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They turn in your Bibles to the 
prophet Malachi, the last prophet in the Old Testament. A few years 
ago, we went through the entirety of the minor prophets, beginning 
in Hosea. We made it to, I believe, Zechariah 
10 or 11 and have taken an extended break. But it would be very difficult 
to sort of jump back into Zechariah. So someday, God willing, we'll 
take up those last few chapters. another time, that the book of 
Malachi is intensely practical for the Church of Jesus Christ 
in our generation. One man has well described the 
book in these terms. The people of Israel in Malachi's 
time had grown skeptical of God's love, careless in their worship, 
indifferent to truth, disobedient to the covenant, faithless in 
their marriages, and stingy in their offerings. Pretty much 
sums up the issues that we face in the church of the 21st century. A skepticism concerning God's 
love, a carelessness in worship, indifference to the truth, disobedience 
to the covenant, faithlessness in marriage and stinginess in 
our offerings unto God. That is what the prophet Malachi 
in Psalm deals with. So I'll just read chapter one. 
We'll make some introductory observations to the book as a 
whole, and then we'll pick up the first issue addressed by 
the prophet in chapter one, verses one to five. But I'll read the 
entirety of chapter one as we begin. The burden of the word 
of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord, 
yet you say, In what way have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's 
brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau 
I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage 
for the jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has said, We 
have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate 
places. Thus says the Lord of hosts. They may build, but I will throw 
down. They shall be called the territory 
of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord will have 
indignation forever. Your eyes shall see and you shall 
say the Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. Hassan 
honors his father and the servant, his master. If then I am the 
father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is 
my reverence? says the Lord of hosts to you, 
priests who despise my name. Yet you say, in what way have 
we despised your name? You offer defiled food on my 
altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the 
table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind 
as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and 
sick, is it not evil? Offer it, then, to your governor. 
Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, 
says the Lord of hosts? But now entreat God's favor, 
that he may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your 
hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Who is 
there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would 
not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, 
says the Lord of hosts. Nor will I accept an offering 
from your hands for from the rising of the sun, even to its 
going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles in every 
place. Incense shall be offered to my 
name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among 
the nation, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in 
that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and its fruit, 
its food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness, 
and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring 
the stolen, the lame and the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your 
hand, says the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver who 
has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the 
Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the 
Lord of hosts. And my name is to be feared among 
the nations. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father 
in heaven, we thank you for this, your word. And we pray now that 
your spirit would guide us in our understanding, that your 
spirit would guide us, Father, in our heartfelt reflection upon 
our own lives before your holy word. We pray that you would 
lay us open, that you would deal with us graciously. Mercifully, 
that you would conform us onto the image of the Lord Jesus as 
individuals and as the Church of Jesus Christ. We just thank 
you now, Father, for your word. We thank you for all that it 
instructs us concerning you. We thank you for the doctrine 
and for the reproof and the correction and the instruction and righteousness 
that your word profits us. And we just pray that you would 
help us to receive it now with glad hearts and with an obedient 
and willing spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord, Another man has well described the book in this way. 
The great burden of the prophet is covenant violation. God had 
loved his people, Malachi said, but they failed to apprehend 
that love. and indeed rewarded it with dishonor 
and disobedience. It's very helpful for us to place 
Malachi in his historical setting. That's what introduction has 
to do with. Who wrote the book? Who it was 
written to? The date? The situation? All 
those kinds of things is what biblical introduction or what 
biblical introduction is concerned with. So we'll look at the introduction 
to the book and then take up that first message, that first 
oracle, if you will, in verses one to five. But the prophet 
himself, all we know is what verse one tells us. The burden 
of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Nothing is known 
about the personal life of the author of the book of Malachi. The word Malachi means my messenger. Some wonder that if it's even 
an actual name or an actual title of a particular man. But most 
agree that it is. A prophet named Malachi wrote 
in this particular situation. Malachi was a contemporary of 
Nehemiah and Ezra before him. So what we're dealing with is 
after the Babylonian exile, after that particular captivity. We'll 
look at that in a bit more detail, but just one more thought with 
reference to the idea that nothing else is known about Malachi than 
what we find here in chapter 1, verse 1. A man by the name 
of John Benton, in his helpful little commentary in the Wellwyn 
commentary series, says this. He says, however, this difficulty 
of identifying who Malachi was does remind us of one of the 
first rules of Christ's service. Preachers and Christian communicators 
are not meant to attract attention to themselves, but to their Savior 
and his gospel. It is not the man that matters, 
but his message. Malachi is happy to remain anonymous 
so that people think not about him, but rather about what God 
has to say. So, though he's obscure, though 
he's anonymous, though this is the only reference to him in 
the entirety of the Old Testament, What this man highlights is absolutely 
true. It isn't Malachi that's most 
important. It's God that's most important. So the burden of the word of 
the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I mentioned this was after the 
exile. The exile refers to that time 
when God sent Babylon to the southern tribes. Remember, they 
had sinned against God. They had broken covenant with 
God. They had defected. They had apostatized. They had 
turned from Him. And as God had promised, He would 
send another nation in to destroy them, to lead them out. They 
spent 70 years in Babylon. And in the year of 539 B.C., 
Cyrus, the king of Persia, defeated Babylon. And at that time, he 
issued a decree or an edict wherein the people of Judah could return 
to Judah. They could return to this particular 
parcel of land. The first return of the exiles 
were in 538 and 536. When they got back to the land, 
they immediately constructed an altar. You can read all about 
this in the book of Ezra. They constructed an altar and 
then they laid the foundation for the temple in 536. But because 
of the peoples in the region opposing them and seeking to 
thwart them and stop them, they put that building program on 
hold. So basically, they had the foundation, 
but there was no temple standing. And then in 520, remember this 
is BC, so the numbers get lower as you get closer to zero, obviously. So in 520, the prophets Haggai 
and Zechariah preach. Those are the ones that we call 
the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. So Haggai 
and Zechariah preach to the people. They begin to build the temple 
in 520. They complete it in 516 B.C. It lacked the luster, the splendor, 
and the glory of the original Solomonic temple, which distressed 
many of the people, as Haggai records. The second major return 
of exiles happened under Nehemiah in 458 B.C., I'm sorry, Ezra 
in 458 B.C., and then Nehemiah in 445 B.C. So that's the time frame that 
Malachi is in, somewhere in that mid-fifth century B.C. Now, the prophet here refers 
to the people as Israel. He is not speaking specifically 
to Judah. I think what he does by this 
is attach us or cause us to reflect on the Israel of the patriarchs 
and of the Pentateuch, the Israel of God, the people of God. He's 
not just addressing the Persian territory of Judah, but rather 
he's addressing the covenant community, the people of God. 
Now, to nail down the exact time that Malachi prophesied, there's 
two major thoughts. One says it was just prior to 
Ezra in 460 BC. Or another view is that it was 
during the time of Nehemiah. But if you compare Ezra and Nehemiah 
and Malachi, you will see many of the same sorts of sins being 
engaged in. Remember that in Ezra and Nehemiah, 
mixed marriages were an issue. The people of Israel marrying 
pagans. This is what Malachi takes up 
in chapter 2. Remember that Ezra and Nehemiah 
dealt with stinginess with reference to tithing. Malachi deals with 
that in Malachi chapter 3. So we can see him in that particular 
historical situation. The second option is that he 
did prophesy specifically during the time of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 
was in Judah, but then in 433 BC. And we can date this because 
the dates are given to us in this particular year of this 
particular king. It's not rocket science. You 
just look it up and you'll see what year this happened to be. 
But in 433, Nehemiah went back to Susa, which was the city in 
Persia. He went back there for a brief 
time and then returned to Judah. Some speculator, Merrill says 
that it was probably during that time that Malachi prophesied. Six messages in the book. Six 
oracles. Six sermons, brief as they may 
be, and they have a common structure. There is an assertion and then 
there is a question and then there is a reputation. What I 
mean by that is God asserts something to the people and then in terms 
of a rhetorical device, he personifies the people's response. In this 
first oracle, for instance, notice. I have loved you, says the Lord. 
Verse two. Yet you say, in what way have 
you loved us? Dropping down in chapter one, 
God speaks about the priest despising his name. Yet you say, in what 
way have we despised your name? In other words, they had fallen 
into patterns of sin, they had fallen into patterns of rejection 
of God, such that they weren't even aware of it. When they are 
addressed by God with these particular truths or with these particular 
assertions, they say basically, who, us? What are you talking 
about, Lord? What do you mean? We didn't do 
that. We wouldn't do that. We're not guilty of that particular 
sin. So the six particular issues 
that Malachi addresses find themselves in that same form or that same 
structure. And basically, briefly, what 
we find in the book God deals with this constant love for Israel 
here in verses 2 and 2 to 5. He condemns the priesthood of 
Israel, chapter 1, verse 6 to chapter 2, verse 9. He condemns 
the infidelity of the people in chapter 2, verses 10 to 16. He speaks of the messenger of 
judgment to come in chapter 2, 17 to 3, 5. He issues a call 
to repentance and a condemnation of unfaithfulness and tithing 
in chapter 3, verses 6 to 12. And then he highlights judgment 
for the community and salvation for the remnant in chapter 3, 
13 to 4, 3. And then there's a summary conclusion, 
basically pointing them to faithfulness to the law of Moses as they wait 
for the coming of the messenger of the Lord God Most High. So 
that's an overview or some introduction to the book. You want those dates 
later, just ask. And then we can, having located 
him in history, in the historical context, let's look first at 
this assertion of verse two. I have loved you, says the Lord. 
Beautiful, isn't it? Look at how the book starts. 
God doesn't immediately jump on them. You aren't tithing the 
way you're supposed to. You're not being faithful in 
your marriages the way you're supposed to. You're not doing 
the sorts of things that you're supposed to. No. He wants to, 
first of all, remind them. In fact, he wants to ground these 
other oracles in this reality that God loves them. He is chastening 
them. He is speaking to them. He is 
addressing them because he loves them. He is dealing with them 
in a bit of a severe way because of his love. He is pruning them. He is tending to them. Remember 
Jesus in the book of Revelation. As many as I love, I rebuke. And that's precisely the issue 
here. Before he gets into covenantal 
breach, before he gets into intermarriage, before he gets into divorce, 
before he gets into tithing abuses, he sets forth this reality. I 
have loved you, says the Lord. To show no interest in and rebel 
against someone who doesn't really like us is pretty rude in and 
of itself. But to rebel against someone 
and to despise someone who actually loves us and delights in us just 
heightens and elevates the seriousness and the gravity of the particular 
sin in view. It shows the height of impiety 
and folly. In essence, the people are slapping 
God right in the face. He says, I have loved you. How 
does God school them in old covenant Israel about his love? He highlights 
that his love is sovereign. Remember back in Deuteronomy 
in our studies on Wednesday night, I didn't choose you because you 
were more numerous than the other nations. In fact, you were the 
least of all. I didn't choose you, Deuteronomy 
chapter 9, because you were more righteous than the others, because 
you're not righteous. I love you because I love you, 
is what God says in Deuteronomy chapter 7. His love is sovereign. as well as love is unconditional. The fact that he's still dealing 
with these people, the fact that they've been in exile, that they've 
been brought out of exile, that they're back in the land, that 
their temple is rebuilt, and less than a hundred years, they 
fall back into patterns of apostasy and defection, and yet he comes 
in love. It is unconditional. Walter Kaiser 
says, God loves where there is nothing to love, nothing worthy 
of love. Before you start feeling all 
proud and arrogant and God owes me his love. No, he doesn't. He sovereignly chose to put his 
love upon you. And that love is, in fact, unconditional. It's a blessed thing. It's a 
wonderful reality. When we are in the new covenant, 
we are in an inviolable covenant, the covenant that is unbreakable. Remember, we pointed that out 
this morning in Jeremiah 31. I will make a covenant, not like 
I made with their fathers, which they broke. This one is unbreakable, 
not by virtue of the fact that we are good or lovely or wonderful, 
but because Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. So God's 
love is sovereign. God's love is unconditional. 
God's love is personal. He came to the aid of his people. 
He was there to protect them. He was there to carry them. He 
was there to watch over them and guard them. And then notice 
their question. Yet you say, in what way have 
you loved us? That's a slap in the face, isn't 
it? This isn't the sort of playful, 
you know, question that a husband or a wife might have for one 
another. You know, honey, do you love me? I don't think the 
issue there is, you know, really, you need to prove it. But do 
you love me? I want to hear what you have 
to say. That's not what they're doing. This isn't sort of playful. 
marital, friendly banter. The people of Israel asked the 
question. They didn't verbalize it. They 
were much too dignified and outwardly pious to do such a thing. But 
God knew better. God knew their hearts. Yet you 
say, in what way have you loved us? It's the height of arrogance, 
isn't it? The height of impiety. These people were slaves in Egypt. 
God comes and delivers them. He plants them in the land with 
all his heart and with all his soul. They defect, they apostatize, 
they break the covenant. He sends the Babylonians in for 
chastening and for judgment. But then he brings them back 
to the land. He comes to confirm, remind and 
affirm his love to them. And they say, in what way have 
you loved us? God, through the prophet, indicts 
the people for asking these sorts of questions. This question says 
it all. They doubted God's love. They 
doubted his faithfulness. They called into question his 
truth. And as a result, the Lord comes 
through the prophet with this burden to call the people to 
repent. So this is the constancy of God's 
love. So there is that question and 
now there is reputation. God provides evidence to the 
fact that he loves them. Isn't that beautiful of our God? 
He doesn't say you need to knuckle under and know that I love you. 
I'm going to display that love for you. I'm going to tell you 
how I love you. I'm going to show you historically what I 
have done that confirms, affirms and evidences the reality that 
I love you. Want to shut your mouth in a 
gracious and kind and yet firm way. And that brings us to this 
consideration. The evidence is of God's love 
in to be and following. Notice the sovereign election 
of God. He says in verse two, I have 
loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have 
you loved us? Here's the first line of evidence. God's sovereignty, 
God's election, God's choice of Israel was not Esau, Jacob's 
brother, says the Lord. Yet, Jacob, I have loved. But 
Esau, I have hated. The election of Jacob was surely 
not based on words. The election of Jacob was based 
on grace alone. and saw that Romans chapter 9, 
before or while the twins were in the womb, before they had 
done anything good or ill, God set his love upon Jacob. God's 
sovereignty. God's election. If it ever wells 
up into you to say, does God love me? Consider the doctrine 
of sovereign grace. You see, we take that doctrine 
and we preach it, and rightfully so. We want to try and silence 
the mouths of those who, you know, delight in free will and 
all those sorts of things. But do you see the comfort that 
is afforded to us by the reality of Ephesians chapter one? Just 
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, 
this is an evidence, this is a proof, this is a manifestation 
of God's love for his people. Yet you say, in what way have 
you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, 
says the Lord? Yet Jacob, I have loved, but 
Esau I have hated. This promoted some ongoing tension 
between the two brothers and hence the two nations. One might 
have expected that two nations that both trace their ancestry 
to a common patriarch would have a natural tendency for alliance 
with one another. In fact, the exact opposite had 
happened. They were enemies with one another, 
not just the brothers physically, but the nations that descended 
from them. The nation from Esau is called 
Edom. That's why later on in this particular 
chapter in verse four, even though Edom has said we have been impoverished, 
that is the nation of Esau. And of course, Israel is the 
nation of Jacob. There is an ongoing tension. And so the Lord God's first evidence, 
the Lord God's first proof of His love for Israel was the fact 
that He chose them. It's beautiful. It's great. It's 
glorious. Can you imagine? In what way 
have you loved us? If you were God, you'd probably 
say, are you kidding me? Are you crazy? Have your kids 
ever said that to you? How have you loved me? Are you 
nuts? Are you out of your mind? Of 
course I love you. People don't do these sorts of 
things unless they love the persons they're doing it for. That's 
the mindset. That's what's going on here. 
I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have 
you loved us? Pony up the evidence, Lord. Show 
us. You call this love? That's what 
they're saying. He says, I chose Jacob, I set 
my love and affection upon Jacob, and yet Esau, I have hated. Then he highlights his mercy 
in the remainder of verse three and in verse four. Now, it's 
mercy couched in God's judgment when you take an act of God. 
People oftentimes fail to realize this. They'll see something and 
say, boy, that's an evidence of the anger of God, the judgment 
of God, the justice of God. Yes, upon His enemies, but it's 
blessed reassurance for His people. It's a blessed sign of comfort 
for the elect. In Psalm 136, that psalm that 
highlights, for His mercy endures forever. One of the particular 
texts that that underscores is that God slew Pharaoh and the 
Egyptians in the Red Sea. And then the next stanza or the 
next statement is, For the mercy of the Lord endures forever. 
I guarantee you the Egyptians didn't interpret it that way. 
I guarantee you that no Egyptian who buried their firstborn who 
was dead interpreted that as an act of God's mercy. But God's people, the benefactors, 
the ones who were free on that happy day, would indeed extol 
the mercy of God. That's the flow here. God is 
highlighting his love. The way that love is manifest 
is in sovereign election. The way that love is manifest 
is in his mercy. Because that tension was real. 
Edom despised Israel. There was factionalism. There 
was a lack of political alliance. There was this heightened tension 
between the two. And if God had not preserved 
Israel, they would have been overrun by Edom. So that's why 
he speaks to the judgment of Edom in closing down and shutting 
down Edom. What God has, in fact, done is 
protected Israel. He speaks of the judgment upon 
Edom. Notice in verse three, Esau, 
I have hated and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for 
the jackals of the wilderness. You wonder about that sort of 
language. We just met it on Wednesday night. Remember, God had told 
Israel that the dispossession of the land would happen, not 
all at once, but it would happen little by little. If it happened 
all at once, what would happen? The beasts of prey would infiltrate 
the land. In other words, when you depopulate 
a civilization, when you remove people, when you get rid of everybody, 
the lions and the tigers and the bears, they come right downtown. 
So God says it's going to be little by little. So there's 
a smooth transition and the land doesn't take this sort of wilderness 
setting. What the language is suggestive 
here, I laid his mountains and his heritage for the, or laid 
waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. 
The idea is that it would be turned into a wilderness. The 
jackals, the beasts of prey would run rampant through those places. 
There would be no more civilization of Edom. There would be no more 
body politic called Edom. God would indeed render his judgment 
upon that. He goes on to highlight the mercy 
of God in this statement concerning the futility of Edom. Notice 
in verse four. Even though Edom has said, we 
have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate 
places. Thus says the Lord of hosts, 
they may build, but I will throw down. They shall be called the 
territory of wickedness. That an amazing thing. Israel, 
I have loved you. I am showing that, I am demonstrating 
that through my mercy, my mercy vis-à-vis the judgment of Edom. And when Edom rises up and says, 
we're going to rebuild, we're going to be a body politic, we're 
going to reconvene, we're going to return to our land, God says, 
I'm going to tear them right back down. And any Israelite 
worth his salt would have to reflect upon what God had done 
in their lives. Right? They had built. God tore down. This is the point 
in the book of Jeremiah, the language of exile. They will 
build, but I will tear down. But they did return. They did 
reconvene. They did regroup by God's mercy 
and grace. Not so, Edom. When they're torn 
down, no matter how they assert themselves and how they say we're 
going to rebuild, God says it's not going to happen, Israel. 
Don't worry about them. I am mercifully going to protect 
you from them. Do not fret. Do not be discouraged. Do not call into question my 
love for you. My love for you is evident. My 
love for you is clear. I have chosen you. I have hated 
Esau. I have demonstrated that loving 
choice and that hatred for Esau in the way that these political 
nations have rised up, the way that I have put them down. The 
futility of Edom is such that they will want to rebuild, but 
I will throw them down and the people against whom the Lord 
will have indignation forever. Edom would ultimately stand as 
a warning to all nations that when you rise up against Israel, 
when you rise up against Yahweh of Israel, God fights for his 
people. That's the love of our father. 
That's the love of God. That's what they had called into 
question. That's what they refused to come 
to grips with. And so the Lord is telling them. 
So he speaks of his sovereign election, his mercy, and then 
finally his extensive love. Verse five, your eyes shall see 
and you shall say the Lord is magnified beyond the border of 
Israel. You see, Israel, you're supposed 
to learn something. The Lord God Almighty is not 
a tribal deity. He's not locally present solely 
in Israel. He fights outside the borders. 
He protects you from those threats outside the borders. You will 
see ultimately that border expand, that territory grow. You will 
see ultimately the encompassment of God's plan for the entire 
earth. This is already foreshadowing 
what's going to be stated clearly in verses eleven and fourteen. Notice in verse eleven, for from 
the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall 
be great among the Gentiles in every place. Incense shall be 
offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be 
great among the nation, says the Lord of hosts. Notice verse 
14, but cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and 
takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished for. I am a great king, says the Lord 
of hosts, and my name is to be feared. Notice among the nations. So when they say in what way? 
Have you loved us? God highlights sovereign grace, 
his mercy in judging Edom, their enemy, and in the fact that his 
love would be manifest outside the borders, ultimately, of Israel. You will see, you will magnify, 
you will praise, and you will understand that God Most High 
is not confined to one political entity, one religious subgroup, 
but God is Lord of the entire earth. That's how the Lord answers 
the question, how or in what way have you loved us? So that's 
the first oracle. God willing, next Sunday night 
we'll take up the second oracle, the one that deals specifically 
with careless worship. careless worship, the way the 
people of God entered into the temple, the way that they prostituted 
the sacrificial system, the way that they had tried to find a 
loophole in trying to appease the Lord God. We do learn a few 
things before we close tonight. First, I already mentioned this, 
the relevance of Malachi. There is nothing new under the 
sun. That's what Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes. 
People do this today in the church. They read the scripture or they 
hear a sermon. I'm talking about people that 
have believed the gospel. And because something happens 
in their life or because there's some trial or because there's 
some difficulty or there's some challenge, they're met by opposition, 
perhaps. What generally is the first thing 
to come into their heads? In what way? Does the Lord love 
me? So we have this idea of love 
that looks like blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, don't we? We are fair weather lovers. As 
long as you're giving to me, God, I'll never call into question 
your love. As long as the gravy train is 
flowing, as long as I'm healthy, wealthy and wise, I will never 
question and never doubt your love. As long as I can say everything 
is great, then I know that my God loves me. Lo and behold, 
opposition comes, trials afflict us, difficulties arise, and that's 
the first casualty. That commitment to understanding 
that God does indeed love us. We sound like Israel in Malachi's 
day. Some dear brother, or perhaps 
a sermon, or perhaps our scripture reading, reminds us of God's 
constant love, God's constancy with reference to love, and then 
it sets in our hearts. Now, again, we may not voice 
it. We may not call together a group 
of friends and say, you know, I want to question God's love. 
I want you guys to hear me. No, we're much too proud or much 
too humble or much too pious or much too whatever to give 
voice to these particular complaints. But if our hearts were searched 
out, and God does this searching, it might rise up in us or well 
up in us to say with Israel, in what way have you loved us? In other words, God, as long 
as things are good, no doubt, but as long as things get difficult, 
then I'm going to whine and grumble and complain and snivel, and 
I'm going to sound like the people in the prophet's day and say, 
in what way Have you loved me? We make his love conditioned 
upon his blessing. As long as the blessings flow, 
no problem. As long as the blessings come, 
no problem. When those blessings dry up, 
we sound like these wretches. Thomas More said, the gardener 
prunes the grape which he values, not the thistle which he hated. The fruit tree that is highly 
prized is trimmed that it may bear more fruit. The forestry 
that is designed for the flames is left to grow in unpruned luxuriance. Revelation chapter three. I already 
alluded to this particular section, but it's interesting. The worst 
of the seven churches, the absolute worst. I mean, if I asked you. 
What was the most thankless, proud, arrogant, wretched body 
of believers in the seven churches in Asia Minor? Laodicea, right? I mean, that was a horrible group. They're the ones that Jesus is 
threatening to spit out from his mouth. The way the land would 
vomit out its inhabitants in the Old Covenant, Jesus in the 
New Covenant threatens to vomit out the inhabitants of the New 
Covenant church. I mean, he lays some hard words 
upon that. Let's just pick up in Revelation 
3, that verse 15. I know your works, that you are 
neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or 
hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor 
hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, here's 
their issue, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need 
of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, 
poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me 
gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, 
that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may 
not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you 
may see. Now notice verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and 
chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. It's a beautiful statement. to 
a less than beautiful church. That's a miserable church. I 
mean, in the first century, I'm a proud member of the Church 
of Laodicea. They didn't have little t-shirts 
with the Laodicea logo there. You'd be ashamed. I mean, Jesus 
condemns these people, and yet notice that it's born out of 
this idea, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. More is 
absolutely spot on. The gardener prunes the grape 
which he values, not the thistle which he hated. Jesus teaches 
us this lesson in John 15. He prunes us. He tends to us 
those trials, those difficulties, that opposition in your life 
is not an evidence that God hates you. Rather, it is an evidence 
and a manifestation that God loves you, that he wants to get 
rid of the boss. He wants to get rid of the deadwood. 
He wants to get rid of those things that restrict the growth. 
I've often thought the people that never have any difficulties, 
that never have any trials, that just sing zippity-doo-dah through 
life, that's not a real depiction of biblical Christianity. The 
health, wealth, prosperity gospel is a perversion and blasphemous. It is simply not the case. You 
meet those saints at the end of Hebrews chapter 11, and you 
tell them, God just always wants you to be healthy and wealthy 
and prosperous. Well, they're being sawn in two. 
They're living in goat skins. They're hiding in caves. They're 
on the run. These are the people of God. A trial and affliction in your 
life does not speak to his absence, but more than likely speaks to 
his presence in your life. Don't let it well up in you to 
say, in what way have you loved us? The fact that any one of 
us is not presently in hell is a grand testimony to God's love, 
because that's what you and I deserve right now. Don't let it well 
up in you. God's constancy with reference 
to his love. Secondly, we need to appreciate 
his sovereignty. I believe that in chapter one 
of the prophet Malachi, he is dealing with nation. He is dealing 
with bodies of people. He is dealing with Israel and 
with Edom. I believe that when we get to 
Romans chapter nine and the Apostle Paul reaches back into Malachi 
and he brings this passage to bear on his particular theme, 
he is dealing with the principle of sovereign election unto salvation. He's not dealing with them as 
corporate bodies, but rather as individuals. There's no contradiction. There's no misuse. There's no 
difference of opinion. It's a specific context that 
the apostle is dealing with. And the whole idea in Romans 
chapter 9 is to display the reality that it does not depend upon 
him who wills. or upon him who runs, but on 
God who shows mercy. It was sovereign grace that chose 
us. It wasn't us that chose him. 
We need to appreciate that reality. Do not let it well up in what 
way have you loved us. If you are a believer in Jesus 
Christ, God loved you from before the foundation of the world. 
God sent His Son to die for you and to rise again. Jesus loves 
us with an everlasting love. That love will ultimately bring 
us into heaven. We will bask in the presence 
of God Most High forever and ever and ever, world without 
end. I mean, let it not well up in what way have you loved 
us. And then finally, we know ultimately 
that these things point us forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. This idea in chapter 11, I'm sorry, in verse 11 and 
in verse 14. It's looking forward to. In fact, 
Malachi is the last of the prophets, the last of the writing prophets, 
ends on this particular note of pointing the people to faithfulness 
while they are waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the messenger of the covenant 
that is to come. He is the one who will come to 
the temple. He is the one that will bless 
his people. He is the one that is the refiner 
and the purifier. The whole book of Malachi presses 
us and urges us to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. And that, 
my dear brothers and sisters, is ultimately where God's love 
is most vividly displayed in Christ's death and in Christ's 
resurrection on behalf of sinners. So let us fight the temptation 
to let it rise up in us to say, in what way have you loved us? 
God, in his love and in his grace, called us out of darkness into 
marvelous light. Let us praise, let us worship, 
and let us marvel in the fact that he does indeed love us. 
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your word 
and thank you for this first oracle, this first message in 
the prophet. We just pray, God in heaven, 
that you would just cause us to reflect upon the scripture, 
to study the Bible, to study these doctrines, to see your 
love clearly displayed and to never call it into question. 
We thank you that you do have your ways, that you are conforming 
us unto the image of your beloved son. God, we confess at times 
these things are difficult. Grant us grace to receive them. 
Grant us grace to embrace them, to realize that you are dealing 
with people that you love. I ask that you would go with 
us now, that you would cause your face to shine upon us. And 
we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.