The Profaned Covenant (Mal 2:10-17)

Announcements

We need some help this Saturday during the Sandy Ridge Homecoming Parade passing out some flyers. If you’re free and can help, please be sure to speak to Natalie as soon as possible.

For those helping with children’s ministry, we have a mandatory training day on August 27th from 9am-2pm. We’ll provided breakfast and lunch, but you do need to be sure that you’re there for that training day.

Discipleship Groups will start on September 4th at 9am—adults will meet in the auditorium; children k4-4th grade will meet in the Activity Room. Please see me if you have any questions about it.

Last week, a group of us went to visit a property at 344 Blue Spruce Rd. in Philipsburg. (image) It is a 3,600 square foot building on the edge of Philipsburg that was originally offered to us for rent. We made it abundantly clear that we would not want to rent another building (especially if we had to do any amount of renovation (which we would have to)), so the owner offered to sell the building to us for $70,000.

This building is large enough that we could grow into it over the next 10-15 years, we would have an auditorium that could seat about 100-125 people, four classrooms, a nursery, kitchen, office space, and we could convert part of the lower floor into a small parsonage.

This would give us enough room to start a fully functioning children’s ministry, multiple adult classes, expand our biblical counseling ministries, and offer more mercy ministries for our community.

It isn’t what we originally planned to do when it came to a permanent home for our church, but those of us who went and toured the building think that it would be a great opportunity to give the church a place where we can grow, expand, and minister to our community in various different ways.

After seeing the property, our deacon Deane and I sat down and talked through the building and we came to the conclusion that it would benefit our church immensely in multiple ways, if we could just raise the funding to purchase the building.

So, we’ve decided to start a capital campaign to do so. My hope is that over the next year, we could raise the funding necessary to purchase the building and possibly start on some renovations in the building. $70,000 is a lot, we readily admit that, but with help from you, fellow like-minded churches, and the Southern Baptist Convention, we’re pretty positive that we can raise the money in a year.

Now, you might hear all that and think, how can I help in this? There’s two ways:

We ask that you regularly and fervently pray for the church to raise the funding necessary to purchase the building.

We ask that if you’re able to, please consider giving to the building fund in addition to your regular giving.

Help us to be able to better serve you and the communities that surround us. Now, Deane and I are going to stop by the building this afternoon after church to take measurements throughout the building. If you’d like to stop by and see the building and tour the building, you’re more than welcome to.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Adoration and Repentance

Call to Worship (Ps 57:6-11)

Our Call to Worship is the second half of Psalm 57. The psalmist says that despite his enemies seeking to harm him through their traps, he will remain steadfast in the Lord and he will exalt and praise the Lord. Please stand and read Psalm 57:6-11 with me—I’ll read the even-numbered verses, please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.

Psalm 57:6–11 ESV

6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! 9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

Congregational Singing

The Solid Rock (381)

Complete in Thee (112)

O Great God (35)

Scripture Reading (1 John 1:1-10)

Our Scripture Reading is 1 John 1:1-10, which is from a short letter written by the apostle John that focuses on verifying the truth of the incarnation—that Jesus is fully God and fully man. False teachers had come into the area and had taught lies concerning who Jesus was, so John begins by encouraging the understanding of truth given through the apostles from Jesus, Himself. His focus then transitions to a call to repent from sins. Tara can you read 1 John 1:1-10?

1 John 1:1–10 ESV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible please turn it to Malachi 2:10-17.

We’ve been working through a series in The Message of Malachi and if you’ve been paying attention, though I’ve been intentional in making every section applicable, the original authorial intent was directed towards the priests. Almost everything (with the exception of the introductory materials from our first week) has been focused on how the priests were leading the Israelites into false worship despite the fact that they should’ve known better and they should’ve led better. We’ve so far seen God lay indictments against the the priests for offering polluted and blemished offerings, for lying, leading the people astray, and corrupting the covenant of Levi.

Remember though, that I’ve made it abundantly clear that the priests aren’t the only ones being accused of sin by God—they just happen to be the first to be indicted by God. The Israelites themselves are also guilty of sin—including following leaders that led them astray even though they should’ve known better.

The indictment against the Israelites amplifies in Malachi 2:10-17 as God focuses in on just how the Israelites have broken the covenant—and in this instance God isn’t referring to the covenant with Levi, but rather the Mosaic Covenant. This is the covenant made between God and Israel—that if they keep His commandments, they will be blessed by God; but if they disobey the commandments of the Lord [their] God, they will be cursed.

Keep this in mind as we read the text together.

Malachi 2:10-17 says:

Malachi 2:10–17 ESV

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? 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. 12 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! 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. 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. 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. 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. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” 17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you 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?”

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into three sections: (1) The Idolatry of Israel (10-12), (2) The Breaking of Marriage Covenants (13-16) and (3) Calling Evil Good (17). All three sections focus in on just how exactly Israel had broken the Mosaic Covenant; and you’ll notice that the issues at hand are similar to the issues that the priests were confronted for. You may also notice that when God accuses them of breaking the covenant, He accuses them of breaking the covenant for the very things that He told them that they would break it when He originally made the covenant with them. What this sermon will do will show us the accusations laid against Israel by God and while we’re no longer under the Mosaic Covenant today, it should still convict us of the sins that we commit that are similar or identical to those of Israel and it should provide us great reason to praise God because we’re under the New Covenant and not the Mosaic Covenant.

Prayer for Illumination

The Idolatry of Israel (10-12)

Malachi starts in v. 10 with what is essentially a thesis statement, “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?” This is the point that Malachi is driving at in the next eight verses and it concerns the idea of Israel breaking the covenant.

Malachi’s first two questions narrow down who specifically, he’s speaking to. He poses two rhetorical questions, “have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?”

They’re rhetorical because he already knows the answer and he’s not exactly expecting the Israelites to respond. He’s asking these questions to get the people to think.

They are one blood through one father and it’s clear that he means this in a spiritual sense, which is why he immediately turns to God creating them. They’re of one father created by one God.

And again, it’s rhetorical, meaning he knows that the answer for both questions is yes—so the point then, has to be in the next sentence, “why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?”

Despite the common lineage and despite the common faith spoken of in v. 10, the fact remains that they’re faithless towards one another.

They aren’t trustworthy when making statements or in keeping promises; and they aren’t trustworthy when it comes to the Covenant—the covenant that he calls “of [their] fathers.”

Now, I’ve already mentioned in the introduction that this is the Mosaic Covenant being referred to, which means we should really refresh our memories as to what the Mosaic Covenant is. We can find the Mosaic Covenant in Deuteronomy 11, which gives us the Law of God again—that is what the word Deuteronomy means, it is the second giving of the Law.

And what we see during this second giving of the Law is a covenant tied to the keeping of the Law. Or in other words, the covenant given to Israel is conditional—meaning they have to keep their end of the covenant for them to receive what God is promising.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “26 “See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.”

If they obey the commandments, God will bless them—that’s speaking of not just the Ten Commandments or what we might call the moral law, but it also speaks of what we call civil or ceremonial laws that were given directly to Israel—laws given by God to them that dictated how they were to live life and live amongst each other.

This is what Malachi is referring to when he says that the Israelites are “profaning the covenant of our fathers.”

They’re acting against the covenant that they agreed to with God. He proves that they are acting against the covenant in the next seven verses, starting with a statement concerning idolatry in vv. 11-12, “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.”

Remember that Judah is one area of Israel—the kingdom by this time had been split in two—Israel and Judah. Both were still considered the nation of Israel and God still worked in and with both of them, which is why Scripture speaks of both Judah and Israel even though they were divided as a nation.

And in this instance, Malachi speaks of this division between the people caused by faithlessness and abominations that were committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.

Abomination is a word often utilized to describe sin—it is something abhorred by God—something He absolutely hates and detests.

We could postulate different ideas as to what this sin may have been, but Malachi makes it abundantly clear--”For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which [God] loves, and [Judah] has married the daughter of a foreign god.”

What Malachi says is the first sin that broke the covenant between God and the Israelites is the sin of idolatry. They’ve taken the god of a foreign nation and they’ve brought that false god into the sanctuary of the Lord.

In this case, we aren’t told of a specific god, though Israel had a tendency to worship multiple false gods—idolatry was a sin that they fell into consistently—they worshiped Baal, Molech, and even Dagon at times simply because the nations around them influenced them to.

It isn’t a matter of which false god they were worshiping this time, it was a matter of them worshiping false gods and bringing those idols into the house of the Lord.

Malachi calls the idolatry an abomination and it’s easy then to see why Judah is accused of being faithless—they didn’t have genuine faith in the Lord, they were worshiping false gods.

So, Malachi offers a short prayer in v. 12, “May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!”

Now, the wording of this short request may seem as if Malachi is stating that those who bring offerings to the Lord of hosts should be cut off, but we know Lord of hosts to be a name for Yahweh, so it seems as if that’s an odd statement—that those who bring offerings to God should be cut off.

But consider this verse, this request in light of the previous two verses concerning the abominable sin committed by the Israelites.

The implication is that those who are worshiping false gods that they’ve brought into the house of the Lord and then go and offer sacrifices to the Lord are to be cut off—or in other words, Malachi is confronting those who are worshiping idols turning around and then going through the motions to “worship” God—I hope you can see the issue with this.

Just as a side-note, I do want to remind you of the original covenant in Deuteronomy—Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “26 “See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.”

The original covenant made between God and the Israelites is that they would be blessed if they obeyed God; and they would be cursed if they disobeyed God and if they followed other gods.

Or in other words, they’re doing everything that the covenant says they ought not do—they’re disobeying God’s commandments, they’ve turned away, and they’re following false gods instead of the only true God.

There’s a level of hypocrisy here in that they’re worshiping false gods and then going to “worship” the Lord, but the primary issue isn’t the hypocrisy but rather the idolatry. And it is the idolatry that is the first reason that the Israelites have broken the covenant,

But it isn’t the only reason for Malachi’s accusation and God’s indictment against them. Yes, they’ve definitely broken the covenant with their idolatry, but it’s definitely not the only thing that they’ve done to break the covenant. No, Malachi continues in vv. 13-16 with another reason. Let’s re-read those verses.

The Breaking of Marriage Covenants (13-16)

Malachi 2:13–16 ESV

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

The passage continues by giving us the second reason for the indictment against Israel and you’ll notice that it has to do again, with their worship of the Lord, “And this is the 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 you hand.”

As the Israelites continued to go to the altar to “worship” the Lord, they expressed great weeping, groaning, and tears because God wouldn’t accept their offerings.

Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone when we spent all of Malachi 1 talking about how their sacrifices were blemished, not perfect; of the worst quality and not the best.

And we’ve spent part of Malachi 2 talking about how they had jumped into idolatry and worshiping false gods while still trying to go through the motions and appease Yahweh.

Looking at the situation from our perspective, we see this and we think, “what in the world was wrong with these people?” That they would think that they could offer blemished sacrifices and worship idols and still claim to worship God correctly and think that they’re owed favor from Him.

Of course God would refuse to give them favor; of course God would be against them; of course, God wouldn’t accept the sinfulness of their fake worship and faulty sacrifices.

The Israelites have definitely broken the covenant in multiple ways, but the indictment against Israel hasn’t finished. There’s more. vv. 14-16 continues, “Why does he not [give us favor,]” the Israelites ask, “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 second reason at hand concerns interpersonal relationships between the Israelites themselves—in particular, it has to do with marriages. The Israelites were living in such a way that they were no longer faithful to the ones that they made earthly, human covenants.

Those who were married had made covenants with one another with God as their witness—and of course, these would be very similar to the covenants made by married couples today. We know that this is specifically referring to marriage because of the very next verse. V. 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.”

The idea of a couple being made one flesh is from Genesis 2:24 “24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

The second indictment against the Israelites is that they’ve neglected their own covenants with one another; and in context, it seems that by doing so, the children suffer.

The verse says “what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.” While offspring isn’t the only purpose of marriage, it is one of the purposes of marriage—and for two Christians seeking to build a family together, the goal is for the children to be believers whose characters align with God’s.

By neglecting their own marriage vows, the children are suffering in such a way that they’re not growing up to believe and they’re not being godly in their own lives.

Or put another way, because the Israelites were neglecting their vows, the family, especially the children, suffer—which let’s be honest, sounds pretty similar to what has happened in our own modern-day world.

Despite the fact that the Israelites had made vows to one another to love and to hold in marriage, they were neglecting their marriages and neglecting their marriages had a significant effect on the children themselves. Because they were faithless towards one another in their marriages, their children suffer.

In fact, v. 16 tells us that the Lord says “the man who does not love his wife but divorces her . . . covers his garment with violence.”

The ESV paints a vivid image that the one who puts away his wife instead of loving her acts figuratively violent towards her.

Now I do want you to be aware that if you’re reading this text in a different translation, the wording is different.

The NASB, Mal 2:16 “16 “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the Lord of armies.”

The NLT 16 “‘For I hate divorce!’ says the Lord, the God of Israel. ‘To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

The ESV chooses to translate this verse the way that it did because the translators chose to translate it in light of passages like Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Matthew 5:32; 19:9, and 1 Corinthians 4:6, all of which give issues of sexual immorality and abandonment as reasonings for divorce.

I think this is a key instance in which reading multiple good English translations is wise because by doing so, we learn that this verse teaches that God really doesn’t like the idea of divorce and that divorce never should be taken lightly, but rather, it needs to be taken with utmost seriousness—God doesn’t like divorce, but He gives some reasons in which it is appropriate.

The issue in Malachi 2 was that the people didn’t take the idea of their covenant with one another seriously; and thus, to them divorce was no big deal.

The issue in Malachi 2 is that the people would get married and then get divorced for reasons that weren’t acceptable to Scripture—to God. They would grow tired of each other, they would get older and decide that they no longer wanted to be together, and they had become so lackadaisical and flippant in their understanding of the marriage covenant, that to them, it was no big deal to get married and get divorced.

In many ways, it was similar to how people treat marriage and divorce today. You can Google shortest marriages and get whole lists of people who were married and divorced within months, days, and in one case in Kuwait, it was reported that a couple got married and divorced before they left the courthouse—something to do with the bride tripping and instead of the groom helping her back to her feet, he called her “stupid” and kept walking.

Just like they’ve broken the covenant that they had with God, they kept breaking covenants amongst themselves.

And so, Malachi’s exhortation towards the nation of Israel is found twice, v. 15, “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth” and v. 16, “guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Now, it is important to note that anytime Scripture repeats itself, that it is something that ought to be taken seriously. In this case, it is a command to “[guard themselves] in [their] spirit” and “do not be faithless.”

This is not talking about faith as in belief, this is talking about being faithful towards one another, particularly those in a marriage covenant towards their spouse.

The idea is very much that they are to not cheat, to not leave their spouse, to not divorce one another—to take seriously the covenant between the two.

The idea of “guarding themselves” is very much the idea of being vigilant to make sure that you keep your covenants.

Consider 1 Peter 5:8 “8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

That vigilance, that alert nature, and being sober minded is what’s in play in Malachi 2. Just like you ought to be sober minded, alert concerning the devil himself, so should you be concerning your marriage covenant.

You should be diligently watching over your covenant to be sure that your covenant isn’t broken.

So far, what we’ve seen in Malachi 2:10-16 is this idea that the Israelites had broken the covenant that they had with God in multiple ways—they were committing idolatry, they were worshiping false gods, and they were breaking their marriage covenants and weren’t taking their personal vows seriously. There is one more issue at hand and the last issue is in our final verse. Look at v. 17.

Calling Evil Good (17)

Malachi 2:17 ESV

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you 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?”

Malachi states that they have wearied God with their words and though the ESV tends to format this verse to fit in with the next chapter, I think it fits in better with chapter 2. In my understanding, this seems to be a good way to close off the indictments against Israel.

V. 17 says that God is wearied with their words. Being wearied is the idea of being worn down or to be over worked or labored and Malachi is stating that the very words that the Israelites are saying wears God down (and that’s meant in a bad way).

The Israelites ask, “how have we wearied him,” which is reflective of the other Q&A-type dialogue that we’ve worked through thus far.

God makes the accusation against them and the Israelites refuse to acknowledge their part. so they question how they’ve wearied God and Malachi gives two statements that they’ve made that have wearied the Lord—or really, one is a question and one is a statement.

The statement is that they’ve wearied God by saying “everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”

Not only are they wearying God because they’re making the false assertion that evil is good and good is evil, but also, they’re making the claim that God is delighted by those who do evil.

I can’t help but to think of Isaiah’s warning against this very issue. Isaiah 5:20 “20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

I think we can understand why this is something that wearies and angers God—who is perfect, without flaw, and is righteous, pure, and upright.

God is only ever good and the Israelites are making the argument that God approves of things that aren’t good—that He approves of things that His Word clearly condemns.

Can you think of issues in our modern world that are clearly condemned in Scripture but are now considered good by culture?

Issues like homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion, which are clearly condemned in Scripture are celebrated openly and proudly today.

This is the very definition of calling evil good and it happens so frequently that even Christian people get tripped up into thinking that these issues are purely cultural issues despite the fact that Scripture calls these sin problems, not cultural problems.

People today do exactly what the Israelites did by calling evil good and good evil.

The question that wearies God is, “Where is the God of justice?”

This can be understood in two different ways. Either the Israelites think that they’re doing right and that God should be on their side, so they pose this question genuinely wondering why God doesn’t seem to be supporting them. Or, they mean it in a slightly ironic way—that if God was genuinely concerned about righteousness, goodness, and justice, He would stop them from doing what they were doing.

I personally, find it difficult that the Israelites could think that they weren’t wrong in what they were doing when they had the Scriptures, they were taught and trained rightfully, and they were already questioning why God wasn’t favoring them the way that He used to.

I think they meant this in an ironic way, that if God genuinely cared that they were doing wrong, He would stop it—oddly enough, He did care; and He does stop it later, but Malachi serves as their last warning.

Which brings us this morning, to our application. As we look at application, we’re going to look at it in two ways. (1) We’re going to consider our present position—we are not under the Mosaic Covenant like they were, which means that we ought to be thankful that the New Covenant isn’t conditional. We attain salvation not by our own work, but by the work of Jesus Christ. (2) Knowing that we’re under the New Covenant rather than the Mosaic Covenant, how can we apply this passage to our lives today?

Application

Considering our Present Situation—the New Covenant

One of the greatest blessings that we have that our brothers and sisters during Malachi’s time didn’t is the simple fact that we’re not under the same covenant that they were.

They were under the Mosaic Covenant, which again, was a conditional covenant in which they had to do certain things in order to gain blessing of favor from God—in particular, they had to follow His commandments.

Now, their salvation was still predicated on their faith, we see this in Hebrews 11 when we read about certain men and women of the faith who definitely did believe, but didn’t necessarily keep every aspect of the covenant because of their own sin. Their salvation was predicated on faith, but any additional blessing would be on them through their obedience.

The New Covenant is different. Hebrews 8:6 “6 But now He [meaning Jesus] has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.”

We’re under a new covenant with God in which we receive salvation as a free gift—Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Our only responsibility in this covenant is to exercise genuine faith in the Lord because Jesus has fulfilled the Law on our behalf.

We share in the inheritance of Jesus and a permanent, unbroken relationship with God because of Jesus’ sacrificial, substitutionary atonement on the cross for our sins. Hebrews 9:15 “15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

That is, of course, assuming that you are genuinely a believer in Jesus Christ who has repented from your sins, called on the name of the Lord, and believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead.

Because that is the one issue at hand—if you have yet to repent from your sins, called on the name of the Lord, and believed, then you aren’t a believer and you’re still in your sins. You are still liable for the Law of God, which let’s be abundantly clear, even if you’re the “best” person in the world, you can’t keep all of God’s Law.

And if you have yet to repent from your sins, call on the name of the Lord, and believe, then you are still in a position in life in which you don’t share in Jesus’ inheritance and you have a broken relationship with God because of your sin.

You, yourself cannot repair that brokenness, it’s clear that you can’t, especially when looking back at how the Israelites regularly struggled with following God properly—if they couldn’t do it over three thousand years of history, what makes you think that you could?

You need to recognize your sin, repent, and believe.

For those of us that do genuinely believe, a passage like this that reminds us of the Old Covenant’s demands ought to do something in particular.

It ought to well up a response of praise and thanksgiving because of the great difficulty it would cause us to need to meet every demand of the Law.

When we read passages like this, we ought to start by praising God that Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and that our first responsibility in belief is to simply believe.

Again, assuming that you actually do believe—if you aren’t already a believer—repent of your sins, call out to Jesus, and believe in Him.

Our first application this morning is to simply praise and worship God for what Jesus has done for us.

Applying Malachi 2:10-17—now you might hear all that and think, if that’s the case, then why exactly do we need to learn the Old Testament? Why exactly do we need passages like Malachi 2, if we’re no longer under the Old Covenant? The reality is, we need it because the Old Covenant is the foundation for the New Covenant; and we need it because it is the Old Covenant that teaches us about God’s character, His personhood, and quite frankly, in passages like Malachi 2, the issues at hand are still sins and we also need to learn to reject the sins spoken about in Malachi 2. What are these sins?

Idolatry (11-12)—you might hear idolatry and think, “oh, I’m ok on this one because I don’t bring idols into the church, I don’t have a carved image that I’m worshiping in my closet at home, and thus I’m not guilty of this sin.”

But idolatry is more than just having a physical idol that you worship—idolatry is elevating anything and everything above God in any way.

You still might not think you’re guilty of idolatry, so let me put it a different way. Consider your own actions and thinking. What do you regularly put above worshiping God?

You know that you should pray and read Scripture regularly—do you? Or do you find yourself too distracted with television or yard work or really any sort of hobby? Isn’t that putting television, yard work, or your hobby above God? That seems like an idol.

You know that you should come to church (the author of Hebrews says to not neglect gathering together with the saints)—do you? Or do you find yourself justifying missing church—I’m too tired, I’m don’t have time, or I’m not comfortable going to church in-person. You’re elevating your personal comfort over God—it’s idolatry.

Likely, there are several different things that you elevate to the level of idol-worship though you may never actually say you’re worshiping an idol. Sports, politics, hobbies, your own comfort, your own desire—any of these things can easily be worshiped, which can make them idols.

Make sure that you aren’t worshiping idols and repent of your sins if you are.

The Breaking of Marriage Covenant Frivolously (13-16)—we live in a world in which the hook-up culture is prevalent. Because the hook-up culture is prevalent and because many have lost sight of God’s Law and what He calls good and evil, the sanctity of marriage is constantly under attack. And at this moment, I’m not talking about issues of homosexuality, I’m talking purely about the marriage covenant itself.

The marriage covenant is between three people—the groom, the bride, and God. It is a promise made for a lifetime with the intent of the couple seeking to glorify God through their marriage.

Again, there are proper reasons for divorce in Scripture, so don’t misunderstand and think that I or the Bible condemns divorce in every single situation.

What Scripture condemns is the idea of not taking the marriage covenant seriously whatsoever—what Scripture condemns is the idea of married couples who vowed to love and to hold for a lifetime, treating their vows as if they were something that could easily be broken.

When the reality is that marriage vows aren’t meant to be taken lightly and they’re meant to last a lifetime with the few exceptions given in Scripture in mind.

Those of you that are married—take your vows seriously; those of you that aren’t married—take marriage seriously and repent of your sins if you’ve ever thought of marriage as something that could be taken lightly.

Calling Evil Good (17)—this last sin is epitomized by Satan and the world itself. The very first sin was caused when Satan twisted the words of God to make an evil thing seem good. Be sure that you aren’t doing the same. What Scripture clearly condemns as sin, is sin—even if our culture disagrees, even if your parents disagree, even if your children disagree.

If God calls something sin, then it is sin—even if it doesn’t seem like it could hurt anyone, even if our society calls it backwards or repressive.

In our present situation, the big ticket issues are the prime examples of this. The world teaches that homosexuality is alright, that transgenderism is alright, and that abortion is acceptable.

God says in Romans 1 that homosexuality is sin.

God says in Genesis 1-3 that men were created as men and women were created as women.

God says that He shaped you in your mother’s womb. (Ps 119) That all people are created in the image of God and their lives are worthwhile. (Gen 2)

Our society regularly calls evil good, but what does Scripture teach? What does God say? Are you willing to accept what fallible man says or would you rather follow what the infallible God says?

Be sure that you aren’t calling what God says is evil, good. Repent when you have.

Put simply, Malachi 2:10-17 reminds us that we ought to be thankful that we now live under the new covenant while simultaneously warning us to reject the sins of idolatry, the frivolous breaking of marriage vows, and calling evil things good.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Be Thou My Vision (176)