“Covenant Breakers” (Malachi 2:10–16)

“Covenant Breakers” (Malachi 2:10–16)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday 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 God
b. For the sake of godly children and families