“God’s Justice and Faithfulness” (Malachi 2:17–3:5)

“God’s Justice and Faithfulness” (Malachi 2:17–3:5)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, July 21, 2019
Malachi 2:17–3:5 (NIV)
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
1. Questioning the administration of God’s justice is presumptuous and wearisome to God (2:17).
2. Instead of questioning, we should trust in the justice of God and wait patiently for him; because, God will send his messenger, and he will send his Messiah—but in his own time (3:1).
a. The messenger (John the Baptist) will prepare the way for the Messiah (Jesus).b. The Messiah (Jesus) is God and will come to his temple.
3. When the Messiah comes, he will come in judgment, and everyone will be accountable to him (3:2–5).
a. When the Messiah comes, he will judge them AND you.b. The Messiah will purify his true people in preparation for the kingdom of God.c. The Messiah will punish his false people in preparation for eternal judgment.
Main Idea: God is God, and the administration of his justice is completely within his sovereign will. When God does send his Messiah, he will judge everyone, and everything will be made right and just.

“Covenant Breakers” (Malachi 2:10–16)

“Covenant Breakers” (Malachi 2:10–16)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, July 14, 2019
Malachi 2:10–16 (NIV)
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.  So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”  says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
1. God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God who is faithful to us; therefore, we ought to be faithful to him (v. 10).
2. When we are unfaithful to God, it inevitably leads us to be unfaithful to one another (vv. 11–14, 16a).
a. The people of Malachi’s day were guilty of violating God’s covenant by intermarrying with pagan idolaters (vv. 11–12).b. The people of Malachi’s day were guilty of violating God’s covenant by breaking their marriage covenants with their spouses through divorce (vv. 13–14, 16a).
3. God desires that his people honor him by protecting and honoring our marriage covenants with our spouses (vv. 15, 16b).
a. For the sake of the glory of Godb. For the sake of godly children and families

“Faithfulness in Word and Works” (Malachi 2:1–9)

“Faithfulness in Word and Works” (Malachi 2:1–9)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, July 7, 2019
Malachi 2:1–9 (NIV)
2 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
1. The Lord Established a Covenant of Life and Peace with His People (v. 5a).
2. This Gracious Covenant Demands that His People Honor Him in Their Worship (v. 5b).
3. Honoring the Lord Demands Faithfulness to His Word (vv. 6a, 7, 8b).
4. Honoring the Lord Demands Faithfulness in Our Works (vv. 8a, 8c, 9b–c).
5. Refusing to Honor the Lord Brings the Lord’s Chastening Hand of Judgment (vv. 1–4, 9a).
Main Idea: God has loved us; let us love him in return. God has shown us grace by giving us a covenant of life and peace; let us honor him in return. We honor him through right worship, right words, and right works.

“Worship that Dishonors God” (Malachi 1:6–14)

“Worship that Dishonors God” (Malachi 1:6–14)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, June 30, 2019
Malachi 1:6–14 (NIV)
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
1. When we bring worthless things to the Lord in the name of worship, we dishonor him (vv. 6–8).
a. God is worthy of honor. He deserves our adoration and reverence (v. 6).
i. He is our Father.ii. He is our Lord.iii. He is the ultimate authority over all earthly authorities.
b. Offering worthless gifts to God shows contempt for God (vv. 7–8).
i. Worthless worship dishonors God’s name.ii. Bringing God our leftovers (instead of our best) is worthless worship and dishonors God.
2. The only proper response for God’s people when guilty of worthless worship is to repent and seek the Lord’s favor (v. 9).
a. God desires our obedience (1 Samuel 15:22).b. God desires our hearts (Psalm 51:17).c. When we fail to give God our best, we may find forgiveness through the all-sufficient life and sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
3. If we don’t worship God in a worthy manner, He will remove his blessing and find others who will worship him rightly (vv. 10–14).
a. God’s Name will be honored.b. If some refuse to honor God, He will turn to others who will glorify Him.
* God turned his attention away from the hard-hearted Jewish people and turned to the Gentiles (Luke 13:28–29; Romans 11:11).
c. The full realization of God’s worldwide honor is still to be fulfilled in His future kingdom.d. There is only one “Great King” – the Lord our God.
Main Idea: God graciously saved us to worship him. As our Father and Lord, he is worthy of the very best that we can offer to him, but he is dishonored when we give him our leftovers.

“The LORD’s Unfailing Love” (Malachi 1:1–5)

“The LORD’s Unfailing Love” (Malachi 1:1–5)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, June 23, 2019
Malachi 1:1–5 (NIV)
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
1. The LORD’s Love for His People Declared
2. The LORD’s Love for His People Doubted
3. The LORD’s Love for His People Determined
4. The LORD’s Love for His People Demonstrated
5. The LORD’s Love for His People Displayed