Covenant Loyalty

About this sermon

Covenant disloyalty is at the heart of the indictment that has been leveled against the priests and the people. Five times in seven verses the Hebrew word (בָּגַד) is used. It is translated faithless in the ESV. The word treacherous is used in the NASB. In the word is the idea of breaking faith. It is someone who has proven untrustworthy. It speaks of someone who doesn’t keep covenant, someone who betrays. This is the general charge. The people being addressed do not understand or appreciate their corporate identity, their connection to each other. God has chosen this people. God is the Father of Israel. He is their Creator. THAT MEANS THAT THEY ARE BROTHERS. THEY ARE PROFANING the covenant that God gave to their fathers. And they are profaning that covenant, treating it lightly, defiling themselves, BY THEIR TREATMENT OF EACH OTHER. They have dishonored God directly in the matters of sacrifice and worship. Now they are dishonoring God by rejecting His law regarding how they treat His people, their brethren. THEIR TREATMENT OF EACH OTHER IS A GOD ISSUE. GOD IS HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE IN THE RELATIONAL REALM, BECAUSE IT’S REALLY ABOUT OBEDIENCE TO GOD HIMSELF. Question: Do you realize that? Do you realize that God holds us accountable for our treatment of people? DO THEY NOT REALIZE THAT THEY ARE BROTHERS? ARE THEY LIVING LIKE BROTHERS? ARE THEY DEMONSTRATING THE REALITY OF THEIR FAITH AND THEIR LOVE FOR GOD BY HOW THEY ARE TREATING EACH OTHER? ESV 1 John 4:20 aIf anyone says, "I love God," and bhates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot1 love God cwhom he has not seen. But Malachi doesn’t stop with the general charge. God, through the prophet, levels two specific examples of covenant unfaithfulness. They have violated the clear commands of God by intermarriage with idolaters. They have proven to be covenant breakers through divorce. We looked at the issue of intermarriage last week. We saw that their disobedience to God’s law on this matter was something that God hated. It is called an abomination. We also saw that it was something that godly people hated. Malachi wishes for the utter destruction of anyone committing this high-handed sin. Tonight, we look at the second specific way that these people were treacherous. They were covenant breakers in their own homes. They were unfaithful in the most important relationship a person can know outside of one’s relationship to God. They were unfaithful in marriage. Malachi gets to the heart of their sin in four movements. Four individual pictures make up the ugly portrait of their unfaithfulness to God.

Topics

• Covenant