Exploring God’s Love and Holiness – Malachi 1:2-8

SPEAKER 02 : 0:03

The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:17

What does it mean to live a life for God? Well, that’s what we’ll hear in a special introduction to Through the Bible as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, explains how wonderful it is to know God and enjoy Him forever. So find your seat on the Bible bus and open your copy of God’s Word to Malachi 1 as we listen.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:35

And we’ve been looking at several subjects that help us to understand God. God’s great purposes as revealed in these prophetic books and how he’s winding down things as far as this little world is concerned. And these things we’ve been looking at, we’ve talked about many things, not cabbages and kings, I trust, but other things that are far more important. And we’ve been talking about actually the things that are spiritual characteristics of the millennium. Those elements that enter in, and we’ve been talking about the fact that it’ll be a holy people, and that God has called us believers today, not to uncleanness, but unto holiness. That means to live a holy life, a life for God. After all, what is the supreme end of man? The supreme end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. How wonderful it is to know him, and we can only know him through the Lord Jesus Christ. He made it clear that the Father is not known except to those to whom he reveals them. Now, our God we’ve seen is a holy God. He asks that we be holy. And now, closely aligned to that is the love of God. We just got started in that last time. And in the second chapter of Ephesians, they’re put together three words that belong together. And that verse is four and five. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ by grace, ye are saved. And there you have the word mercy. And you have the word love, and you have also the grace of God. Now, let me say that mercy is God’s goodness that is exercised and expressed in behalf of the need of his creatures. He’s rich in mercy. Got plenty for you and plenty for me. And grace is God’s free action in behalf of those who have no goodness or merit, And God is free to act because of the death of Christ. That’s grace. Now, the love of God is what provided the way to save by mercy and grace. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He so loved the world. But what did he do? He gave his only begotten son to do what? that He might pay the penalty, that you and I might not perish, but that we might have everlasting life. Now, God had to give His Son to be free, to save us, therefore, by grace. You see, John 3.16 is not quite as simple as we thought it was. We come now to say just this further word about the grace of God. and the love of God, and also the holiness of God. Dr. Strong put it like this. He says the holiness of God is the track on which the engine of the love must run, and that the holiness of God is the runway, the airport from which the plane of God’s love must take off. And so we have here today a very exaggerated and lopsided presentation of the love of God. I don’t think it’s overstatement to say that the love of God has been preached and taught today until actually it’s all lopsided. It’s out of proportion to the other attributes of God. And it’s out of portion, and that is accepted by the modern mind today. God is one of saccharine sweetness.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:58

What a great perspective. Something that we really don’t hear very often, do we? Well, in our next study, we’re going to learn more about the relationship between God’s love and his holiness. Let’s pray. Father, we need your wisdom to understand your ways. So teach us your word now through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Open to Malachi 1 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

SPEAKER 01 : 5:24

Now, friends, last time we began in the little book of Malachi, and we said this man has a real sense of humor. And he opens on, though, a very high plane here. And the method that is followed, why God makes a statement concerning the people, and then they come back in a most sarcastic manner. In fact, they are insulting people. in the way they answer God. And believe me, the Lord has an answer for them each time. And we started off last time in verse 2 where God says, “…I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, In what way hast thou loved us?” And God says, “…was not Esau Jacob’s brother, saith the Lord. Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness.” And I read now verse 4, “…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’ll throw down. 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. Now, what God is saying to them is this now. He says, My action and conduct with God. Both of these nations that came from Esau and Jacob revealed that I loved Jacob and that I hated Esau. In other words, this judgment of them. And at that particular time, Edom never made a comeback. When was the last time you saw an Edomite? They are just not doing business today. They went out of style years ago. Now, God judged them. And this action of his looks like loving and hating. And God says, I demonstrated that I love you. Therefore, the choice of God at the beginning, he never made that statement because he had to wait until it worked itself out. And it reveals, therefore, that his choice is neither capricious nor Nor is it an arbitrary choice. God does not make choices like that. There has to be something to back it up. And God had a real relationship with his people. He was the father of the nation, as we shall see. He was their Lord, their God, and also their judge. And he judged them most severely. In fact, more severely than he judged Esau later on. But that’s when they rejected the Messiah. Now, I want to read verse 6, because this is now going to bring us to the second question that they ask here. And here it is, verse 6, “…a son honoreth his father, and a servant his master.” “…if then I be a father.” Now, God was never a father to an individual Israelite, even both to Moses and David. The best that was said of them, they were the servants of Jehovah, each one a servant of Jehovah. But what we have here is that God called the whole nation His Son, and He had that relationship with the nation. Now, He reminds them of that. He says, “…if I then be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, that is, your Lord, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests.” that despise my name. Now, he’s not through with them. And he says again, and ye say, in what way have we despised thy name? They are greatly offended that God would say this about them, you know. My, we are such nice, wonderful little Sunday school boys and girls. And we go to the temple and we go through the ritual. And we are very faithful. And we are really the pillars of the whole nation Israel. And then you dare ask us here about that we despise your name? How in the world are we despising your name? Now, listen to the Lord. He says to them here, “‘Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar.'” And the polluted bread here, I think we should make very clear, the bread refers to the offering that was made on the altar. And it would be what we would call a meat offering. That is, it would be an animal that would be sacrificed. And God will make it clear here that that’s really what he was talking about. He says that you offer polluted bread upon mine altar. The sacrifice is polluted. Now, they wouldn’t buy that because they asked the question. “…wherein have we polluted thee.” My, are they offended that God would dare say that to them because they were such lovely people. And to pollute God, by the way, was a serious charge, if it was true, of course. And they dismissed the charge with an indifferent nod of the head and a pretended ignorance. They acted as if he didn’t know what he was talking about. And then God says to them, In that ye say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. Now, let me read verse 7. And the table here would be, of course, the altar. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye say, in what way have we polluted thee? In that ye say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. Now, they said it was contemptible, and they despised it. because of the way that they treated it, the way that they acted. Now, their hearts are really polluted, and naturally the offering would be polluted. But they were to give a strong witness to the Gentiles, And God says that he intends his name to be great among the Gentiles. So let me move on down here. And oh, this is good, my friends. Maybe this is the place where you ought to tune me out, because my, what the Lord says here is really going to hurt. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice… Is it not evil? You see, he is talking about animals. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? Now, my friend, this is tremendous, what God is saying to him here. What really happened was this. Here is a man that, say, lives up in the hill country of Ephraim. He raises cattle. He has prized cattle. He always gets the blue ribbon at the cattle show. And so one day his prized bull is sick. And they call in the veterinarian, and the veterinarian says, I don’t think he’s going to make it. I think he’ll die. And so the man says, well, let’s load him in the truck in a hurry and rush him down there, and I’ll offer him for a sacrifice. Well, the priests, they could see he was sick. The old cow was sick. But they went through with it because this is a pretty prominent fellow up there, you see. And the people saw this blue ribbon prize bull being offered. And they said, you know, Mr. So-and-so up there sure is a generous fellow. My, look what he’s offering to the Lord. They went through that type of a thing. And today, do we have anything that corresponds to that? Paul, you remember, said that in the last days, among other things, they would have a form of godliness. They would be very pious. And if there’s one thing that makes me sick today is this pompous piosity that’s demonstrated by a great many so-called Christians having a form of godliness. You know, you can pour oleomargarine into a butter mold, and it may look like butter. It may even smell like butter, but it’s not butter. And you probably have heard the story about the man who’s a very stingy man, but he gave his wife a mink coat. That is, it was supposed to be a mink coat. And no one could understand it, why this man was so generous until he and his wife went walking down the street. And when they passed a rabbit hound, the coat jumped off and started running. Just happened to be rabbits, you see. Oh, there’s a lot of that. You know, this puts up a danger signal. It puts up a red light. I’m speaking today, and I don’t know you, but I’m speaking to folk who go to church and And they listen. They are very orthodox. They’re very fundamental. They say amen. They know the language. They can quote any number of pious platitudes. And they are satisfied today with a tasteless morality. They go through a form of truth and all the shibboleths, and they go through all of that, and they’re satisfied. May I say to you, They despise, actually, they despise God when they approach it like that. It was Dr. Giacomo Morgan who years ago made a statement. He says, I am more afraid of the profanity of the sanctuary than I am of the street. The profanity of the street’s bad enough. but the profanity of the sanctuary. Now, somebody says, but I never brought a sick cow to God and offered that. You notice what God says here? He says, why don’t you take that old sick cow over to the governor and offer it to him for taxes? And by the way, that’s a good question, isn’t it? Do you give more and pay more in taxes than you give to the Lord’s work? And I want to say it to you very candidly. Shame on you if you’re paying more taxes than you’re giving to the Lord’s work. I believe that when the offering is taken in a church, average church, and I’ve been a pastor a long time, that actually there is more profanity than there is down in the slums of the city and down where the drunkards are. Lots more profanity in that. Why? Because there’s a great deal to put on. Now, I’ll give you an example, and I’m not going to tell you where this took place at all. I know a very prominent businessman, and I will say this much. He lives in the East, and he’s a man, frankly, that I greatly respect. But I have really suspected his generosity for a great many years. He likes to give. And he’ll give generously if you put up a building and name it after him. When we got these new headquarters here, why, I had a suggestion or two from folk that be glad, you know, if it was named in their honor. Well, we just don’t do business that way here at Through the Bible. You give to the Through the Bible, you’re given to give out the words. And you’re not given to get your name written on anything. And I recognize that causes a great many prominent wealthy people to turn from me. But that’s perfectly all right. The Lord is speaking to a whole lot of you other folk, and I rejoice in that. Now, this very prominent businessman, and I happen to know that on two campuses, he has buildings named for him. Oh, he’s a big shot, let me tell you. And when he gives, you can be sure there’s going to be the blowing of the horns and the sounding of the trumpet and the blare of the trumpet and the beating of the drum, because that’s the way he gives. The Lord Jesus had something to say about that, that the Pharisee, when he gives, he went down on the street corner to give to the poor, and he had somebody down there blowing a horn. So everybody said, ooh, look at Pharisee so-and-so. Isn’t he generous? He’s down there on a corner just giving money away to the poor. Well, may I say that this man, this prominent businessman, invited me out for an evening meal with him. And he and I had good fellowship. He’s a likable fella. I tell you, he has real charisma. So he came to church that night where I was speaking. And the pastor there, he invited him up to the platform leading prayer. He’s a wealthy man, let me tell you. And so he invited him up there leading prayer. Now, I saw this with my own eyes. He gave $2 tip to the waitress there. for the dinner that night. He put a $1 bill in the offering plate. And I thought, well, he didn’t even tip God generously tonight. And I’m wondering if the same one who was here 1,900 years ago, who sat over the treasury and watched how the people gave. And I’m sure that some, if they didn’t say it, they thought it. What business has he to see how I give? Well, he happens to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And I’m not sure that on Sunday morning he looks over your shoulder. Are you giving what you give for a good meal when you go out? Do you give to the Lord’s work? Really? Are you giving generously as you do to other things, maybe where it makes a show? May I say to you, friends, that the old sick cow is still being taken to church today. And that is the method that is used. And believe me, the Lord didn’t let that pass. Say, this is burning sarcasm, and somebody’s going to get hurt. Listen to him here. He says, “…and if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor.” Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? How many of you, I say it again, and you can say it’s none of my business, none of my business, but I’m just giving you what the Lord gives you. And he’s saying here in a very definite way, he says you can’t bring him a sick child. You don’t pay that in taxes. Are you giving to the Lord as much or more than you’re giving in taxes today? Somebody says, well, I have to pay my taxes. Yes, you sure do. But what about your giving to the Lord? That’s supposed to be from the basis of love. The Lord Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And I don’t think we’re under the tithe today at all. And obviously, there was one tithe. And we know there was two tithes, and many think there were three tithes, that actually the people gave 30% of what they made to the Lord. Wonder how many of us today, when the Lord Jesus looked over the treasure, he saw how the rich gave, and they gave generously. But he didn’t command them for it, because they kept so much for themselves. But he saw that poor widow. And frankly, what she dropped in there, those few little coppers she dropped in there, you put that along with the side of the wealth of that temple, and very candidly, it was nothing. She gave nothing. But the Lord Jesus took those copper coins and he kissed them into the gold of heaven. And he said she gave more than anybody else. May I just say this in closing? I know for the first time, because I never checked on people’s giving when I was a pastor, unless it just came to my attention through their instrumentality, not through my prying into it, because I never did that type of thing and don’t today. But naturally, here in radio, we do know. And I am amazed at how this radio ministry is carried on. It’s carried on by many witnesses sending a dollar bill And they always say it isn’t anything. Well, maybe in comparison to our bills, it’s not much. But I want to tell you, when a whole lot of with us get together, it sure makes an impression. And they are having a lot to do with the carrying on of this program. It’s the $5 gifts, $10 gifts that really today, people give them regularly. that carries on this radio ministry. Now, every now and then, we have some that give generous gifts. I grant you that. And that always enables us to take on another radio station, and especially a missionary station. But may I say to you, friends, the Lord doesn’t want your sick cow. And yet it’s being taken to church today and a great many people are giving that way. This rather hurts, doesn’t it? But I’m going to have to stop now. But next time we’ll go on from there and maybe it won’t hurt so bad. May God richly bless you, my beloved.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:56

Amen. Amen. Amen. You’re really an integral part in taking God’s whole word to the whole world. We want you to know that. And we hope that you know how grateful we are for your investment in what God is doing. Even more critical is your faithful intercession. So if you’d like to partner with us in prayer, why don’t you join our world prayer team if you haven’t done it already. Just go to ttb.org and sign up today. To reach us, you can call 1-800-65-BIBLE or write to BibleBus at ttb.org or Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C, 6B1. This weekend, we’re going to share a never-before-aired Sunday sermon in Christmas and the Crises. Dr. McGee explains how the world was in crises when Jesus came the first time and is in crises again today. Travel with him from Bethlehem to the hope of Christ’s return and be reminded that the only real solution for the world’s problems is the Savior. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll meet you back here as the Bible bus rolls along next time. Today’s study is always available, free to stream or download, thanks to the generous and faithful investments from your fellow Bible bus travelers. Just go to ttb.org or download our app to listen again anytime. As always, we’d love to know what’s God teaching you.