with a brand new book tonight and we are in the book of Malachi chapter number one and let me make
some introductory statements before we get into the actual chapter itself the text. Chronologically
of course this is the last book of the old testament and it's actually written approximately
400 years prior to the birth of Christ and Malachi is actually considered one of the
post uh exilic prophets and what that simply means is this is that his ministry basically took place
after the children of Israel left Babylon and came back to their homeland and so you have a
lot of prophets that were prophesying before the Babylonian captivity such as Isaiah, Jeremiah
but then you have these prophets who came after that when they returned when the temple was built
after the seven years and thereafter and they're preaching to Israel because obviously there's
still issues that need to be addressed there's hard issues there's sin that's taking place
and so he's one of those and you know you think of for example Ezra, Nehemiah you think of Haggai
the prophet Joel and of course Malachi these are those prophets that came afterwards where
God is still addressing Israel for other particular problems that they had and it's possibly about
a hundred years after the return from Babylon to the homeland because if you remember prior to
Babylon the children of Israel were involved in idolatry they're involved in and covetousness and
they have all types of wickedness taking place so God basically punishes them by allowing a
foreign nation to come Nebuchadnezzar and bring them into captivity for 70 years and he tells them
in the book of Jeremiah he says I know the thoughts that I think of you thoughts of peace
and not of evil to give you an expected end and he wasn't necessarily referring to though that
literal generation he's actually referring to the generation that was going to rise up after them
he obviously in his foreknowledge knew that the generation that would rise up after the rebellious
nation would eventually seek after the Lord and they did of course they rebuilt the temple they
were able to come back because of their belief in the Lord but then other issues started coming
to surface that God wanted to address and this is what we see here in the book of Malachi
now what's interesting is that prior to the captivity the reason God punished them or the
sin that was very prevalent during that time was idolatry right I mean idolatry we see fornication
we see adultery we see covetousness excuse me we see covetousness we see sins that the
spiritual leaders are committing okay whereas the sin problem that they're facing after the
captivity or when they come back to their homeland it's not necessarily idolatry it's actually apathy
okay so they're not serving false gods they're not necessarily doing these abominable acts
really what it is is that they're not really serving God the way he wants them to serve God
you understand they're kind of being apathetic they're offering these sacrifices with blemishes
and although they have the God of the Bible as their God they're not really serving him and
worshiping him as he would want them to do so you say well what's the big deal they're still
worshiping him well here's the point of this particular chapter is that we need to worship
God the way God wants us to worship him okay not necessarily the way we think we should worship him
with what music we think we should worship him with with what practices we think we should do
it with you know we need to go to the word of God and see what his standard is what his commandments
are and go according to that now obviously there's a lot of leeway that God gives us
you know to choose but there are certain principles and guidelines that he gives us
that we need to worship him with and we need to abide by those rules so that's what he's
primarily addressing there is the indifference that Israel has towards God okay
and again it goes to show us that God is not only interested with us getting the sin out of our
lives he wants us to know how to worship him as well okay it's important to repent of our sin
it's important to clean up our lives it's important to get sin out of our lives and
make sure that we live a holy life that's pleasing unto the Lord but it's equally as important to
know how to actually serve God you understand you know we need to have both you understand so we
need to you know draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to us but the Bible also says cleanse your
hearts he sinners and purify or cleanse your hands he sinners and purifier your hearts ye
double-minded so God is also concerned with what's taking place in the heart he's concerned with if
we love the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength etc okay the Bible tells us
you're in Malachi I'm going to read you from Hebrews 12 28 wherefore we receive we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear so there's a type of service that we have towards God that is acceptable with God
okay and by the way so prior to the captivity whose fault was it that they were involved in
idolatry the leaders the pastors the priests they're the ones serving false gods they're the
ones the Bible says that everyone was given over to covetousness from the least even unto the
greatest in the book of Jeremiah why because everything rises and falls upon leadership
right whose fault is it after the captivity when they come back to their homeland the spiritual
leaders because he's addressing the priest in chapter number one and he's talking about how
it's their fault they're the ones who are offering these blemished sacrifices and lambs and this
polluted and corrupt bread he's saying it's your fault now obviously you know he also holds the
nation as a whole responsible for this type of apathy and his haphazard worship but at the end
of the day who does he address the leaders okay and we'll get into that just a bit look at verse
number one it says here the burden of the Lord to Israel by Malachi okay now let me just say this is
that most liberal churches probably are not going to preach from the book of Malachi unless it has
to do with tithing and most of them are not going to address verse number one why because it's just
such a cold way to start a sermon to start a book the burden of the word of the Lord you know to
Israel by Malachi I see a lot of people have this view of the word of God which is a half correct
way of the word of God and that is oh we go to the word of God to be encouraged you know we want to
be blessed we want to be encouraged we want you know God to just tell us what we want to hear to
make it through the day and yeah that's important the exhortation is definitely important and it's
definitely in the bible but folks Malachi is also the word of God and here we see that he calls his
word a burden now when you think of a burden something that's heavy upon you it's something
that's just kind of grievous something that is heavy something that is hard and what I believe
God is telling Malachi what Malachi is pinning down here is that what he's about to tell Israel
is going to be a burden to Israel it's not going to be an encouragement this is not a motivational
speech that he's going to give to Israel you understand he's not going to tell them how great
they are and how they love the Lord no he's going to tell them the truth and this is a good lesson
for us that sometimes when we come to church we need to hear the hard preaching right we need to
hear the burden of the word of the Lord you know it's good to hear the light things of God's word
the things that you know we are already obeying the things that we already believe the things that
you know we're already in concordance with in accordance with excuse me but it's another thing
to hear something that's burdensome to you you know to hit on something that you're actually
guilty of or to talk about your particular sin or your particular flaw or habit or you know just
kind of stepping on people's toes well this is what Malachi is doing he's not coming with some
motivational speech he's saying the burden of the word of the Lord this is going to be heavy on you
this is going to be a burden you're not you're probably not going to like what I'm about to say
okay and so it's burdensome it's hard preaching but it's necessary and we need both folks you
know we need to be encouraged and I preach encouraging sermon sometimes you know because
it's needed it's needed to help you to get through the week it's needed to encourage you in case
you're disillusioned you're discouraged you're depressed you understand these these sermons are
definitely important but it's also equally important important to talk about the hard
things the things that are not very popular the things that kind of make you uncomfortable
okay so he starts off by saying the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi verse 2
I have loved you sayeth the Lord so that's a good that's a good statement right there right that's
very encouraging God is so Malachi is coming to the people and he's saying hey God says that
he's loved you okay he said why does he need to start off with that why is he saying reaffirming
this fact that God loves them well look what goes on and say yeah you say wherein has thou loved us
that's pretty rude so God comes and he says I love you and Israel says where like we don't
see your love here you know so what do we see here automatically we already see an ungrateful
people okay we see a people that are not grateful they're not thankful and they're not thinking upon
the love of God okay and you say well why do you why do you say that well because of the fact that
these are the people that are basically they're enjoying the fruits of obedience of the previous
generation who came out of Babylon because remember the people who came from Babylon are
those who obey the Lord they're the ones who basically decided to get right with God they
came back they built a temple they're trying to serve God you understand and so this generation
came after them and you know that generation that came out they're thankful that God rescued
them from Babylon brought them back to the homeland they're serving God now they don't
have oppressors you know they're back to where God promised them that they should come that they can
come to whereas these people they're like well I don't know I don't think God loves me it's like
what do you mean what do you look what you have you're in Israel you're not taken into captivity
you're not in bondage you're not in slavery you're being fed you have the temple of God
I mean you have God as your God and yet you're saying wherein has thou loved us now
this is actually an attitude that even Christians today can struggle with where they doubt the love
of God okay you know I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands but I'm sure there's been times
in your life I know there's been times in my life where we have questioned does the Lord love me you
know I'm going through some things here I'm going through a trial a tribulation things just don't
seem to be going right for me you know I feel like I'm just kind of struggling in life right now and
I doubt if God loves me you kind of doubt those things and it can come for various reasons maybe
it's a financial world you experience maybe it's a it's a you know maybe it's the food that you eat
that's making you feel depressed like that and question the love of God I'm serious it happens
hey maybe it's a hormonal imbalance with ladies called postpartum depression and you know that's
a real thing that happens where women you know after they have a baby they kind of go through
this time and it varies with every lady where they go through postpartum depression and they
begin to doubt the love of God and it's not because they're not right with God it's just
a hormonal imbalance so that that thought can creep into any one of our minds and into our
hearts and we question why is it you know does God even love me you know nothing's going right
for me but here's the thing you know at a real basic general level one of the reasons why we
doubt the love of God is because we're not really thinking upon that which we already have because
if we're to really reflect on everything that we have reflect on everything that God has done for
us reflect on how he has provided for us reflect on where we're at right now you have a family you
have a church you have the bible you have salvation you know there's so much that you have if you're
to think upon where you're at where you're at positionally in the Christian life you would
recognize you know what God does love me you understand so this is obviously a people who are
they're not thinking upon those things they're not counting their blessings you understand and
look folks you know it might get pretty bad for you today but your worst day here is still some
unsaved person's best day you understand and so you know if you're going through a time when
you're kind of doubting whether God loves you or not just remember this is that nothing can
separate us from the love of God so the bible says in Romans chapter number eight it talks
about neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things
to come nothing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ nothing
can we're accepted in the beloved don't judge whether God loves you based upon your current
circumstances you know because you know what Job had some pretty crazy circumstances happen to him
where he lost all his children he lost the support of his wife he lost all his riches he lost all his
honor and in all this Job did not charge God foolishly the bible says you know and he went
through a time of doubt whether you know God was with him but I'm sure he didn't doubt his love
because he knew that he would come forth as gold and so just remember this is that your
circumstances doesn't change whether God loves you or not God loves you okay if you're saved
God loves you well my circumstances don't really say it well you know what sometimes you know
you don't need circumstances to change to prove that God loves you sometimes it requires for you
or you know your circumstances are bad so you can in faith believe that God loves you
it's easy to believe that God loves us when everything's going good bills are being paid
our our our stomachs are full you know everything's going hunky doors like yeah of course
God loves me I mean look at me doing great it's another thing when actually things are going bad
where you begin to question well does God really love me you understand and that's when you need
to step out in faith and say you know what in spite of what's going on in my life right now
I know that God loves me because his love is not determined by my circumstances and look folks
even if you let's say for example you are living in disobedience to God and his word we obviously
understand that you'll probably get chastised for that and if things are going bad in your life
it's good to kind of analyze your life and say well do I have sin in my life because if I have
sin in my life that's probably the reason why God is chastising me right now right he's punishing me
he's he's chastising me but hold on a second Hebrew chapter 12 says whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth so even God's chastening of you
is proof that he loves you so if you're going through a hard time like you know you're crying
you're just having a tough day you're like yeah at least God loves me you know you're getting
whooped and you know God's destroying your finances like well at least at least I know
that I'm loved of God because I'm being chastised right now okay and so don't determine whether God
loves you or not based upon your circumstances and again it's going to creep into everyone's
mind at one time or another it's going to happen you're going to be brought to the brink of doubt
where you wonder man like what's going on Lord you know I'm trying to serve you I'm trying to
do my best here you know do you love me you know and we all struggle with that from time to time
when things aren't going the way we planned or whatever it may be but in faith we have to believe
that God still loves us okay and so he says here I've loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein
hast thou loved us so this nation is like well how I haven't seen your love you know wherein
hast thou loved us and look what his response is here's that burden here's that hard saying right
here was not Esau Jacob's brother saith the Lord yet I love Jacob what is he saying why did he even
say that why didn't he say well because I provided for you why didn't he say well because of
everything that you have he just said this well you're not Esau you're not Edom didn't I say I
have loved Jacob and Esau have I hated so it's like if you're not Edom if you're not Esau which
I had previously said that I hate Esau and I hate Edom you know if you're Jacob which represents
Israel as a nation then that should be enough for you to know that I love you understand and look
what he goes on to say here in verse number three I and I hated Esau there goes that dirty word hate
by the way who's saying this oh God is that's right he says and I hated Esau
now folks let me ask you this I'm not gonna ask you
this is God saying this you know why do people have a hard time believing it that
God does hate when he specifically said I hated Esau now I don't know how the modern versions
portray this word or how they translated this verse or whatever you know I did not like Esau
or something or I think he's a poopy face or something I don't know how they translated it
but it says here I hated Esau and this is by the way well that's Old Testament well you know this
is later reiterated in Romans chapter 9 which is in the New Testament where God through the
or the Apostle Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit quotes Malachi about hating Esau
now let me make something very clear I do not believe that God hated the specific person Esau
because when you study the life of Esau you know at the end of the day even though he struggled a
lot and he made some bad decisions I think he was a believer you know I think he was just
unfortunately used as a bad example in the Bible because he made a lot of bad decisions
but we obviously understand that Esau became the nation Edom and Edom became a nation that God
abhorred or as the Bible also puts it hated and it's the proof of that is what we're going to see
in the next couple verses the fact that he basically destroyed that nation to a certain
extent so he says in verse 3 and I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness so what do we see God's hatred for this nation it wasn't just words
without action the Bible says that he hated them and what happened he laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness he basically said I just destroyed them so that
animals can inhabit that land and they wouldn't because when it says dragons of the wilderness
inhabiting the land it's referring to the fact that when a nation becomes desolate when all the
people are just removed and they're destroyed they're taken into captivity animals come into
that city and begin to set up camp basically so he's saying I destroyed them you know I laid his
mountains waste and the dragons you know the lizards and you know all these animals came in
and basically took over because I hated Esau okay that's strong language it's the Bible though
and so this shows us that you know God can hate specific nations and we'll see later on that he
can even hate people okay and in fact in Hosea 9 15 if that if that's not good enough for you
go to Hosea in chapter 9 if you would hold your place there in Malachi
now before you get offended at what I'm saying right now just remember that the the chapter
started with this the burden of the word of the Lord so you know this might be a little heavy for
you and this is one of the reasons why a lot of churches don't even preach on this chapter because
it's too offensive to tell anybody about it but you know what God wants us to preach the entire
council of God he wants us to talk about these verses and not just say oh that means something
else in Hebrew let's move on here or something he wants us to explain what these things mean
because people in the congregation are gonna be like why does it say I hated Esau does God hate
people for a while like what's up with that look at Hosea 9 15 says all their wickedness is in
Gilgal for there I hated them such strong language for the wickedness of their doings
I will drive them out of my house now just in case you fail to understand what it means to when
he says I hated them he kind of really reiterates it in a different way to help you to understand
look what it says I will love them no more all their princes are revolters so he says for there
I hated them and then later on he says I will love them no more you say this is a hard saying
who can hear it well he that hath in ears let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches
amen this is God's word there's nothing dirty about this there's nothing profane about it
there's nothing unholy about this you know we need to bring our minds into alignment with
what God's word actually says folks and and if you're like if you balk at this you're like I
don't like what it's saying here then let that be an indication to you that your mind has been
brainwashed by this world and by this fake Christianity out there that refuses to talk
about what the Bible actually says here okay where are you taking them out of context well the
context is just he hated that nation well that's just how he feels about them well no because his
hatred moved him to destroy that nation so I mean I don't know what else do you got okay
and look folks you know God hates certain nations he will destroy certain why because God does not
respect their people God is not Santa Claus God is not this Republican God up in heaven who's just
trying to make everyone happy he's just you know he's not this hallmark God who just always has
nice things to say you know the words of the Lord are gracious they're wonderful they're lovely
absolutely but you know there's times that they're harsh there's times when when they're offensive
and the Bible tells us not to stumble at the stumbling block which is the rock the word of
God okay and you know there's times when he not only hates nations but he hates individuals as
well Psalm 5 5 for example tells us the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou referring to
God hate is all workers of iniquity thou shall destroy them that speak leasing in other words
lying the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man now let me make something very clear because
you don't want to take this too far either and just think well you know just God hates a bunch
of people no he loves more the percentage of the people that God loves is far greater
than the percentage of people that he hates here on this earth you understand because yes
God so loved the world he loves first and foremost obviously his people he loves unsafe people out
there in fact let me just break it to you this way he loves unsafe people more than you and I do
you know we can seek to love the unsaved and have a burden and and try to reach them as much
as possible and and have that compassion the bowels of mercies in our and uh within us for
the unsaved but let's just be honest God loves the unsaved far more than we do and in fact he
probably thinks about them far more than we do he loves the unsaved this is why he's commissioned
his people to go out and preach the gospel to them so they can get saved they can go to heaven
they could have eternal life they can be blessed of the Lord that's what he wants but the Bible
here is teaching that he hates the workers of iniquity this is not your regular sinner out
there who's a cigarette smoker drinks alcohol or whatever fornicates that's not what that's
referring to a worker of iniquity throughout the Bible is themed as being an individual who's just
a very evil person extremely evil and in fact he says that the Lord will abhor the bloody
and deceitful man what is the bloody and deceitful man that's the violent person
I mean have you heard of violent people within the last couple of years people who just take
innocent people's lives away you know murderers psychopaths reprobates people who molest children
people who murder children these are the bloody and deceitful men and God says I abhor them
and shouldn't we expect the God the God of the Bible who does righteousness and loves justice
and and and you know loves the innocent to do so of course because he's righteous he's just just
means you know the fact that he has equity and justice means that he loves that which is pure
and he hates that which is evil and wicked and vile this is why hell exists hell is a
terrible place hell is the epitome of anyone it goes deeper than anyone's nightmare could
ever experience it's the most painful place you will ever experience if you're not saved
you know it's it's it's terrifying it's scary the depictions that we have in the Bible let us know
that it's a place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and let me just say this it's
eternal that means it never stops and God created that place and there's people there today because
of the fact that they rejected Jesus Christ well that's yeah and by the way I mean don't people
say I don't see how a loving God can send people to hell isn't that what they say yeah well because
they're missing the fact that he's also a hateful God right but here's the thing is that how do we
know that God is a loving God because we're saved because he sent this God commended his love toward
us and that while we're yet sinners Christ died for us that's how we know it you understand and
so his love is offered unto all his love is offered for the whole world but folks if there's
people out there who hate God if they not only reject God but they mock him they despise him
they hate him they blaspheme him you know God's not gonna say well I'm just gonna continue to love
you no God is a gentleman and God will not force himself upon anybody the God of the Calvinists
will force himself upon people the God of the Bible does not force himself upon anybody
and the Bible says that there's people out there who do not want to retain God in their knowledge
therefore God gives them over to a reprobate mind basically he's like well I'll just help you not to
love me that much the more if you don't love me that's fine and look did God really do anything
to to merit that type of hatred from the world no God is love that's what the Bible says he's given
us life look folks even prior to salvation obviously the Bible says that we are his offspring
he blessed us he sent the rain upon the evil as well as the just I mean there's people out there
who are not Christians they don't believe in the Bible but I guarantee you they have food on the
table clothes on their back a roof over their heads they're able to breathe they can walk
they have a job they can provide for their family that's God allowing that in their lives to move
them to seek the Lord that's what the Bible teaches why because every good gift and every
perfect gift cometh from above from the father of lights every gift that a person receives every
good thing that you have is because God allowed you to have it no it's my hard work yeah but you
know that God in any moment could just take your legs you know he can give you some debilitating
disease where you're just incapacitated where you can no longer work you can no longer provide for
your family he can he can stop your heart like that if you wanted to he can make you brain dead
like that if you wanted to he can give you a disease that will make you miserable for the rest
of your life you're like well that's not happened to me well I guess that's the love of God right
yeah I mean doesn't the Bible say that the goodness and forbearance of God leadeth you
to repentance and recognition of these things God expects for people to know that
he loves us even prior to salvation I guarantee you we can we can go across this room and people
can share times in their life where even before they were saved where they felt like that was
the presence of God that was the Lord protecting me from this that was the Lord who delivered me
from this even before you're a Christian I know I've had times like that and it was like God
trying to get my attention for the purpose of me getting saved you know and in recognition of that
we understand the love of God but hold on a second folks is that there's love there's also hate
and you know a lot of Christians out there they're full of baloney
okay you know they over there over here you know talking about well I don't hate anybody you hate
someone don't give me that there's someone out there that you would hate absolutely and look
folks you know men remain in the image of God so we carry these emotions with us and it's because
God also has those emotions and we see it right here I mean for you to deny it would mean that
you would have to come up here and explain what these verses mean are you saying that these
verses shouldn't be in here well I just think you're taking them out of context well the context
is there I mean I don't know how else you can what else you can pull from this when he says that he
hates all workers of iniquity okay and so you know it's important to note that because you know some
Christians they they they think that you know it's it's like sinful to say that when God said it
himself and so and here's the thing folks you know people often say that and this is this is
their favorite quote hey love the sinner hate the sin though love the sinner hate the sin not he
doesn't hate the worker you know what I mean he hates the work of iniquity that they're doing
he doesn't abhor the man he just abhors the bloodiness that he does or something like that
like they try to like finagle their way through this translation and trying to like you know fit
their the image of their God into the bible okay and they'll tell us this no we shouldn't hate
anybody we shouldn't hate the pedophile even though the pedophile has zero mercy towards
children even though the pedophile will will come you know even Richard Ramirez just killed a bunch
of people but I'm supposed to think that oh I still have to love Richard Ramirez I still have
to love Ted Bundy I have to love Jeffrey Dahmer who ate people this is madness folks they're like
you're crazy no you're crazy if you think I should love a person like that right well hate what they
did Pastor Mejia don't hate them but hold on a second that wouldn't work for the counterpart
you know when the bible talks about love we don't say for the hike I love everything that you do I
just don't love you I love the righteous works that you do though I love I love your soul winning
I love you know the good works that you do I just don't really like you it's like you know
because that's just how it works you love the righteous or you you love what they do but you
don't love the righteous or something like that that wouldn't work would it no we obviously
understand that yeah we can love what they do but we also love them we love them as a person
right well the counterpart of love is hate and yeah obviously we hate the deeds of a pedophile
but guess who's doing the deeds the pedophile and therefore we hate them too and I say that
unashamedly I despise all pedophiles that's why we don't we don't permit pedophiles in our church
amen what if they're trying to reform their lives they can't do it here because according
to the bible pedophile cannot be reformed even from a secular perspective they cannot be reformed
you understand so don't think we're just oh you guys are just a bunch of hate mongers or something
like that there's no hate mongering in here during service after service there's a lot of love going
on here but obviously you know you're bringing up to me a subject about some wicked person
who's like some serial killer or something like that some some sodomite or some pedophile okay
yeah then you know you switch to hate that's what the bible says in fact doesn't ecclesiastes say
something like that there's a time to love and a time to hate these are the verses that a lot of
christians just stay away from completely you know because they don't want to offend anybody
well you know if they if they get offended at the rock if they stumble at the stone
that's not the stone's fault you ever seen people who like they're walking down the street
and they just like trip they fall and they get up and they just look at the ground
like it's the ground's fault it's like dude the ground is just there you stumbled you know
they're like walking across the street and you know they get onto the sidewalk and they just
fall and they just eat it really bad and they get them they're just all it's like
that ground has always been there it's not the ground's fault you stumbled okay go back to malachi
and look it's possible for a christian to be obviously to be saved and not really comprehend
the love of god because it requires for you to really get grounded in god's word to understand
these things because the bible says that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth length depth and width and to know the love of
christ that passeth all knowledge so obviously in order for us to understand the depths of his love
the height of his love the length of his love you have to be rooted and grounded in god's word you
have to read the bible you understand you know loving god or knowing the love of god is not just
some emotional assent that you give some mental assent that you give of saying well yeah i just
i just love the lord no it comes by you reading god's word you understand and so you know he's
telling the children of israel he's telling israel hey why are you asking if i don't if if
if i love you are you isaw you're not isaw you're jacob you're israel and i've already told you that
okay verse four says whereas edom referring to isaw edom saith we are impoverished but we will
return and build the desolate places thus saith the lord of hosts they shall build but i will
throw down and they shall call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the lord
hath indignation forever and your eyes shall see and he shall say the lord will be magnified from
the border of israel so he's saying isaw have i hated and here's the proof i destroy what they
got going on and they're going to be like well we're going to come back and rebuild it and god
says all right i'll destroy that too i'll destroy everything that you're doing because he hates that
nation okay and i'll be honest with you i don't really know of a nation today in 2021 that god
is pleased with i think god hates all nations that are on the earth right now like even the united
even especially the united states you say why because of all the abortion the murder and
violence all the wickedness all the evil that's being propagated you think god's just going to
turn a blind eye to that you think he's just going to be like well it's america though they
have so many songs about me up there down there god bless america i mean they have me on the dollar
bill saying you know and god we still trust and everything like that and you know they have the
republican party has all these conservative values no you know how about let's talk about
all the human sex trafficking that takes place in america you think god is pleased with that
you think god is pleased with all the abortion you think god is pleased with all the sodomy
that's being promoted all the filth and nonsense that takes place in hollywood god's not pleased
well i don't really want to talk about that though like that's that's you know that's that's
america's dirty little secret well yeah god knows the secrets of the heart and he knows the depths
of the wickedness that takes place in the united states of america i think the only nation in fact
i know the only nation that god is pleased with is the spiritual nation which is god's people
that's the only nation he's pleased with that's why he calls christians his people his holy nation
his peculiar treasure his peculiar people his holy his royal priesthood because that's the
only one he wants to be affiliated with god's not affiliated with america folks
sorry to break it to you
you know it doesn't matter how if the president invokes his name you know the bible says we're
two or three guys together my name there i am in the midst you know what the exception is when the
president and everyone else prays he is not in the midst of that guaranteed and i know that
offends a lot of people but you know this isn't this isn't uh the mayor's office this isn't the
governor's office this is church this is the pillar and ground of truth and you know what i'm
here to give you the burden of the word of the lord and the burden is this is that god is not
pleased with all nations you know and obviously we could look at america and in comparison to
other nations america is far better off you understand because there's a lot of christians
here a lot of soul winning here you know the bible still being preached here you know if you
compare it to a country like southeast asia obviously america comes out winning southeast
asia is filled with idolatry and and a lot of wickedness is taking place over there other
portions of the world as well so he confirms the fact that he hates edom by describing what he's
done to edom look at verse number six a son honoreth his father and a servant his master
if then i be a father where's mine honor and if i be a master where's my fear saith the lord
of hosts unto you a priest that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised thy name
ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar and you say wherein have we polluted thee and that you
say the table of the lord is contemptible contemptible means despicable i don't know
what's up with these priests they're they they're not really esteeming the house of god very good
in fact they're like this is so gross you know we have to do this we have to offer this bread
just offer whatever we have they're just kind of not taking it serious you understand he says and
if you offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil so they're bringing a bullock a sacrifice
and they're like all right it's time to do a sacrifice what should we do like well get that
blind one right there i've been trying to get rid of that thing forever i think it's like all
disease it got a couple boils on it just get rid of that one so they're giving god the worst
think about that he says you offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame
and sick is it not evil so they're offering handicapped offerings the animals can't even walk
to where they're going to be slaughtered and he's like take the worst one take the sick one the one
that has mad cow disease or something like that you know just like get that one
so this is why he says you're saying that my table's contempt was despicable because you
wanted to offer despicable offerings upon there and look what he says offer it now unto thy
governor will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person say the lord of hosts he's like why
don't you give that to your mayor and see what he thinks about that you know what he's saying he
goes you wouldn't do this to the magistrates of land right you know you wouldn't do and you know
what you know what this reminds me of it reminds me of old ifb churches they have american hero
sunday okay where they try to get like some governor or not a governor like a mayor you know
some corrupt politician they try to get them into the into church and they'll honor them it's like
do you do this for the lord like would you ever honor you don't ever honor god in this manner
you don't have like a special service for god but you have a special service for some wicked
politician you know so these people think well you know it's god we can just give him whatever
he'll be pleased with whatever no you're supposed to give god your best give god your best
he says in verse number nine and now i pray you and i excuse me and now i pray you beseech god
that he will be gracious unto us this has been by your means will he regard your person say
the lord of hosts so the principle that we can learn here is this is that we as god's people
need to give god the best we have okay um we need to make sure that whatsoever we do we do
heartily as unto the lord god deserves our best folks because he's the god of the bible he's the
god of the universe the bible says to love the lord thy god with all thy heart soul mind and
strength he didn't say with 10 of each he says i want all of it so yeah you know he wants all
of our mind but he also wants all of our heart what is that our emotions you understand i mean
what do you cry what do you cry more for uh some some chick flick or the book of psalms
i'm asking you i'm just kidding
you know what moves you right we got to give god our heart to everything that we do and obviously
we're imperfect we're fallible people we're not always gonna meet up to this standard but this
should be something that we strive for to to be all in you understand and and to seek to give god
everything that we have take up our cross and follow him you understand the bible tells us
in first corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do
do all to the glory of god the problem with these people is that they were honoring god with their
lips but their heart was far from him understand and so what we can learn from this is that
we never want to take church or the service of god lightly understand it's like well it's just
another day at church you know just come to church and just kind of tune in tune out zone in zone out
let me get on my phone real quick let me check bitcoin real quick let me check the news real
quick let me check this and that real quick hey take the take this serious amen let me
just take a quick nap real quick let me just fall asleep real quick let me just rest my
eyes for a little bit hey is the table of the lord contemptible unto you is the house of god
contemptible unto you you know like oh you know i'm just i'm just i'm just gonna rest my eyes
real quick pastor is not gonna care i'll call you out but even more so than that god will call you
out i mean try to do that at your job will thy governor be pleased with that
try to offer that to your boss
how about that you know uh you know yeah but this is like all volunteer stuff like i don't
have to be here folks this is the house of god and we want to take the house of god serious amen
i don't really feel like singing i just you know uh why did you expend all your singing
in the car on the way over here singing some worldly song or something like that what's up
we ought to give god our best so what i'm saying is this don't don't treat the house of god as a
contemptible thing don't think well you know it's just church this is god's house obviously not the
physical building okay this this is a just a building okay we're the church but when we
assemble together god considers it to be a church okay and we ought not to treat it as a despicable
thing you understand that's why you know i'm for coming on a sunday comfortably in your comfortable
clothes but don't come in your pajamas or something
try to do that to your governor to your boss or whatever right yeah but my boss pays me well so
does god well now you know god pays you he rewards you we all should we ought to take these things
serious and look you wear your sunday's best whatever that is to you but i guarantee your
sunday's best is not slippers with socks on sunday's best is not a blanket
sunday's best is not a blanket sunday's best is not a pillow okay well it gets cold in here
you know well you know i don't know what to tell you about that because i kind of like the cold
just do a put do some push-ups or something
you know we shouldn't treat the things of god as a despicable thing you understand and this is the
problem that the priests were having is that they were just kind of undermining the importance
of the temple of the lord the table of the lord they weren't really taking it serious
verse number 10 who is there even among you that that would shut the doors for not neither do you
kindle fire on mine altar for not i have no pleasure in you sayeth the lord of hosts neither
will i accept an offering at your hand so they're offering things but they're not doing it right and
god's saying i don't accept that so do you know what this tells me is that there's certain types
of worship out there that god just doesn't accept even if they talk about god they talk about jesus
you know they say it seven times in a song sometimes god's like i don't accept that
so we should find what is acceptable unto the lord you understand verse verse 11 says for from the
rising of the sun even to the going down to the same my name shall be great among the gentiles
and every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall
be great among the heat and saith the lord of hosts this is replacement theology so he's trying
to provoke them into jealousy at this point because they're not doing it right they're not
serving god correctly so you know what god says well you know what i'm going to be magnified in
the eyes of the gentiles i'm going to be sought after the heathen he's saying you know if you
guys don't want if you guys aren't happy with how you know i'm your god and and you're not happy
with honoring me or doing it right okay then i'll find the heathen to do it because they will be
pleased to honor me the correct way this is replacement theology he said i don't know about
that well jesus came into his own his own received them not he came to the lost sheep
of the house of israel they rejected him and they crucified him on a cross the people who
mostly accepted him from a broader perspective were gentiles you know and thank god for the jews
that did preach the gospel to the gentiles because folks that's why we're here let me just let you
let you in on a little secret we're gentiles according to biblical standards because we're
all the other nations and the only reason we're even saved today the only reason we even know the
gospel we know the word of god is because there are some jews back in these days who went out
into other nations preaching the gospel getting gentile nations saved but he's telling them i'm
telling you you know and every place in sin shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for
my name shall be great among the heathen you know what god's name is great at first works baptist
church it's great here we want to magnify god and magnify his word and not be ashamed of what
he says in the bible and when people confront us and they're like why do you say these things
you know oh that's shameful i can't believe you said that we stand by god's word and we say we're
not ashamed of god's word it's beautiful it's perfect i love it every single page i love it
i love what everything that it says
why because we want god to be great among us amen verse 12 but ye have profaned it and that you say
the table of the lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even his meat is contemptible they're
not even happy with the offerings that they're doing because keep in mind when they would offer
a bullock they were supposed to eat of it right so they're like oh this is gross well yeah because
you offered some sick animal that's your fault it's like you don't like the fruit that you're
getting but you're the one who offered it it's like pastors they complain about their
congregation when they're the ones who produced it right they're all mad about how their congregation
does this and all this it's just like well everything rises and falls on leadership
it's your fault then you know and they're saying oh this is gross this is detestable
ye say also behold what a weariness it is and you have snuffed that it saith the lord of hosts and
he brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick thus he brought an offering should i
accept this of your hand saith the lord this is sad so they're about to offer something you know
some some lamb over there got run over by some carriage or something like that it's all it's
all bleeding it's about to die and like oh just just offer that one real quick because it's torn
or got attacked by some lion it's still living it has about like 20 more minutes to live or something
and they just bring that instead it's terrible but i want you to notice what he says verse 13
ye said also behold what a weariness it is they're just like this is so tiring this is so boring
oh soul winning oh reading the bible going to church such a weariness you know the bible
actually says in the new testament that for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not what grievous hey are the commandments of god grievous to you
do they bother you when we talk about the role of a wife or the role of a husband does that bother
is that grievous to you if that's the case then you're probably one of these people are just like
this is weary for me this is a weariness the commandments of god are not weary to us because
we delight in the law of god after the inward man and if the commandments of god are causing
us to be weary or grievous it's just an indication that we're probably not right with god you
understand and by the way you know when you do the service of god you're going to grow tired
sometimes this is what the bible says be not weary in well doing for in due season we shall
reap if we faint not so we'll go through seasons when we're worried about it but at the end of the
day you know as a whole we should never view the work of god or coming to church as a weariness
like oh here we go yeah here's another sermon oh there we go again with that same subject
oh there's that same song oh this is so boring
that's the attitude these people had and god was not pleased with that
look folks you know um i don't think we have a boring church
i try to do my best to keep it exciting around here okay you know i think it's it's an exciting
church i think it's a very high energy church you know there's always something great happening i
think we try to keep the preaching fiery the fellowship's great but it's not always going
to be that way you know there's some weeks that it's just kind of i'm going to preach a boring
sermon it's going to be boring and you're going to be thinking man i wish i should have brought
that pillow and that blanket you know he's going to call me out you know there's going to be time
you're just going to be like oh man here you go again but you know what sometimes we need that
which is boring to be reiterated to us and at the end of the day if you really you know get involved
in what the text is saying and you ask god for to help you to understand you know even the boring
things can have a little bit of excitement to them okay and so you know let us not be like these
religious priests you're saying oh this is so weird soul winning is just so boring we're not
getting anybody saved and thursday service is so boring and all these things are so boring
you know you just gotta you got a heart attitude okay sorry that we don't have purple lights and
smoke screens and elephants and clowns that's not our kind of church verse 14 but cursed be the
deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrifices unto the lord of corrupting
for i am a great king sayeth the lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen man
he's like i'm the king and all the nations consider me to be dreadful what does that mean
he's saying you know it's acceptable for them out there to consider god to be dreadful
we're just like they dread him we shouldn't dread coming to church obviously we should fear the lord
but doing the commandments of god should not be a drudgery or a dreadful thing he's like but i'm
dreadful among the among the nations so what do we see here with the book of malachi what we see here
is god god is reprimanding the spiritual leaders of that day okay and he's saying this is your
fault you know i'm concerned with you getting sin out of your life but i'm also concerned with you
serving me acceptably okay so let us be reminded tonight that we every whatsoever we do we should
do it heartily as unto the lord not into men and never consider the work of god to be a despicable
thing okay never consider so wanting to be a despicable thing there's churches out there
who consider it to be a despicable thing who used to do so winning but no longer do so winning
because they consider it to be a despicable thing you know oh don't let's let's not consider the
bible reading the bible cover to cover to be a despicable thing there's churches out there like
that so what do they do they offer a devotional book instead because to them is despicable you
understand let's be happy hey there's people who consider the hymns to be a despicable thing
oh those are so old-fashioned and they're boring and all these things so what do they do they
create these new contemporary songs where with drums and all these things that people like or
whatever feeds the flesh we shouldn't consider it like that understand and so if we view these
things through the spirit and we do things heartily as unto the lord we will continue to
enjoy the christian life amen let's pray father we thank you thank you so much for your word lord
thank you for the book of malachite i pray god that you'd help us lord to do all things heartily
as unto you and uh to not grow weary of the mundane it's the mundane things of life that
make up life the exciting times are are few uh and far in between lord but i pray god that you'd
help us lord to enjoy them and enjoy even just the regular things of life and uh of the christian
life and may your commandments may never be grievous to us may we never be weary and well
doing and i pray god that you bless us as we go on our way in jesus name amen