Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/95681/the-marriage-of-gods-people-to-heathen-women-condemned/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Back in Malachi chapter 2. And by the way, if you had got notes for tonight, they're up there on the podium.

[0:20] ! But also, if you didn't get the last session, the last two sessions, notes, they're over here on the table by the door. You can grab those if you'd like, if you need some of those. I ran some extras off, so you can have them if you need those.

[0:36] As we started chapter 2, we saw that God was again dealing harshly with the priesthood and their desecration of the sacrifices that they were offering to the Lord and spoke to them of the severe consequences of their doing that.

[0:56] That even to the point that they would not, God would not honor their sacrifices, and even the requests of the people that they were offering those sacrifices for would not even be dealt with.

[1:11] So it was a severe thing that he gave to them. He would make them contemptible, base in the eyes of the people, so to the point that their preaching then would be disregarded.

[1:25] So we continue then in chapter 2, in verse 10, where Malachi then begins, you know, kind of takes a, not a U-turn, but just changes the subject, changes the topic here, not dealing with the priesthood anymore, but dealing with the people.

[1:44] We have seen through the study, I think it's through the study, maybe it's the study of Jeremiah, I don't remember, one of the two, that the people, the people of Israel would follow really the pattern that the priesthood would set for them, not just in the things that pertain to God, but in the lifestyle as well.

[2:11] The old adage is if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. If it's good for the priesthood to live that way, then what's wrong with us living the same way? And so God now begins to deal with some of that as it pertains to the people.

[2:27] So look with me in verse number 2 of chapter, excuse me, verse number 10 of chapter 2. And Malachi says, He begins by alluding to the fact that, of course, God was the one that initiated the establishment of the nation of Israel.

[3:03] From Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob, and then Jacob's 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel. God brings them out of Egypt, and at that time then establishes a covenant relationship with them.

[3:20] And so as a result of that, then God is considered to be their father. Have we not all one father? Not talking about Adam here. It's Israel, or Malachi, talking about Israel's formation, and the reality that through the work of God, beginning with Abram, and then consummated through Jacob and his 12 sons, the nation of Israel was established.

[3:48] So we all have one father, and that is its creator, and that is God who is the father of Israel, known as that throughout the scripture.

[4:00] Now the emphasis in saying that is not the idea per se that they have a common descent, or that they then all, as that common descent from Abram, the seed of Abraham, that they are then one family, you know, in contrast to what the Gentiles are.

[4:18] They don't have any such relationship. But the emphasis that he gives here is indeed that all the children of Israel are the children of God.

[4:32] As such then, there's a spiritual relationship, not only between the people and God, but there's a spiritual relationship then between each other. Jew to Jew, there's a spiritual relationship.

[4:46] I don't know how much dealings you've ever had with Jewish people, but even just reading things or looking at the news, you can tell that there's something about the idea of being a Jew, being from the land of Israel, being the seed of Abraham.

[5:07] They recognize there's something ingrained within them that enables them to recognize the fact that they are a special type of people because of that covenant relationship.

[5:20] And that specialty goes toward as well, reaches out to that relationship they have one with another. And so that's what Malachi here is trying to express.

[5:32] They are brothers and sisters, not only by being the seed of Abraham, but in a spiritual bond as well because God is the one that created them as a nation and as a people.

[5:48] So as a result of that, every violation that any of them makes from the things of God or toward the things of God is a violation against that relationship they have one with another as well as an offense to God.

[6:11] Because it then is a desecration of the covenant relationship that God established with the nation of Israel. Now keep that in mind.

[6:24] The Israelite acted faithlessly toward his brother. And we'll see the reason and what he's saying about that and why he says that here in just a minute. But consider something with me.

[6:35] If the people of Israel, that covenant nation of God, that he brought into a special relationship with himself, thus giving a special relationship one to another in the nation, and if that is to be guarded so delicately, if you will, what about you and I in our relationship one to another, in our relationship to Christ?

[7:07] God loved the nation of Israel. He's there the apple of his eye. But what about us that constitute the church of God through our relationship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

[7:23] Turn to Ephesians chapter 2 with me. Ephesians chapter 2. I always like to make some practical applications to some of this. Ephesians chapter 2.

[7:36] While you're turning there, I remind you that, you know, we don't do it as much anymore. Every once in a while you hear somebody say that. But, you know, back in the good old days, as they used to call them, people in the church would call each other brother and sister.

[7:53] Brother Tom, sister. Diane. Are you sure? Yeah. Is that what her name is? Yeah. Okay. One of them. Sister Diane.

[8:06] I always had a hard time. I don't know why. I didn't hesitate, but I always, you know, there was just a block that comes up to my mind when I think of calling somebody sister so-and-so.

[8:17] Now, brother so-and-so, I have no problem with. But sister Diane, and because maybe my mind just goes blank when I make that word sister and can't think of the name.

[8:29] But anyway, used to do that. Amen. Don't see that as much anymore. And it makes me wonder if we have kind of lost the reality of the kindred relationship that we have one with another as Christians, as those that are in union together with Christ.

[8:52] Now, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11, he says, Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision, circumcision in the flesh made by hands.

[9:10] In other words, he's talking here about the reality that we as Gentiles had and have, in comparison to Israel, no covenant relationship nationally with God.

[9:24] All right? So that's what he's talking about there. Remember that, he said, you are not of a covenant relationship. In verse 12, he expresses that. That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth or citizenship of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, thus having no hope and without God in the world.

[9:49] All right? So you see the contrast there of the benefit of Jews compared to the lack of those with Gentiles. But, verse 13, Now, we've seen it before, but let me remind you, the word peace there is the word that literally means to bring back together that which has been separated.

[10:25] It's not the tranquility of spirit type of peace. It's the idea of bringing two things back together. And what he's saying here, giving contrast of Jews to Gentiles, he said, Jesus is our peace.

[10:39] He's that instrument that brings back together Jew and Gentile, because he's broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh, the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.

[11:00] So remember what he does here. He takes the Jews, he takes the Gentiles, and through Christ and his work on Calvary and his consequent resurrection, has then brought the two together and formed one new man.

[11:15] So making peace, so bringing them together. And that he might then reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God, he does that in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, came and preached peace to you who were far off and to them that were nigh.

[11:36] For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. So what did he do? He takes Jews, Gentiles, through Christ, he brings them back and forms one body and reconciles that one body to himself.

[11:56] Now, verse 19, so as a result of that, Gentiles, you are therefore no more strangers and foreigners, like you were in verse number 11 and 12.

[12:10] But you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together.

[12:28] I love that. Ted has been working, most of you know, on a shed on the outside.

[12:39] I mean, outside his house. You know, there was a carport type thing where a guy had a smoker, the guy that owned the house before. Ted wanted to make that into a shed, a storage, not a storage shed, but a workshop type shed.

[12:51] And so he went about putting all that together, adding on to the front of it. He's getting close to getting that thing done. He's worked hard on that.

[13:02] You go over there and look at that, and you can see how he's put pieces together, and he's shaped this and that to make it work, form it together. And that's what he says here.

[13:15] He's taken Jews, Gentiles, made them one, reconciled that one to himself, and then made it so we as Gentiles are fellow citizens with the saints, and together with the Jews that have been redeemed.

[13:30] Then we are built upon the foundation of the apostles, prophets, in whom, in Christ, in whom all that building is fitly framed together.

[13:41] Together. Closely joined together. And then what? It grows as an holy temple, a dwelling place for the Lord.

[13:53] Amen? That's tremendous. That's what God's doing. If you just thought of this, if you feel pain in your back or in your side, some of you, and I used to have sciatic nerve problem, it might just be God driving a nail.

[14:08] Amen? Yeah. Yeah. Fitly framing that temple to be the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. Verse 22. And in whom you also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.

[14:24] So as a result of that then, we all have kindred relationship. And as such then, just as he's getting on to the Jews here for, in essence, defiling one another, then we also must be careful in how we conduct our life, how we conduct our living, because that has an effect on everyone else.

[14:54] Amen? Especially when you look at it from the vantage point of being part of the body of Christ. Yeah. Paul addresses that later. We may get into that after a while.

[15:06] So, we've got to be sure. Our lives are upright, because if we allow sin to be a part of our lives, it affects not only us. Amen? Amen? It not only affects our family, but it affects the family of God.

[15:21] Amen? Yeah. Yeah. Are these Jews and Gentiles saved? Born in the Jews? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Israel nationally is still in unbelief.

[15:35] But, of course, there have been some individual Jews that have seen Jesus as Messiah and trusted him as such and as Lord and Savior. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[15:46] So, we have to be sure that we recognize. You know, when we see each other, whether it be on the street, whether we go knock on the door and say, I need a cup of coffee, whatever, or just when they come to times of worship or Bible study or whatever.

[16:02] I don't know about you, but it's always a joy to me to see you all. It really is. For most of you, anyway. No.

[16:14] We want to see Calvita. Yeah. You want to see Calvita. I know. She's coming up a lot lately, isn't she? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's not just the reality that, okay, I know Oscar's saved, and so he's a brother of mine in Christ.

[16:30] Yeah. But it's a sense of that. It's a sense of being a brother or sister in Christ with one another that you enjoy that fellowship.

[16:42] And I really think it has to boil down to, you know, Jesus said, it's by this that all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another.

[16:53] It's that kindred agape love one for another that we have. That makes it such a joy, makes it such a thrill to do, to be together and live our life in such a way that we don't bring reproach to one another, but that we then honor one another by the way that we live in Christ.

[17:17] In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, of course, very familiar passage to you. Apostle Paul, I'll just read verses 12 and 13.

[17:31] All right.

[17:57] Yeah. So, you know, such a tremendous unity. Isn't it amazing? It's always been amazing to me that I don't care what church you go into, that I'm in a true church that people are truly saved, and you have such a diversity of people with such diversity of backgrounds, such diversity of thinking, of occupations, all of that stuff, but there can be unity in the midst of them.

[18:24] Amen? Yeah. And it's all because of Christ, and it's all because of the union and the relationship we have together as being in Christ Jesus. But, again, the people of Israel, the Jews were acting faithlessly toward his brother.

[18:43] Now, both when he, and here's how he does it, both when he contracted a marriage with a heathen woman, and when he put away his Jewish bride or Jewish wife.

[18:57] And when he did that, then he desecrated the covenant of the fathers that God had made again with them as they came out of Egypt.

[19:07] Let me remind you, let's go to Exodus chapter 19. Look at that just a moment, just to refresh our minds of what he says here to the people of Israel. Exodus chapter 19.

[19:18] It says this to the 12 sons of Jacob and his descendants. Go ahead in verse 1. Let's start there. In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

[19:37] For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the mount.

[19:48] And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

[20:10] And that idea there is, into my protection and my special care. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and deed, keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine.

[20:26] Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words that thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

[20:38] Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together. Now get this.

[20:48] All the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord, notice it's Jehovah, all that Jehovah hath spoken, we will do.

[20:59] And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. Everything he says, we will do. Over in Deuteronomy, concerning this particular passage, there's a passage in that that goes with that, and God says in response to that, Oh, that there was such a heart in them, that they would always obey me.

[21:22] You see, though they said that, he knew them. And his yearning was, Oh, that they always would have a heart to obey me.

[21:35] Oh, it would be well with them, it would be good with them, and I would be able to bless them. Now, so they desecrated the covenant of the fathers through that calling of God upon them as his covenant people.

[21:56] Verse 11, then, gives us the reason for the rebuke, why God had to do that. Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.

[22:09] For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange God. Notice the word Israel here.

[22:21] Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel. Again, relating to that idea of the covenant relationship that they were to be a holy people unto themselves.

[22:34] Now, what's taken place is that they have committed an abomination. There's been an abomination committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.

[22:47] Abomination is literally a disgusting thing. It's just like idolatry, witchcraft, and all those other grievances the Old Testament, in particular in the book of Deuteronomy, speaks of.

[22:58] Now, they were to be a holy people. But notice he said, you've profaned the holiness of God. Now, he's not talking about here the fact that God himself is holy, and that thus they have done that to him, profaned him.

[23:18] But the holiness here is the idea of the nation itself, the covenant nation itself. The nation that God loves so dearly is holiness unto him.

[23:33] And they then have profaned the covenant nation by the things they are doing, because they themselves then are that holy nation, as we saw in Exodus 19.

[23:46] In Jeremiah 2, verse 3, God calls Israel, or Jeremiah calls Israel the holiness of the Lord, to speak of the fact that they are God's particular people, and he loves them.

[24:02] And he's made them unlike any other nation on the face of the earth for any generation. The Lord is holy. He's perfect.

[24:13] His perfect holiness that we see in him. His name is holy. Everything relating to him is holy. His law, his covenant, all the ordinances and institutions that he's given are holy.

[24:27] Israel is a holy people. The temple, everything within them, within that, are holy. Holy to the Lord. Jerusalem, the great city of God, is holy.

[24:39] The whole of his inheritance is holy. Everything about God. Think about it. Everything about God is holy. To him, you and I are holy. Amen?

[24:52] Yeah. Yeah. So whatever then fails to observe the respect that's due those things that are holy to God, he said, then have profaned his holiness.

[25:09] Judas. Judah and its individual members, then. Here's the abomination. He said, has married the daughters, the daughter of a strange God.

[25:20] By that expression, he's saying that the person that married the individual, that individual he married is described as an idolatrous. That involved the desecration of the holy calling of the nation of Israel.

[25:37] Now, he's going to have to punish that. And here's how he does that. According to verse 12. He's going to cut off every person who commits that sin. Verse 12. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacle of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.

[25:59] So the actual meaning of that verse would be, may God not only cut off every descendant of such a sinner out of the house of Israel, but anyone who might offer a sacrifice for him in expiation of his sins.

[26:15] In other words, anybody offering for him and his sin, he'll be cast out as well. Now, look at verse number 13. Secondary sin here to all of this, he's condemned.

[26:30] And this he have done again. Covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with good, excuse me, receiveth it with good will at your hand.

[26:48] So one sin leads to another. The sin of that marriage to an idolatrous woman leads to, and that being done by putting away the wife, is now then creating a secondary sin.

[27:06] This is what he condemns here. So he's done that. They've done it the second time here. And it's just as serious as that previous sin that he just mentioned.

[27:17] He shows now how morally reprehensible the sin is before the sin itself is named. They cover the altar of Jehovah with tears.

[27:29] Now, what is that? Realize what happens to the Jewish wives. When all of a sudden their Jewish husbands said, I don't love you anymore, don't want you anymore.

[27:44] What society is it, what country is it, where all the guy has to do is turn around seven times and say, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee. Maybe it's three times, then you're divorced.

[27:56] You know, what happens to the wife, the Jewish wife here when he does that? Well, it breaks her heart. And he goes on and talks about the idea.

[28:08] She was the love of his life, the wife of his youth. The one that she married, you know, when neither one had been married before.

[28:24] There was a freshness to that marriage relationship. They loved one another. They enjoyed life together with one another.

[28:35] But now he's decided he's going to marry this other gal. Okay? And so it creates heartache and heartbreak in the wife.

[28:48] She comes before the Lord and her tears drop upon the altar is the idea here. So there's the secondary sin that they've committed that God condemns here amongst the people.

[29:04] Now, they commit that sin. He commits that. They commit that sin. But they do it either out of ignorance or they're just acting innocent.

[29:21] Because they say, yet you say, whereof? How have we done this? How is this deal? Look at verse 14.

[29:32] Because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant.

[29:43] The wife of your youth. Again. Just as we said a moment ago. She was your companion. Shared the joy. Shared the sorrows of life. and you made a covenant of life together because she's the wife of your covenant.

[29:58] That was to be a lifelong covenant. But you've dealt treacherously, that is faithlessly, deceitfully, offensively. Now, verse 15 is interesting here.

[30:13] Did not he make one? And yet had he the residue of the Spirit, wherefore one, that he might seek a godly seed therefore take heed to your spirit, let none deal treacherously against his wife in his youth.

[30:31] Now, did he not make one? That literally, not anyone, no one, not one man. And the idea is there's nobody here that has any sense or any residue, any remnant of the reason, the sense of right and wrong for what's being done, that God has placed innately within him when he breathed the breath of life.

[30:54] Anybody that had the residue of that? No man at all has done what you have done here. Now, and then he says, and wherefore one?

[31:05] They had an excuse, they thought, for what they were doing. See, it would be Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, great, great, great, great, great grandpa.

[31:23] Yeah. Abraham. Well, what about Abraham? He did it. Remember what Abraham did?

[31:37] God had made the covenant with him. You know, I'll bless them that bless thee, curse them that curseth thee, whatever that word is, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

[31:52] Through you, Redeemer, Messiah will come. He's getting old and well stricken in years. Hadn't had a kid, much less a son.

[32:05] Sarah, seen to be barren, has the brilliant idea. And I don't know if Abraham went around moping in the tent or what, but she picked up on something.

[32:18] Said, here's what you need to do. He said, you need to go into my handmaiden Hagar and have a child by her.

[32:31] And that will be the heir of the covenant promise. Abraham said, okay, sounds reasonable. He didn't object. No, he didn't object a bit.

[32:44] So he does. And she conceives and have a child, has a child. But God said, that's not the one. But the whole idea that Malachi is saying here is, when Abraham did that, he didn't do it to satisfy a yearning of the flesh.

[33:01] He did that for the purpose of raising a godly seed through which Messiah would come. Just like God promised. An heir of the covenant.

[33:14] That was his purpose in doing that. So, Israel, you cannot use that as an excuse. Because that's not why you're doing this.

[33:26] And that wasn't right anyway. That was all, that was all in the power of the fleshly nature. because wife urged him. How?

[33:37] Never mind. I'm not going to get into that. I'm not going to get into that. All right. Yeah, we're going to leave that alone. Yeah. Yeah. But that's what he's talking about in that particular part.

[33:48] All right. Now, so you don't have an argument. So, you've dealt treacherously against the wife of your youth by what you're doing.

[34:00] You've just gone off and married heathen wives. For the Lord, the God of Israel, verse 16, saith, that he hateth putting away, for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts.

[34:13] And we'll pick up there next week. Thank you.