Be Faithful Malachi 2:10-16

The Charge:

Israel betrayed their commitment to God and to one another.

Malachi 2:10-11 10 Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God

create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord’s sanctuary, which He loves.

Notice that Malachi asks, “Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the

covenant of our fathers?” He’s implying that they are treating each other this way. Then in verse 11 he says Judah has acted treacherously, profaning the Lord’s sanctuary, stating that they have been treacherous in

their relationship with God.

Treacherously

Failure to fulfill one’s promised obligation – i.e., to betray another

Malachi 2:8-9 8 “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.

You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts. “So I in turn have made you

despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing

partiality in your instruction.”

Malachi 2:10 10 Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God

create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

How was Israel betraying God and one another? How were they violating God’s instruction?

Two Areas of Betrayal in Israel:

1. Through the marrying of foreign women

Malachi 2:11-12 11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord’s sanctuary, which He

loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they

present an offering to the Lord of Hosts.

Judges 3:5-8 5 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites,

Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods. The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord ’s sight; they

forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. The Lord ’s anger burned against Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:3-4 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your

daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from Me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will

burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

Two Areas of Betrayal in Israel:

1. Through the marrying of foreign women 2. Through the divorcing of their wives

Malachi 2:13-16 13 And this is another thing you do: you cover the

Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or

receives them gladly from your hands.Yet you ask, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have

acted treacherously against her, though she

was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-

breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not

act treacherously against the wife of your youth. “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of

Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,

and do not act treacherously.

What do we need to do to make sure we have faithful, God-honoring marriages?

Malachi 2:15-16 15 Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-

breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. “If he hates and divorces

his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.

Four Essentials:

Four Essentials:

1. God wants me to marry another believer of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what

partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with

darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an

unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living

God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from among them

and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.

Application:

Do not be quick to get into a relationship with someone who claims to be a Christian, but take

time to evaluate their life.

Four Essentials:

1. God wants me to marry another believer of Jesus Christ.

2. I need to know that marriage is a covenant.

Malachi 2:14 14 Yet you ask, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your

youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife

by covenant.

Malachi 2:16 16 “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God

of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves

carefully, and do not act treacherously.

Malachi 2:16 (NASB) 16 “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel,

“and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the Lord of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that

you do not deal treacherously.”

Genesis 2:23-24 16 Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the

man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both

the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Application:

If marriage is a covenant, then our mindset should be divorce is not an option.

Four Essentials:

1. God wants me to marry another believer of Jesus Christ.

2. I need to know that marriage is a covenant. 3. I must understand the purpose of marriage.

Purposes of Marriage:

Purposes of Marriage:

1. To reveal a secret

Ephesians 5:22-30 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now

as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your

wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing

her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without

spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves

himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the

church, since we are members of His body.

Ephesians 5:31-32 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two

will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Romans 5:6-11 6 For while we were still helpless, at the appointed

moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves

His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now

been declared righteous by His blood, we will

be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having

been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation

through Him.

Romans 15:1-3 1 Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear

the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his

neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even the Messiah did not please Himself.

“Jesus’ sacrificial service to us has brought us into a deep union with Him and He with us. And, that, Paul says, is the key to not only understanding marriage, but to living it. As one commentator put it, “Paul saw that when God designed the original marriage, He already had Christ and the church in mind. This is one of God’s great purposes in marriage:

to picture the relationship between Christ and His redeemed people forever!… This is the secret–that the gospel of Jesus and marriage explain one another. That when God invented marriage, He already had the saving work of Jesus in mind.” - Tim Keller, Meaning of Marriage

Purposes of Marriage:

1. To reveal a secret 2. To produce maturity

Romans 8:29 29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be

conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

“Nothing can mature character like marriage.” - Tim Keller

Proverbs 27:17 17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Purposes of Marriage:

1. To reveal a secret 2. To produce maturity 3. To raise godly children

Malachi 2:15 15 Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His

life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring.

Application:

I encourage you to sit down and really think through these purposes and evaluate your mindset

when it comes to the purpose of marriage.

Four Essentials: 1. God wants me to marry another believer

of Jesus Christ. 2. I need to know that marriage is a covenant. 3. I must understand the purpose of marriage. 4. I must fear God and focus on my relationship

with Him.

“As a pastor for over 20 years, I have come to the conclusion that most marriage problems are not really marriage problems. They are God problems. They can be traced back to one or both people having a poor relationship with God or a faulty understanding of Him. An accurate picture of God is vital to a healthy marriage. It’s vital to everything.” - Francis Chan

Malachi 2:5 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and

I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.

“As A.W. Tozer put it, All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with that overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him.”

Proverbs 1:7 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

Proverbs 19:23 23 The fear of the Lord leads to life

Psalm 111:10 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all

who follow him instructions have good insight.

Colossians 3:1-2 1 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek

what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right have of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on

what is on the earth.

Application:

• Get alone with God

Application:

• Get alone with God • Stand in awe of God