"BUT YOU SAY" - FROM MALACHI #2
By David J. Riggs
Intro.
A. In the time of Malachi, indifference in both worship and morals
seemed to be the order of the day.
1. Since the time of the first exiles, the people had been back
in Judea from the Babylonian captivity for nearly a hundred
years.
2. Instead of becoming stronger spiritually, the people had
become weaker.
3. Their worship had deteriorated to mere form.
4. And, as we will see, they had moral decay in their families.
B. God had blessed them to a certain extent, but they could have
been blessed far greater if they had faithfully served God.
1. God wanted to bless them, but He was hindered by their
unfaithfulness. 2 Chron. 16:9
C. We continue our study on God's charges, their replies, and
God's answers to them. (See chart below)
I. "Yet you say, 'For what reason?'" Mal. 2:14
A. Besides their corrupted worship, the Lord adds a second thing
they did. Mal. 2:13
1. Their sacrifices (offerings) were being rejected and they
asked, "For what reason?"
2. They were being rejected because of the tears of their
mistreated wives.
B. In verses 13-16 a metaphor is used stating that their rejected
wives were covering the altar with tears, weeping to such an
extent that it extinguished the fire on the altar.
1. God had been witness to the treacherous conduct of the men
putting away or divorcing their wives.
2. They had broken the hearts of their wives, causing them to
weep before God, figuratively extinguishing the fires of the
sacrificial altar.
3. The wife who had been the companion by covenant, who had
borne children to her husband, and who had shared his joys,
sorrows, and hardships was now being rejected by her
husband.
C. The Lord says "that He hates divorce."
1. From the dawn of creation, God intended that there should
be only one woman for one man. Matt. 19:3-6
a. Thus, God intended that marriage should be for life.
2. The Lord gives the exhortation: "Therefore take heed to
your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife
of his youth." Mal. 3:15b
3. God's strong warning and exhortation is certainly applicable
to our permissive society today. Heb. 13:4
a. A man wrote to Dear Abby and said, "Dear Abby: I am
in love and am having an affair with two different
women. I can't marry them both. Please tell me what to
do, but don't give me any of that morality stuff."
b. Abby's answer was a good one. She wrote, "Dear Sir:
The only difference between humans and animals is
morality. Please write to a veterinarian."
II. "Yet you say, 'In what way have we wearied Him?'" Mal. 2:17
A. They had worn thin the Lord's patience by their skeptical
attitude toward Him.
B. They said, "In what way have we wearied Him?"
C. They wearied Him by saying - vs. 17b
1. Here is an age-old complaint: "The righteous suffer and the
wicked prosper."
2. They assumed that prosperity always results from divine
blessings and implies divine approval.
3. They think that God must delight in the wicked because the
wicked are so blessed.
a. Usually, the wicked are not blessed all that well if the
whole truth were known. It only appears that they are
blessed.
4. Their question, "Where is the God of justice?" is their
conclusion; e.g., "either evil is pleasing to God or there
is no God of justice."
D. Down through the ages many have echoed similar complaints
against God.
1. The Psalmist said he almost slipped. Psalm 73:1-3
a. He came to himself when he relied on the counsel of the
Lord. Psalm 73:16-17, 21-24
b. We should be careful to never accuse God of anything,
because He is always absolutely just in everything.
III. "Yet you say, 'In what way shall we return?'" Mal. 3:7
A. God is offering them an opportunity to return to Him.
1. God had shown them how they had despised His name,
offered polluted sacrifices, divorced their wives, and
wearied Him with their false charges; yet, they ask, "In
what way shall we return?"
2. Calloused and hardened by indifference and sin, they seemed
to have no consciousness of wrong doing.
a. People have a hard time looking within, and seeing their
own transgression.
3. They needed a heart-felt spiritual revival - a true revival
in their hearts and lives. Psalm 85:6; Isa. 57:15; Rom.
13:11-12; Eph. 5:14-17
4. "Think about people who find themselves in religious ruts.
They discover a number of things about themselves. They
will find that they are getting older but not getting any
holier. Time is their enemy, not their friend. The time they
trusted and looked to is betraying them, for they often said
to themselves, 'The passing of time will help me. I know
some good older saints, so as I get older I'll get holier
and better. Time will help me, purify me and revive me.'
They said that the year before last, but they were not
helped any last year. Time betrayed them. They were not any
better last year than they had been the year before." (From
Rut, Rot or Revival, by A.W. Tozer in Christianity Today,
Vol. 38, No. 3)
5. Let us not have faith that someday, some future time, we
will do better. "Behold, now is the accepted time" to render
a zealous service to the Lord. 2 Cor. 6:1-2
IV. "But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?'" Mal. 3:8
A. God showed them how they have robbed Him. Mal. 3:8-10
1. Not just a few isolated individuals had robbed God, but the
whole nation was guilty.
2. To rob one's fellow man is a great sin, but to rob God is
far worse.
B. Many today are robbing God just as Israel did, by not giving as
they have been prospered.
1. Though we, under the N.T., are not commanded to give a
tithe, we are to give as we have been prospered. 1 Cor.
16:1-2; 2 Cor. 9:6-7
2. God said He would open "the windows of heaven" if they
would bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
3. In the same way today, if we give to the Lord as we have
been prospered, God will bless us. 2 Cor. 9:8-11; Phil.
4:18-19
a. God will provide for us when we put Him first in our
lives. Matt. 6:33
V. Their last reply was, "What have we spoken against You?" Mal.
3:13
A. They had said strong things against the Lord in their
conversations with one another.
1. For example they said, "It is vain to serve God." Mal. 3:14
2. Because they were not blessed immediately for having "kept
His ordinance" and "walked as mourners" before Him, they
called the proud and the wicked "blessed."
3. They thought that serving God demanded too much and
returned too little.
B. The actions of people declare that it is vain to serve God.
1. Since they don't see any immediate blessings, they do not
serve God.
2. The tele-evangelists deceive the people by offering them
immediate health and wealth.
C. We need to be able to see afar off - to look beyond this life.
1. We must have faith in the promises of God, realizing that He
will bless us in due time. 2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 8:18
Concl.
A. There is never a time when the Lord does not have His "seven
thousand" who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
1. Even then, in contrast to all the corruption that existed,
there were some who truly feared God.
2. As they listened to the words of the unfaithful and the
Lord's rebuke to them, they were concerned, and conversed
among themselves. Mal. 3:16a
a. What they said is not recorded, but their words were
pleasing to God.
3. These faithful are written in God's book of remembrance.
Mal. 3:16b
a. These are God's jewels, and He will bless them. Mal.
3:17-18
B. The little book of Malachi is rich in its applications for us
today.
1. It appeals to God's people to purge out wickedness and
serve God with a pure heart.
2. Let us do our best in rendering a faithful service to the
Lord.
Chart:
"BUT YOU SAY" - FROM MALACHI #2
"Yet you say, 'For what reason?'" Mal. 2:14
"Yet you say, 'In what way have we wearied Him?'" Mal. 2:17
"But you say, 'In what way shall we return?'" Mal. 3:7
"But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?'" Mal. 3:8
"Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?'" Mal. 3:13