  the world is ever near;  I see the sights that dazzle,  the tempting sounds I hear;  my foes are ever near me,  around me and within;  but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,  and shield my soul from sin. 

4 O Jesus, Thou hast promised  to all who follow Thee  that where Thou art in glory  there shall Thy servant be;  and, Jesus, I have promised  to serve Thee to the end;  O give me grace to follow,  my Master and my Friend!

(C) Covenants Must be Kept in Faithfulness or Else Infidelity will Bring Curses and Corruption upon the Church & the Home.

Q - Any final questions or comments for tonight?

Amen, let’s close our evening in prayer!