Malachi chapter 1 this evening. Malachi chapter 1. You say, preacher, I don't know where that book is. There's a real easy way to find it. Find Matthew and then just go back one book, all right? So Malachi chapter 1. We're going to be in the last book of the Old Testament tonight. Beginning a new study. I love these minor prophets. You look through Hosea, and Joel, and Daniel, and Obadiah, Zephaniah, Malachi, all of these, you can get a lot of major messages from the minor prophets. And so we're going to walk through the book of Malachi together over about the next seven times I preach on Sunday night, give or take. And tonight we're gonna start in chapter one, reading verses one through five. Hopefully you found it by now. Stand together with me, if you would, out of respect for the reading of God's word. And as we look at the first five verses tonight, a sermon entitled this. Go back to it. There we go. He loves me. He loves me not. Let's look at the word of God together. The Bible says the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob. And I hated Esau, and laid waste his mountains and heritage, waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas 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 ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. Father, we love you. And Lord, I pray that over the next couple of minutes as we open up this study tonight, that you would give us, Father, good understanding. It's not often, Lord, that we find ourselves teaching and preaching out of these particular portions of your word. But God, we know that every word that you have given is written for our learning and for our admonition. And that truly, Father, you desire to do something in our hearts tonight through your word. We'll give you the praise for all you do. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. As we look at the book of Malachi, it begins in verse number one, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Now, remind us tonight, Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. He is the final Old Testament prophet. A prophet who helps to really provide a link between the Old Testament and the New. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant that the Lord would accomplish through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Malachi's name means my messenger. And while it is hard to be precise with the timing of this book, it was probably written some 50 to 100 years after the people returned from captivity in Babylon. Malachi and Israel were living in a rather uneventful waiting period. God had done great things in the past. In their near history, Israel had seen God release them from captivity in Babylon. They had been released. They had returned. They had rebuilt. They rejoiced. There was revivals to speak of under Ezra and Nehemiah. God had done great things in their past. God had promised great things in the future. One day God had promised that Messiah would come. That ultimate redemption would take place. And that He would rule and reign from Israel. And that the nation of Israel itself would be of great renown throughout the whole earth. God had done many great things in the past. God had promised many great things in the future. But the period of time in which Malachi and Israel lived was a period of time where God didn't really seem to be doing that much at present. And so enthusiasm for the Lord and for the Lord's worship had waned. Apathy had set in. The nation was in what we might call a spiritual dry spell. You ever had one of those? Where it just felt dry. It felt more like ritual than it did a living relationship. It felt more like going through the motions than it did a self of worship and sacrifice to the Lord. For the nation of Israel apathy had set in and all they were doing was a little more than ritual. And thus Malachi, a book written, a message given to the nation of Israel to address this spiritual apathy, this book has an important message for us today. How do we respond when things feel flat, when apathy sets in? Because in our day and age, we're not in a great day and age of physical miracles, where blind eyes are being opened all over the place. Lame people are leaping and praising God. Sometimes it feels like even in our own lives there's no great swell of God's power and movement. We wonder where God is. We wonder what God's doing. We wonder what in the world does all of this even matter? How do we respond when things feel flat? When the dry spell sets in? When enthusiasm wanes? Now if you're like me, we all love the incredible, do we not? We love those mighty swells when man, it just feels like we have been in the presence of God. I love those mountaintops. But most of life is not incredible. Most of life is very normal. But the message of Malachi provides an antidote. For when the dry spell sets in, an antidote for apathy." And the first antidote that we're going to look at tonight is this, the love of God. Now I do want to point out, verse number one, it's the burden of the word of the Lord to the nation of Israel. In this book, we're going to deal with some things that aren't written directly to us. They are written directly to Israel. I think next week, or not next week, because this is Singspiration, the week following, we're going to talk about sacrifices. Guess what, Greg? Please don't bring a goat to sacrifice upon the altar. I don't care if it is a goat of pure and unblemished quality. We're not going to sacrifice your goat on the altar, okay? It's not happening. But through all of this, what are we going to see? We are going to see pertinent principles that we can apply to our spiritual lives each day. So what's the cure for apathy? Tonight, we're going to talk about the love of God. Look with me, verse number one and two as we get started. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I made that joke this morning, and every time I see that, I want to read it Malachi, but I will try not to. Read the first part of verse two with me. Ready? I have loved you, saith the Lord. Boy, I love that, don't you? Number one tonight, let's notice a sweeping proclamation. The love of God is declared in no uncertain terms for His people. What a beautiful thing. God loves God loves you. You see, sometimes we have it in our head. Well, the Old Testament, God presents Himself as a more austere God. The Old Testament is all about God's holiness. The New Testament is all about God's love. No, my friend, let me assure you, God is the same in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. And the New Testament is full of the fact that God loves His people. God opens this book. I can't think of a more beautiful way to open this book. He says, I have loved you, saith the Lord. In Jeremiah 31, we see another Old Testament passage. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn thee. We know John 3.16, for God so The world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 15, 9, Jesus said, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. In no uncertain terms, God declares before anything else, I love you. Friend, mark it down, God loves his people. God is not passive about us. God desires intimacy and oneness with us. God loves us steadfastly even when that love is not returned. Think about the nation to whom that statement was made. We're going to find this is a nation that defiles God's name, that brings unworthy sacrifices, who polluted and broke covenants and did all sorts of really awful things. God opens this book. He doesn't rip into him. He doesn't grab the spiritual two-by-four and go look to knock somebody up the head. What does he do? He opens this book and he says, I have loved you, saith the Lord. God loves his people. He loves steadfastly even when that love is not returned. He loves us. And the reality is, we may not always delight in His presence, but praise God, He delights to be in ours. This word here, when the Lord says, I have loved you, saith the Lord, that verb there is in the perfect tense. Do you know what that means for our English people out there? It means God is saying, I have loved you, I do love you and I will always love you. God loves his people. It is a sweeping proclamation. Church, mark it down tonight. God has said it and God does not lie. Titus 1 in verse number 2 reminds us, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie. God cannot lie. God said it, and God cannot lie. God said it, and praise God, He does not change. In Malachi 3 in verse number 6, we're going to get to this in a couple of weeks, it says this, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. God loves us. When we are unlovable, He loves us. When we are unlovely, He loves us. When we doubt Him, He loves us still. He loves us. He said it. He doesn't lie. He said it. He doesn't change. What an awesome thought. Think about it this way. If you could pick only one person to love you, It would be God. It would be God. Because there is no love like God's love. I don't know who you are. I don't know what you've done. I don't know what you're struggling with tonight. But this book opens with a sweeping proclamation. God loves you. God loves you with an everlasting love, with an unconditional love, with an overcoming love. Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 37, the Bible says, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God loves His people. We sang the children's song this morning, the B-I-B-L-E. What about the other children's song? Jesus loves me. You know it. This I know for Tells me so little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Sing it out, church. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes. I'll think about it. He as Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so. Church, tonight this beautiful book starts with a sweeping proclamation, not of judgment, not of condemnation, though this people was very worthy of both. It starts with a sweeping proclamation. I have loved you, saith the Lord. A sweeping proclamation. But did you notice how Israel responded to what God had to say? Look back at verse number 2. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Read the next part with me. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? I can just see it, can't you? This is one of those statements. You put your hands on your hips, or you wag your finger, wherein hast thou, and you bob your head. You gotta get the head bob in there. Wherein hast thou loved us? You see, to God's sweeping proclamation, number two, Israel issued a short-sighted protest. How did the people of God respond to such an amazing declaration? They responded with great doubt and disbelief. Oh, yeah? You say you love us. How have you loved us? Now, I would ask how in the world someone could get there, but the reality is we've all been there. We've all thought, boy, if this is the blessed life, If this is really what the abundant life is all about, we've all been there, have we not? We've all been in the place where short-sighted, selective memory has driven us to doubt the love of God. I think an example of this is the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. Numbers chapter 11 and verse number 5, we see the children of Israel in the mixed multitude. What did they say? They said, oh, we remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt. What is it? Freely. More on that in a moment. And the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. Oh, don't you remember the good old days in Egypt? Help me, church. Were there good old days in Egypt? Womp womp. No. You know what this is? This is short-sighted, selective memory. There was no freely in Egypt. There was no abundance for them in Egypt. They were slaves. They were miserable. So much so that their cry of desperation reached the Father in heaven. Short-sighted, selective memory drives us. to at times doubt the love of God. You know, I think it's important for us to remind ourselves that this is born not out of the facts of God's Word, but rather it is born out of the feelings of our own heart. I'm going to tell you when our feelings take precedent over and displace facts, we are in trouble. You ever thought about all of the things that we know in our head that we allow feelings to just kind of override? Think about this, how many of us in our heads know that hot dogs are a terribly unhealthy food to eat? And yet, how many of us feel in our hearts that hot dogs are a ridiculously delicious food to eat? Amen and amen. You see, it is not that I am intellectually unaware of the danger of whatever in the world it is that we call hot dogs. But I eat them anyways. I eat them anyways. But I'm going to tell you, when we spiritually allow our feelings to displace facts, we put ourselves in a very dangerous situation. When I allow my words, my thoughts, and my feelings to contradict God's Word, I'm in trouble. What did God just say? God just said, He looked them in the eye and He said, I have loved you, saith the Lord. And their immediate response was to doubt and contradict what God has said. Oh yeah? How? Wherein? Hast thou loved us? But this is not unique to them. I go back to the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the trees of the fruit of the garden, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. I want to keep going a little bit. I didn't give it to Charles, but we can follow along. Verse number four, the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree was desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Now what happened here? Adam and Eve had trusted the fact that God was good. And yet in these moments, Satan plants something in their head and says, oh, is God really that good? And what happens? In Eve's mind, she flips the script. She begins to talk about the trees and the tree that you can't eat, neither shall you touch it. Well, by the way, that's not in God's Word. So what did Eve do here? When she began to doubt God's goodness, when she began to doubt God's love, what did she do? She minimized the liberty God had given, and she maximized the limitations. Well, maybe God's not as good as I thought he was. Well, God, have you really been that good to me? And Satan's good at doing that, isn't he? causing us to question in our words and thoughts and feelings what God has so clearly stated in His Word. My friend, if you give Him an opening, the devil will do everything he can to cast doubt on God's love for you. He did it to Adam and Eve, but he also did it to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you Matthew 3, verses 16 and 17. This is at the baptism of Jesus. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And, lo, a voice from heaven sang, read it with me, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Let's read it again. What did God clearly say, the voice of God, in Matthew 3, 17? He said what? He said, This is my God's Son, in whom I am well pleased. Well, if you know your Bible, you know that that's Matthew chapter 3. In Matthew 4, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when the devil begins his temptation of Christ in Matthew 4 in verse number 3, I want you to see what he says. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son... You see, what did the voice of God just say? This is my beloved Son. Yet when Satan showed up, what was the first thing out of his mouth? If you're really the... Son of God, command these stones that they be made bread. Christian, be careful. Don't ever let the devil or life circumstances place an if where God has placed a period. Because when we really stop and look at the facts, God's love cannot be legitimately doubted. We see a sweeping proclamation, I have loved you, saith the Lord. We see a short-sighted protest, wherein hast thou loved us. Thirdly tonight, we see in response to that a strong proof. Look at verse 2 again. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountain and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus the Lord of hosts, 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. A sweeping proclamation, I have loved you, saith the Lord, a short-sighted protest. Wherein hast thou loved us? Thirdly, denied a strong proof. Israel wanted proof. God, you say you've loved us. How have you loved us? And God gives them several examples proving his love to them. The first one we're going to look at tonight is God's favor to Israel. When the Bible here refers to Jacob and Esau, understand what has happened here is that God sovereignly chose Jacob to be the one whom through Abraham's promised chosen line would continue. There were two brothers. In human wisdom, Esau, the older brother, would have been the logical pick. But God is sovereign and God can choose to do what He will with whomever He wills. I mean, He used a donkey. He used a rooster. When God chooses, God can use whom he will as he wills. But we find here that God chooses Jacob to be the one through whom Abraham's chosen line will continue. Now, let me explain a little bit here, because there are some words that maybe we get a little bit hung up on. The Bible says, what not Esau, Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated him. Now, that word hated, and a lot of times when we see it in our Bibles, including here, that word is a comparative term. It is a term that shows preference or priority, but not primarily a passionate loathing or hatred. Let me show you a New Testament example of this in Luke chapter 14 and verse number 26. Jesus said this, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yea, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now let me ask you, from what you know, from the whole counsel of God, if I'm going to follow Jesus, do I need to loathe my earthly parents? No, in fact, what does the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament tell me to do to my earthly parents? Honor them. Not hate them, not loathe them, not despise them, but honor them. What about my wife? If I'm going to follow Jesus, do I need to go home tonight and look at her before we go to bed and say, I just want you to know I hate you, and roll over and go to sleep? Is that what Jesus expects of me? No, you know the whole counsel of God. What does God tell me that I need to do with my wife? I need to love her, specifically love her as Christ loved the church. What about my children? Am I supposed to hate my children? Am I supposed to hate my brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I supposed to hate myself? No. The term Jesus uses here literally means to love less or in comparison that one is so highly favored or chosen as the other one really is not even in the same ballpark. And so this is a term not of passionate hatred, but a comparative term showing preference or priority. It simply says there was Jacob, there was Esau, and God chose Jacob. He chose Jacob to be the one through Abraham's promise would continue. Let me deal with something else. There are some churches and some Bible teachers who will say verses like this prove that God chose Jacob to go to heaven and God chose Esau to go to hell and neither one of them had a choice. Jacob didn't have to do anything to go to heaven. God just chose it. Jacob couldn't change it. Esau couldn't do anything to not go to hell because God chose it and couldn't change it. Friend, that is not what this verse teaches at all. Nowhere does the Bible, Old Testament or New Testament, teach the idea that God chooses some individuals to be saved and God chooses some individuals to be lost and go to hell for all eternity. No, what God is showing here is that God chose Jacob in an essence of not individual election to salvation, but rather national election to service to God. In fact, if you go back to Genesis 25, when Jacob and Esau, when the word came that they were on the way, the babies were still in utero, look what God had to say. And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb. and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. The one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." You see, God's choosing wasn't really an individual thing. He was choosing Jacob and his line as a nation, and not Esau and his line. And so it is not individual election to salvation, but national election to a position of service. I want you to note as well, when we talk about God's choice of Jacob, and by the way, the nation that came from Jacob was Israel, God's choice to favor Jacob was absolutely undeserved. I mean, when God made the choice, the babies hadn't even been born. They hadn't had the opportunity to do anything to gain or lose God's favor. By the way, even when the boys were growing and growing, you're going to find neither one of them were great guys. I mean, Jacob was a scoundrel. An absolute scoundrel. But God chose Jacob. God chose Israel to be His people that He would use to bring salvation to the earth. And I'm going to tell you, Israel was all up in their fields. They were all in the mully groves. Life was just down. But when you pull back just a little bit, you know what you find, Israel? You find that there is no other nation on earth that God has loved like he loved Israel. And I'm going to tell you, that is strong proof of God's love. So God reminds him of his favor to Israel and to Jacob. God doesn't just remind them of His favor, God also reminds them of His faithfulness. You look at what happened to Esau and his people. The people of Edom were the descendants of Esau. The Bible says, "...and laid waste his mountain and his heritage for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build in excellent places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down." And they shall call them the border of wickedness, the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. You see, much later in history from Jacob and Esau, we have the nations of Israel and Edom. And both Israel and Edom had been conquered and sent into captivity. The Bible here shows that although Edom had attempted to return, had attempted to rebuild, and had attempted to revive their society because of God's judgment on their sin, they were unable to do so with lasting success. And by the way, before you say that's not fair, this has been the case for countless nations, tribes, and dynasties over the ages. I don't walk the streets wondering if I'm going to run into any Philistines these days. Because they ain't here no more. I'm not walking the streets wondering, I wonder if that guy's a Hittite. Because they're not here no more. And by the way, our nation has no promise of tomorrow as well. And so Edom went the way of countless other nations. The nation that came from Esau has failed. And yet the nation that came from Jacob, the nation of Israel, remains to this very day. You realize there is no earthly reason that the nation of Israel should exist. From an earthly standpoint, they should have been wiped off the map dozens of times by now. Satan and his psychopaths have levied attack after attack after attack against the nation of Israel. And yet, what do we find? That today, the nation of Israel remains, the Jewish people remain, not because they're so great, not because they're so powerful, but because God and His love are so faithful. The people says, well, how have you loved us? God says, are you so quick to forget the favor I have shown you? I chose you. Are you so quick to forget the faithfulness? Nations have come and gone and you have remained because of my faithful love to you. I think the application tonight is clear that Christian, no matter what you are going through at this moment, if you would but pull back a little bit and see the big picture, you will find overwhelming, undeniable proof that God loves you. Do you realize as a child of God that you have the unique favor of God on your life? Oh, God loves the world, yes, but you understand that you as a Christian, you as a son or daughter of the King, you as a joint heir of Christ, you have God's unique favor on you. in a way the world does not have. John 16, 27 shows us this. For the Father himself loveth you. Why? Because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. You see, there is a special place of love that is reserved for those who are a part of the family of God. Friend, I don't pretend to know how hard the thing that you are going through is, but I can promise you this. Just back up, just pull out and see that God loves you. Think about it this way. I hope you know tonight, those of you who have kids that are around here, I hope you know tonight that I love your kids. I really do. But I think you also know as well that I don't love your kids the same way I love my kids. It's just a little bit different. Friend, God loves the world, yes. But if you're His child, He loves you in such a unique and blessed way. You know, sometimes we have to self-check, don't we? Sometimes when we start to doubt, we start to deny, we start to push back on these things that we know to be true, we have to do that self-check. We have to get our eyes off of our own immediate internal difficulties and remind ourselves of the bigger picture. Remind ourselves of God's loving favor. Remind ourselves of God's loving faithfulness. He has not and He will not fail you. Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this, Romans 5 and verse 8 reminds us this He that spared not his own son. Think about God's love tonight. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? We have a sweeping proclamation. I have loved you, saith the Lord. A short-sighted protest. Oh yeah? How have you loved us? A strong proof. See my favor on your life. See my faithfulness. on you. Our passage tonight, verse number 5, ends with a shining promise. The Bible says, And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. God shows the nation of Israel here that His love on them and His promises to them will, in fact, all be brought to full fulfillment. God promises that they will indeed see the end result of God's love for them. Now when the Bible says, here your eyes shall see, it does not speak of physical sight alone, but also of our understanding and perception. You see, isn't it true that what we see with our eyes can be so easily misinterpreted or forgotten? One of the reasons eyewitness testimony often proves unreliable in a court of law. But it will one day be made clear that God's love was truly placed on and poured out upon the nation of Israel in such a way that they will become an undeniable witness of the grace and glory of God to all the nations of the world. And let me say here, Jesus is coming again, church. And one day King Jesus will sit on an earthly throne in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem, the nation of Israel, the chosen people of God, will be the envy of the nations. And the Lord Jesus will rule and reign, and God's love will never be doubted again. Not just in their borders, but beyond. Friend, let's remember tonight. Although we may struggle in the moment, although we may toss and turn and wonder, He loves me, He loves me not. He loves me, He loves me not. He loves me, He loves me not. Friend, one day you're gonna see He does love you. He has loved you. He does love you. He will always love you. And you will see that God's love has been placed and poured out on you in such a way that you become an undeniable witness of the greatness and grace of our God. Don't ever let our hearts and minds question what God has so clearly stated. I have loved you, saith the Lord.