Follow The Leader

If you have your Bibles tonight, we're going to look over to the book of Malachi chapter number two, Malachi chapter two. When you find your place, if you would honor God's word with me, we're going to read verse 10 down to verse number 17, Malachi chapter number two. We've been doing our study through the book of Malachi. This is a great four-chapter book. It ends the Old Testament. If you've never read through Malachi, you could probably do it within a 15, 20-minute setting if you're a modest reader speed-wise.

I encourage you to do that just to kind of get an overview of it. Each week, you know I'm going to be preaching on Malachi, so you can just keep reading ahead. Malachi chapter number two, verse 10 down to verse 17. The Bible says, Have we not all one Father?

Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with good at your hand.

Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, whom thou hast... It says, Yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant, and did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit, and wherefore one, that he might seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away, or that refers to a divorce, God hates divorce. For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously, ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him?

When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them, or where is the God of judgment? Father, we thank you for your word tonight. As we study this passage, I know the language sometimes can be a little bit confusing at first read, but I pray that you would give clarity as we study through this, and that you would just turn the light onto your scripture, to the souls of your people.

God, I pray you'd give us wisdom and understanding. You are our wisdom. You're our light, and our truth, and our salvation. We've come tonight to worship you. We give you this time.

Some have worked long days, and long hours, and risen early. We thank you for their faithfulness to be here. Be with the men's class, the ladies' classes, the teens' classes, the kids' classes, and all the hundreds of people that are throughout the services tonight. I pray that you would bless each one of them, that souls would be saved, and hearts would be sanctified in their walk with you. Blessed now as we study your word, we ask it in Christ's name. And God's people said, amen.

You may be seated this evening. Last week, we looked at the first half of Malachi chapter number two in a message that was entitled Unfaithful Leadership, where we saw God rebuking the spiritual leaders of the nation of Israel for being a terrible example to the nation. Anybody ever had a bad example for a boss, or a leader of some sort in your life, maybe even a coach, or somebody that was over you. And it can really be discouraging, can't it? Because you look up to them, you expect them to set a certain example to do things correctly.

And when they begin to get off, and you're like, man, that's not right. You shouldn't talk that way. You shouldn't behave that way. And I remember our coach in football, he would start getting worked up, and he'd start throwing out a lot of language that was not okay with a lot of the guys on the team. And I remember we talked to him. He said, coach, you really need to set an example in the way you converse. And I was a captain on the team.

We had a lot of guys that went to church with us. And so the coach said, okay, if I ever say a customer again, I'm going to do 10 push-ups. I tell you, when he did that, he earned our respect. And it was like the next day, it was like two days, man.

He's lightning to us. He dropped like four words. I mean, he just lit it up. At the end of it, he's like, and I got 40 push-ups. And he got down and did them. I was like, you go, baby, you go. And it just earned our respect.

We were like, you know, this guy is, we'll play for you. We don't expect everybody to be perfect, but you need to at least set a good example. And if you do wrong, you should confess that and own up to that. And so, but it's been said, everything rises and falls on leadership. That's true in the business world. That's true also in the sports arena. It's true in the family. It's true in the spiritual realm.

Leadership must be right for any company to be successful, a family to thrive, a team to be a winning team, or a church to be what it needs to be. And the great tragedy in the day of Malachi was a lack of spiritual leaders to lead the nation in a way that honored God. Instead of offering God their best sacrifice, which God called for because he was the best and the sacrifice reflected to God they were worshiping, they were bringing God animals that were sick and that they didn't even want, that they were the leftovers. And so they were saving the best for themselves and giving God their leftovers. They were saying that serving God in chapter 1 verse 13 was a weariness to them. Instead of being a blessing to serve God, it was a burden.

It was something that was problematic for them. Their poor offering, their giving God sickly animals instead of their best really just reflected their view of God. God asks for the first and best because he is the first and best. And I think whatever we give our greatest sacrifice to shows what we worship most. What we sacrifice most for shows what we elevate the highest.

Does that make sense? Because it's what we give up the most for. So God says you need to give up the most for him because he is our God and our Savior, not for God's sake, it's for our sake that we might honor him. God doesn't need anything from us, like what does he need?

The heavens is thrown, the earth is his footstool, the Bible says. So God says I would never have to repay anybody anything because I am the owner of it all. God can't owe you something because it's his in the first place.

So God asks for the best because he is the best and giving God last place in our lives reveals God is last in our hearts. And so as you think about what do your offerings of your time, talents, resources, your mind, your heart, your love, what does it show about the value of God? If somebody says I don't have time to read the Bible, I don't have time to pray, I don't have time to be in church, I don't have time to think about God or to serve God or to do anything for the things of God, what is that reflecting? It reflects they worship themselves because we do what we value and what we're doing is what we value. Instead of saying I value God most and I want to serve him, I'm valuing myself and I'm sitting on the throne of my heart because if I can't find time for God, I'm too busy.

Right? God, I know you gave me 168 hours in a week, but I just don't have time for you. And God says, well, we can change that 168 hours if you like, you know. So in chapter 2, God rebukes the priests for their terrible example which was causing a nation to fall into the same sinful behavior. Their low view of God caused the nation to have a low view of God. I mean, when your spiritual leaders aren't honoring God, what do you think the people are going to do? Their lack of holiness caused the nation to be unholy. Their sin caused the nation to be sinful. The very leaders who were supposed to bring people closer to God were actually bringing people farther away from God. And I think tonight as we look at our lives, dad and mom and grandparents and younger folks as well, are we setting a godly example, a right example to the people that we're influencing? What kind of influence are we?

We're splashing our influence on people every single day, the way we talk, our attitudes, how we carry ourself. The first half of chapter 2 is a rebuke to the spiritual leaders of this nation. And the second half is a rebuke to those who are following their poor leadership. So God comes and he rebukes the leaders first because, again, God places people in leadership and they're going to be the first ones God talks to, but he's also going to talk to the people that were following them. Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned, who did God talk to first? Where art thou, Eve?

Is that what he said? He says, Where art thou, Adam? And who did he talk to? He talked to Adam. Adam, what have you done? And he's like, It's the woman that you gave me.

I'm not even in this deal. But he held Adam accountable first, and then he went to Eve, but he did get to Eve. So what you need to understand that if I led this church in a false way, if I started teaching like false things, God would deal with me first, but he would also deal with you if you followed those false teachings.

Does that make sense? And as parents, you know, we're going to be held accountable first. Dads, God would come to you first in the home, then the mom, then the rest of the family. But he's going to get to everyone.

Like, everyone's going to have to give an account. And that's what we find here is in the first nine verses, he deals with the leadership. And then from verse 10 down to 17, he begins to direct the attention to the people. So tonight, I've entitled this Follow the Leader.

And that's what they were doing is following the wrong leadership. But so number one, the treachery among the people. Malachi 1, 10. He says, Have we not all one father? Now, who does father here refer to?

Who does father refer to? Some believe this speaks of the fatherhood of Abraham over the entire Jewish nation. But verse 10 and 11 seems to point the reference to God. If you compare verse number 11, it says that he compares the true God to foreign gods. And so it seems very clearly that verse 10 would be referring to God in the reference of father. Also, God has already referred to himself in verse number six as their father. And Malachi 1, verse six, it says, God said, If I be a father, where is my honor? So Malachi here is not teaching that everyone born in the world is a child of God. Jesus made clear that only those who are saved are children of God. And in John chapter one, verse 12, it says, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Notice what verse 13 says, Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. But who were they born of?

You're born of God. First John 3, 1. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. So the Jews said to Jesus in John 8, 41, We have one father, even God. And though God is the father in a general sense of all creation, because the fatherhood of God in a general sense refers to God as the creator of all things, he is the father of creation, you could say. But here, Malachi speaking of God as the father of the Jewish people, he is their covenant God.

They are his covenant people. And so the question assumes an affirmative answer. Have we not all one father?

Is not God the father of the nation and people of Israel? And the answer, they would say, is yes. And then he asks the second question, Hath not one God created us? In verse 10, this again assumes an affirmative answer.

And they would say, Yes, one God has created us. It also supports the father mentioned previously is also God, because it's highlighting him as the creator in that second question. Now, in the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, 6, Moses puts it in that same kind of language. He says, Is not he thy father that hath bought thee?

Hath he not made thee? So the point of these two questions is to drive home the sinful and foolishness of what the nation and people were doing against each other. What he's saying is if we're all under the fatherhood of God as a nation, we're all brothers and sisters united in God in this covenant relationship, and we're all created by God, why would we deal treacherously with each other? We're on the same team, is what he's saying. We're all children of God. We're all in this covenant children of God, I should say, under that covenant. But he's saying, Why would we deal treacherously?

And that's what he goes on to say. Why do we deal? Why do we deal?

And notice he puts himself into that. Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? Now the word treacherously there, it's a word that means being deceitful, being unfaithful.

You need to know that treachery there is deceitfulness, unfaithfulness. And what they were doing is highlighted in verse 11. They were divorcing the wife of their youth and marrying idolatrous foreign wives, wives of other nations that serve false gods.

They were divorcing their wives that they've been married to so they could go out and be with other women. This was an evil act of deceit and unfaithfulness to their wives, the entire nation, which was their family. And it was a violation against God. They were sinning against their wife, they were sinning against their national family, and they were sinning against God. The covenant of their fathers here speaks about it's forbidden to marry someone who is of another faith, another religion, an idolatry, marrying idolatry.

And that was a wrong thing the Bible says in the Old Testament as well as in the New. And so friends, we need to understand that when someone chooses to sin, and comparing to this example in Malachi 2, chooses to leave their spouse for another person, the sins are extremely grievous. If somebody chooses to leave their current spouse for another person, first of all they violate the covenant of marriage they made with their spouse. They broke their marriage vow.

This is extremely sinful and wrong. Secondly, they sin against their church family. They've chosen to sin because they're part of a church body that they brought sin now into the body. 1st Corinthians chapter 5 highlights how bad that can be. And thirdly, they sin against God. They violate God's laws and God's words. So Christians who think that they sin and they say, well it only affects me. You ever had somebody say that? It only affects me.

No way. It has a huge ripple effect. When we sin, we want to minimize the consequences, but the consequences are usually greater than what we ever realize. That's why it's essential, I should say, to apply the verse that is mentioned in Proverbs 28 13. It says, he that covers his sins shall not prosper. If you try to cover your sin and act like it's not a big deal and hide it from people, you're not going to be prosperous in the eyes of God or in life. It says, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh. There's not just a confession of the sin, but there's a forsaking of the sin. Them shall have mercy.

In our daily bread, there's an entry on Malachi chapter 2 on this passage. It was entitled, A Sad Split. I thought it was interesting.

I thought I would share it with you. It said, the drama played out in a nest of bald eagles. It was monitored by a webcam. Beloved eagle family was viewed by many on the internet, and it was breaking up after raising several offspring, and this this is over seasons and seasons, so years of people watching these eagles. The mother again laid new eggs in the spring, but then a young female bald eagle invaded their happy home. When dad started cavorting with her, mom disappeared, and the life and the abandoned eggs died. In an internet chat room, questions and accusations flew wildly. Everyone who loved the pair was distraught.

Biologists warned the amateur eagle enthusiasts not to attribute human value to birds, but everyone did. We all wanted the original couple to reunite. Everyone seemed to know the family unit was sacred.

These are birds. As chat room members expressed their sadness, I wondered if they knew that God feels much the same way about human family breakups. I also wondered about myself. Why did I feel more sadness over the Eagles than over the fractured human families in my community?

Clearly I needed to revise my priorities. Here in Malachi 2, we see God's view of marriage. It symbolizes his covenant with his people, and he takes it very seriously as we should.

You know, people can get more upset over animals than they can people, but there's something in us that says, hey, that shouldn't happen. That's not right. And he says in verse 11, Judah hath dealt treacherously. This is how God's defining this. Again, treacherously, to betray trust, one who is unfaithful. It spoke of someone who is actually a traitor.

Notice God repeats this statement against them. Repetition is how Jews would express emphasis. Like when we want to express emphasis, like how do you emphasize something if you write somebody a letter?

What do you do? You put an exclamation point, you underline it, you capitalize it, you put it in bold. You know, I mean, we do these kind of things. Jews didn't do that. What they would do is they would just say it again.

You know, they would repeat it. That's why, that's why you see this in the Bible. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Holy, holy, holy.

It's a way of emphasis. And so what you find here throughout Malachi, the second part, is God repeating this statement five times. Verse 10, why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother? Verse 11, Judah hath dealt treacherously. Verse 14, the wife of thy youth against whom thou has dealt treacherously. Verse 15, let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Verse 16, therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously.

I mean, this is, God is like understand faithfulness is a big deal to God. Like, don't be unfaithful. Don't be a traitor. Don't break your covenants.

Stay committed. He says, Judah hath dealt treacherously. Verse 11 goes on and says, and an abomination is committed and is Israel, and in Jerusalem. The word abomination is something that is disgusting. It's abhorrent.

It's repulsive. This is how God feels about our sins. They disgust and repulse God. In the Old Testament, God declares things like idolatry, homosexuality, bestiality, offering children to sacrifice, ritualistic prostitution, dishonest business dealings, sacrificing defective animals, and things like this to be an abomination to God. They were disgusting to God.

They were a born repulsive to him. And so it says, for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved and hath married the daughter, it says, of a strange God. Their sin, it says in verse 11, was profaning the holiness of Yahweh.

The capital L-O-R-D refers to God's covenant name, so it's Yahweh in the Hebrew. They're profaning God's holiness. To profane means to treat something as though it's not holy.

It's the idea of blasphemy. When you take something, the Bible talks about honor. The word honor has a root word kabod in the Greek or Hebrew, and it means something that's heavy or weighty, something that has, like we say it today, you know, boy that was really heavy what they said.

We mean like it carries a lot of weight. And if somebody is dishonoring you, you'll say, man, you're treating me pretty light right now. You're not taking serious. And what you're talking about, they're not giving any weight to your words. And God says that Judah is taking the holiness of God very lightly. They're profaning it. They're treating something that's sacred with abuse. They're taking something that is holy and treating it as though it's something that's just commonplace. And it says that they have profaned the holiness of the Lord, it says, which he loved. Now, different commentators debate on this, which he loved, who is he?

Who is he referring to there? If this is speaking of Israel, it means that they have profaned God's holiness, which they once loved, which would mean now they're apostates. If the he of verse 11 refers to God, it speaks of Israel profaning the holiness of God, which God loves, and God greatly values his holiness, which is probably what is meant here. So Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord, which God loves. God loves his holiness, and you're treating it as common.

Psalm 11 verse 7 says, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. These kind of statements are said throughout the Bible. So notice how God refers to these wives who were marrying, who they were marrying, in verse number 11. Notice the end part of that. It says, and what were they doing?

It says, and hath married the daughter of a what? Do strange gods have daughters? No. I'll give you the answer, no. So, do they?

No, they don't. So what he's, the Bible likens the worshiper of an idol to being the offspring of that idol. The worshiper is, and that's why I believe verse number 10 is clearly talking about God, how have we not all one father? He is, he's the father of the nation, and you're marrying children of other fathers, spiritually speaking.

That makes sense? So, God had warned against intermarriage with unbelievers. Deuteronomy 7 says, neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter, thou shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take to thy son, for they shall turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.

So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. God had warned them in Deuteronomy, he says, don't do that. Don't marry unbelievers. Like, if you're a Christian and you're married to an unbeliever, you need to stay in that marriage. The Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians 7 that if you're married to an unbeliever, say, and they're willing to stay married, then you stay married. If they want out, they're like, hey, you're a Christian, I don't want to stay married, I want to get out, I hate Jesus, I don't like you, and the Bible says, it's actually a command in the Greek, it says, let them go.

You have to let them go. You have to, it says, God wants peace, you got to let them go. And then in that case, you're free to remarry, biblically speaking, because anytime the Bible gives an allowance to be divorced, it gives an allowance to be married. You say, but God hates divorce.

Yes, he hates divorce, but you can't force someone to stay in the marriage. And if they want to leave you because you're a Christian, then you can't control that, and the Bible says, then you would have that freedom. But the Bible tells us that if you're, that if you're not married, that you're not supposed to marry an unbeliever, nor should you marry somebody who's a casual Christian that's not loving Jesus. Listen to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14. It says, be ye not unequally yoked together with who? Unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous?

What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Infidel just means an unbeliever. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you're the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Wherefore, look what God says, come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Now this picture of being unequally yoked goes back to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 10, where God says, don't yoke a donkey with a oxen. They're not the same animal. An oxen was considered a clean animal, and donkey was considered an unclean animal.

That's the picture that he's pulling from. They're also have a they have a different temperament, and they have a different strength. Oxen are a little more powerful than a donkey, right? So, and what would happen, they wouldn't plow right.

It wouldn't work, because you would have an oxen that has the ability to do things that that donkey can't keep up with, and they would be snipping at each other more, you know, and it just wouldn't it wouldn't work. So so he's saying don't don't yoke them, and he brings that into the New Testament at the church at Corinth. He says, hey, don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Somebody says, well, I really love them. Well, you need to love Jesus more. You may think you love them, and and and maybe you do have strong affection for them, but but I can tell you that obedience to God is always the right thing to do. You don't want to get married to somebody that's an unbeliever for the number one reason that you want your life to honor God, and I can tell you in the life that I have lived over these years of counseling people, one of the greatest burdens that I deal with over these years are people who've been married to somebody who is not saved, and and they love Jesus, and and they want to talk about Jesus, but they're not allowed to talk about Jesus, and they they don't they don't want some of these sins coming in their home, but that person feels okay with it, and they're like I'm not okay with that, and it's just constant friction, and whatever feelings you think you have, those things begin to fade. Love is a choice.

It's not a feeling. We know that, but I can tell you when your love is to God, and they don't even love God, and they're of the Father the devil according to the Bible, they're not a child of God, I can tell you causes some problems. Now if you're married, and you're a Christian, and they're not a Christian, you're not your job is not to preach to them every day, okay? You don't preach a sermon to them every day. Hey, you need to be saved!

Repent! Come to the altar. That's not the you know what you need to do is you need to love them. You need to be an example to them. You need to just like if you were working with a co-worker, you need to be kind and generous.

You should be the best wife ever. You should be the best husband ever, and and and you should be such a light to them that it would cause them to say you know what I there's something different about you, and use wise questions. Don't make statements.

Use wise questions when you approach them about things. Don't don't preach it. Don't preach it somebody in that setting.

It just makes them harder. It turns them off, and if you if you're a lady here and you're married to somebody who's an unbeliever, we have some godly women in our church that could give you some great counsel. So please come and let me know, and I could hook you up with that situation to where you could talk to another lady that gives you some guidance and counsel, and we got some great ladies in our church that could do that as well as if there's guys here that you would need some counsel. Just let me know, and so you don't want to wade through those waters alone.

You're not alone. Just know that, and so and again you could be married to an unbeliever, and they're the sweetest kindest person. It doesn't mean they're always a not moral, and you could be married to a Christian that could be a real real bad person you know in some sense and not not enjoyable to be with. So but the idea is you want to be with somebody that is in love with Jesus. There's nothing more grand than when you are lined up with somebody, and you love the same Lord. You're living the same life. You're on the same direction. You're going to raise your kids with the same focus, and it is in the same direction. That's the direction you want to go, and so and don't think you're going to do missionary dating. I was a youth pastor for five years, and kids would say well I think I can lead them to Christ.

I just got to kiss them a few times you know they'll warm them up. I was like no no no don't do that. Don't do that. The Bible doesn't teach missionary dating.

I'm going on a mission field different kind of mission field ain't a mission field okay. I don't have to do that. No no no no. You know and we do you think we should talk to our kids about these kind of things? Is this important? Well I really like him, and I really like her or whatever, and no no no no, and and and and have some guidelines.

Don't your kids shouldn't be having boyfriend girlfriend dating kind of mentalities when they're 10 years old, 12 years old, 18 years old. Keep it going. I know.

So number two I got to keep going or I'm gonna rabbit trail this thing. God's judgment against treachery. Look what he says in verse 12. The Lord will cut off the man that do with this.

This is God's response to this. God's going to cut them off. Cut off refers to death often in the Old Testament. It also can refer to being removed from God's covenant promises and people. Like you're gonna be removed from the line of God's people.

Your your your family line will be ended. The blessings will end. Then then verse 12 goes on to highlight that God's judgment is unbiased. Look what he says in verse 12. He says the master and the scholar out of the tabernacles of Jacob, these were like the the top-tier leaders, and him that offerth an offering unto the Lord of hosts, and just the person who brings an offering. Like like all the people from the leaders to those being led, God will render judgment on all who commit these treacherous sins.

God is unbiased. 1 Kings 11 talks about how there was an Old Testament King named Solomon. You guys are very familiar with who the Bible says in 1 Kings 11 1.

I think it's good just to hear these verses. It says, but King Solomon loved many strange women. That just means like foreign wives. Together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Thedonians, Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go in them, neither shall they come in unto you. For surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. I mean what on earth do you do with a thousand women? Is he lost his mind? At what point do you say, I'm insane, I'm just an insane person, you know?

Good night. It's only 365 days in a year. You can't even talk to three a day. It's make any sense. And so it says, for it came to pass when Solomon was old that is, notice what it says in verse 4, and this is the real tragedy of it. You say, why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? God didn't allow it, it just records it. The Bible just records the truth.

God was never for polygamy. How many, how many atoms were there? Not atoms, but Adam. There was one Adam. Okay, how many Eve's? There's one.

What was God showing us? One man, one woman. Could he have made two wives? Yeah, he could.

He could have, but he didn't. My wife's like, you better not say could have one more time, I'm gonna light you up. I can feel it, I can feel it.

Coming on. Two eyes. So God was showing us that it's one man, one woman, for one lifetime.

Don't make me laugh, I shouldn't. Verse 4. So, but, but this is the tragedy, friends. It says in verse 4, for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Asherah, the goddess of the Zonians, and Milcom the goddess, the abomination of the Ammonites. I mean, Solomon got into some great idolatry, and in the kingdom was torn from him. And verse 9 it says, and the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared in him twice, and it commanded him concerning the things that he should not go after other gods, but he kept that which not that he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, for as much as this is done of thee, and thou has not kept my covenant in my statutes which I commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. And that's what he did, the kingdom was torn apart.

Solomon set his family up for disaster. And I tell you what, the sins of David really got passed on to Solomon's. David passed on so many great things, but also David had many wives too, didn't he? I think he had a ten or so wives, and, and, and, and he had wives and concubines together over ten there, and it just that some of that was passed on to his children. And, and that always caused problems. Abraham had more than one wife, and that caused some problems. The Muslims today are the offspring of the second wife.

I mean we, we, the devastation is massive. So the Bible never affirms that. And so verse 13 it says, and this have ye done again covering the altar of the Lord with cheers, with weeping, with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth no, not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with good at your hand. The people come and they offer tears and weeping to God here in verse 13, that they've been separated from. They thought coming and offering remorse and an offering or two would suffice, but God would not receive it.

He wouldn't receive it. Proverbs 15 8 says the sacrifices of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. In Isaiah 1 15 through 18 God says, when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, look what he says, wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doing. What the people were doing was, God we're sorry about this, but they didn't want to forsake it.

God I'm sorry, but they didn't want to give it up. Verse 17 of Isaiah 1 says, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. God wants to cleanse you, but you've got to do something with your sin. That's why when people say, oh you don't have to repent to be saved, all you, so you're telling me you can hang on to all of your sins, say I believe in God and just be as wicked as hell itself and still be saved? That's, that's, I was talking to somebody last year, they said, you know, I can't come to Lighthouse anymore because you say you have to repent in order to be saved. That's not found in the Bible. I said repent and believe the gospel is not found in the Bible.

What I just said to you is exactly what Paul said. The Bible says that repentance of sins should be preached into the whole world. The Bible says God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, Acts 17 30. Jesus said, except you repent you'll perish, Luke 13 3, Luke 13 5. The Bible says in Luke 15 there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over 99. Jesus started the preaching of the gospel by saying in Matthew chapter 4 17, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Do I need to keep going?

I was like, it's just, how do you get, how do you get past it? But what people don't want to do is they say, well, we don't think people should have to give up sin. It's not a work of giving up sin, it's a heart that's broken over the violation of God's law that will evidence itself in a transformed life. Repentance is not external, it's internal and when it starts internally it will show up on the outside. Does that make sense?

So, so there's got to be a change. So not everything we offer God you need to know is acceptable to God. They were coming and offering tears in verse 13 and God's like, I'm not accepting any of it. Just because we offer something doesn't mean God's going to take it. And you know what that shows us? The offeror is not the standard of what's acceptable.

The receiver is. God is the standard of what he accepts. So if God says, I don't accept this, then I don't care how sincere I am, I don't care how many tears I have, God doesn't take that. You know what we base worship on?

The Bible tells us God, God's Word determines it. John 4 24, Jesus said it this way, God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit that is internally and in truth that is accurately. You have to worship God not just external ritualism but internal reality. You ever talk to somebody who goes to a Christian group of some kind and you you ask them questions they don't know why they don't have the internal reality they just have the external conformity?

They know what they're supposed to do on the outside but they don't really know why? Jesus says you got to do it in truth. Why are you doing it?

Doesn't mean anything if you're empty-headed, right? What does that even do? What are you even doing?

Why do that? Imagine how many people around the world like you walked with them and they came out of their religious setting you say why do you guys do that? You're like, do you think God accepts that? You've got to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. It's got to be in truth.

It's got to be accurate but it's got to be inward. It's got to be sincere as well. If I don't even know why I'm doing it why would I even be sincere about it? Hebrews 12 28 says, wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have peace grace whereby we may serve God. Notice what it says, acceptably with reverence and godly fear. We serve God in an acceptable way.

What's an acceptable way? You do it with reverence and you do it with godly fear. We reverence God. We hold him weighty.

We hold him weighty. That's why I think it's important to come to church if you can be here just a little early so you can have your heart prepared at your home. Prepare your heart before you come. God this is an important day set aside for you on Sunday. We want to come and worship you. I want to want to give weight to this day. I want to spend time with you.

I don't want to come in off the heels of a long week with my mind rushing about what I got to do this afternoon the rest of the day. I'm gonna slow down and give you reverence. God you're weighty. You mean something. You're valuable.

You're worth this more than silver and gold or anything else in my life. And we slow down and we have a fear of God that just says God I am in awe of you. I am struck by the wonder of God like there should be as you know we live in a day of walking in 30 minutes late to service with our flip-flops and sipping our latte and God says I would just ask the question is that acceptable with reverence and godly fear? You think God would laugh about that and say ah it's cool. Or do you think God would say it's not acceptable. You're dishonoring me actually and I think now if you have flip-flops if you're drinking something tonight and you came late because you got off work I don't know who did any of that stuff okay so don't and there are times that you have to work till 630 or you're on Sunday and you can only get here 30 minutes late still calm that's very honoring to God just know that. It's the mindset that says okay I could have been there but I was watching a YouTube video or I stayed up till 3 in the morning is it making sense everybody so don't take this as a legalistic thing that's a that's not the direction I wanted to go but but take it as a as a heart issue that we have to examine a heart and make sure we're given a reverence that God deserves. Now look look how the look how the people respond in verse 14 to God it says yet ye say wherefore why they're asking why doesn't God accept our offerings this reveals their low view of their sin I mean they had such a low view they're like how on earth does God not accept our sin our sin offerings they didn't see their sin as being that bad to God and what happens in verse 14 is very powerful because God puts himself on the witness stand it says because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou has dealt treacherously yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant God literally puts himself on the witness stand listen to me on behalf of the wronged wife the wife who in those times didn't have the ability to defend herself at the level that people do today God comes along and becomes her defense you're you so you don't think what you did was wrong I'm gonna speak on behalf of the victim now and God is a witness anybody glad God speaks up on behalf of those who've been wronged and can't be a voice for themselves you know what Jeremiah 50 says thus saith the Lord of hosts the children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together and all that took them captive held them fast they refused to let them go their Redeemer is strong the Lord of hosts is his name he shall thoroughly plead their cause that he may give rest of the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon Psalm 140 verse 12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor perhaps you have been or you know somebody in life that's been very wronged and it's like man justice wasn't served that guy got off or that girl got off or that person got away with it I can tell you the good news is they didn't get away with it every you know if there is no God Hitler got away with it if there is no creator Mussolini got away with it but if there is a God they will stand in judgment for every sin they've ever committed they will justice will be perfectly served anybody thankful for that like like when somebody that's why God says don't take vengeance do you think you're offended over their sin you have no idea what holy God feels about it he's like you give vengeance to me I will repay saith the Lord so what we can do is say God let me then pray for them that they might turn because they're doing what I used to do in my ignorance and sin and offend people may they turn from their sin and turn to you and may they find grace and if you're saved God will cover your sins in grace but I can tell you your sin will find you out if you wrong people and do wrong things right and so praise God for his justice just just know that reality Romans 12 17 through 19 refer to that verse the third thing I'd like to show you in verse 15 through 17 as we bring this to a conclusion is God's view of divorce in verse 15 notice what he says and did not he make one and did not he make one what he's referring there is is when God merit when marriage happens God brings them into oneness there is a unity that is a mystery that God unites and it's because it's a union not between two but it's actually a covenant between three it's the man the woman and God and you're bringing them into covenant marriage turns two people into one flesh in Genesis 2 24 through 2 22 through 24 says the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man notice it he didn't take her from the foot bone or a head bone but from the side to be a companion to the man to be brought unto him and Adam said this is now bone of my bones flesh of my flesh he shall be called woman because she was taken out of man therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and that's a very important statement isn't it you don't stay with mommy and daddy all the time right get married you move on move on org or something like that all right so there's probably somebody watching online somewhere from their parents basement like why is he saying this turn it down turn it down mom and dad might come up here so well move out of their house and get your own room if that's the case all right come and see me I'll be a I'll be a guide for you there but it says they'll leave their father mother so there is a leaving and then notice there is a cleaving unto his wife and they shall be one flesh there is a unity there Ephesians 5 31 says for this call shall a man leave his father mother shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh it's repeated in the New Testament and divorce is tearing that apart it is it is ripping apart what God has brought together anybody seen the movie fireproof who's not seen the movie fireproof raise your hand I'm just curious okay you've not seen that you need to go rent that or buy it it's good enough to buy it and and very very powerful movie about marriage Kirk Cameron was part of that and but there's a point in the movie where couples dealing with on the verge of divorce and and one of the police officers in that or firefighters I should say glued a salt and pepper shaker together and he was trying to show them the importance of like staying in that marriage covenant and the captain there's like why on earth did you do that he's like I for me that he said and he went to tear him apart he says don't tear it apart because if you do that you're gonna destroy both it's gonna be some fractures that you're just not gonna be able to replace and you know there is a there is a unity that happens in marriage that you people get a divorce you know God can heal grace can cover and they can go on and and God can really bless their lives but I can tell you there are some holes that will remain because there's a part of you that gets torn up I was talking to somebody this last week and their their loved one it's actually Kim holders mother her husband's been with the Lord now for a lot of years and she's up in years and her name is Billy Joe lives out in Missouri and she's uh she's getting to the end stages of her life and she's really wanting to go home to be with the Lord she says I'm really looking forward to heaven but I want to see my husband again and she understands marriage won't be there like it is here but but that you know they long to see their loved one I tell you because there's been you know we are married somebody for 40 50 60 years I mean you have grown in a in a one flesh setting that is so special and some people never understand that because they just bail out right away trouble they bail out bail out don't do that the Bible says the God made them one verse 15 goes on to say yet had he the residue of the spirit MacArthur says noting God's original institution of marriage in which he made two into one Malachi reminded them that God provided only one man for one woman though he had the life-giving power of the spirit and could have made Adam a number of wives he created only one and you notice that again in verse 15 he says and did not make one yet had he the residue the spirit he had the spirits he could have kept making them but he only made one it says and wherefore one why did he make one that he might seek a godly seed you only saying there so you could have godly offspring so that you could raise up a godly generation he made you one to stay with one that you might pass on your faith and live a godly influence and he goes on it says therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth you understand like the effect that broken marriages have on kids I remember my parents praise God that God healed their marriage and they've been married now for probably close to 40 years and but I remember when I was around fifth grade and they were really struggling and and I was you know in school is like I I remember sitting in school thinking why I don't care what happens in school why on earth do I care about math when my parents may not be staying together why do I I'd get in fights I was I I didn't care about nothing who cares the purpose of life for me just kind of started fleeing away and it put me down the wrong road for a while but it it was all my fault but it was but when God healed them then then God healed me and in the effect of both ways just know when mom and dad are doing good at the effect just ripples down and vice versa you know sometimes people think you know I'm gonna get a divorce because the grass is greener on the other side well first marriages there's about 45 to 50 50 percent of marriages that fail in our country the second marriage it goes up to 60 to 67 percent third marriage it's 70 to 73 percent it gets worse percentages continue to grow but we live in a society that's so lust driven and they've abandoned commitment I like what Piper says he says all relationships are made peaceful and pure by the fulfillment of covenants and promises and oaths and contracts and commitments children to parents parents to children husbands to wives wives to husbands employer to employee and employee to employer citizens to state state to citizens the peace and prosperity and joy and the Shalom of God of the community is held together by the deep strong covenant keeping that pervades the community the very fabric of a community is the trustworthiness of its people do they keep their commitments the other way for people to try to live together in community is the opposite of a covenantal order it's what you might call the disorder of self-indulgence because what else would you do if you don't keep covenant then you then you base your commitments on self-indulgence and this community goes on to say the spirit of commitment making and commitment keeping has been replaced by a spirit of emotional and physical impulse how weak the moral fabric of unfaithfulness to covenants and promises and contracts is unraveled in what's left are the individual strands of private gratification we are living in that society the Bible says one of the signs of the end times will be people will be covenant breakers and today people don't even make covenants they'll live together for 30 years 40 years and usually not even that long they'll stay together and just live with somebody and this even happens among 70 year olds is it sinful for 70 year olds to live together yes if they're not married yes if I'm 70 if I'm 70 say my wife died and I'm 70 and and I was like yeah you know for different financial reasons she would lose her you know certain financial income or whatever else so we're just gonna we're just gonna live together would anybody feel like that's a problem for your pastor yes yes you better think it would be okay it blows my mind that some people even in their older years will very well you know what they've done they've put money above righteousness they've put money above holiness they've been willing to lose their testimony for filthy lucre and God calls that evil and it's wicked I'll preach this till I die I don't care if one person in the church would agree with me and I think all of you probably do agree with me maybe but it is it is wrong for sin to rule our lives we have to be surrendered to the will of God but the passions of society have taken hold of on people I'm telling you it's such deceitfulness I have wives who think they deserve freedom you know I'm gonna give the kids to the husband at night and I'm gonna go out and have freedom with the girls to run the bars that's a lie husbands who think they've earned the right to go out with the guys and have fun and drink at the beer and hang out and flirt around with women that's a lie you don't have the right for that sin is a liar it doesn't fulfill it'll end in misery and brokenness and remorse Adam and Eve were given everything everything and they still weren't content they still wanted more contentment is not an issue of what you have it's an issue of the heart notice what he says in verse 16 for one covereth violence with his garment saith the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously what that saying in verse number 16 verse 16 says the Lord God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away he hates divorce for one covereth violence with his garment what that's saying is if you remember back in Ruth this was like Boaz when she said covered with your garment it was a picture of marriage conjugal relationship there and but it was also a picture of safety for the husband over his wife and and what he's saying here you're to cover your wife with protection and safety faithfulness what you're doing is you're covering her with violence you're you're acting violently against her and ripping the marriage apart and and taking these other wives it says therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously and then let's conclude in verse 17 I know you thought we would never get there we've gotten there for 17 right as we're going to are you is this making more sense than when we first read it anybody first read this and you're like what on earth is this even talking about I mean I am lost like a goose I can't get this that's why I tell you as you you know what I'll be preaching on I'll be preaching chapter 3 and so you can read through that and the more you study that you're going to glean more out of it as we go through this but there's so much here look at verse 17 as we wind this down and I've entitled this we're wearing God with our sin the last thought there verse 17 he says you have wearied the Lord with your words and and what you find is God gets worn out with our words and our sins you know the Bible says in Ephesians 4 30 that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit but we can grieve the Holy Spirit and and just ask yourself is there anything in our life and that may be displeasing to God that you know that God would not be pleased with that needs to be confessed and forsaken amen don't deal treacherously against God and listen to the proud response of the people in verse 17 he says you've we're the Lord with your words yet ye say wherein have we wearied him wherein have we wearied him I mean it's amazing to me that how blind they are to the truth what they do is God declares a sin to them and they continue to question God about it and instead of examining themselves they examine God God's like what you did was wrong they're like instead of looking at themselves they're like no you're the one that's wrong didn't they do this to Jesus over and over Jesus would say things to them they would turn around and turn it back on Jesus just so blind pride is impossible to teach you ever talk to a prideful person and listen to the attack they have against God in the end part of verse 17 it says when ye say everyone that do with evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgment what they were doing was they were attacking the justice of God by saying God sees evil go on and doesn't dispense judgment immediately so God must be pleased with people who do wrong because if he didn't wasn't pleased with people who do wrong then then then he would obviously bring judgment upon them right away and and where is the God of judgment where is this God of judgment John Phillips makes it very clear he says the Jews attacked the Providence of God by bringing up the worn-out argument of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous Malachi's response indicates that God was sick of hearing the same old slanders served up by immoral people to justify their evil lifestyles and I would amen that the rest of my life people who say wicked statements against God like this and you hear it all the time they assault God because they don't want God to be a judge over them they want to live in their immorality they don't want any type of accountability for their sin and so instead of looking inward they assault upward and they deal treacherously not only with their fellow man but with God and so tonight as we look at this it's important for us to examine our life and say you know what we want to make sure that we're we're following the leading of God's Word we have godly leaders in our life that we're leading in a godly way and and we need to we need to be faithful because we're gonna stand before God and give an account one day and so there's anything as you examine your life tonight make sure your heart's sincere make sure your life is honoring to God make sure you stand for marriage make sure you oppose divorce make sure that if you have questions about that that you would come and talk to somebody tonight let's all stand as we close in a word of prayer has about nice closed you're welcome to come tonight if there's a burden on your heart maybe you are not sure of your salvation maybe if you stood before God you don't know if heavens your home your friend you're welcome to come tonight we could have a through a man we'll have a man talk with you for your lady we have a lady talk with you and they could show you from the Word of God how you could be saved tonight other I thank you for your word tonight I pray that we would be faithful to its truths that we would study to show our self-approved unto God that we would be a light in this world God I thank you for marriage I thank you for the faithful marriages of this church protect the marriages God I've seen marriages come under assault seen how the enemy seeks to bring in lies and deceit and disruption may your blessing and grace watch over the young and the old marriages alike help us to be faithful to you help us to be good leaders in our home in our communities the glory of God we ask it in Jesus name