Malachi 2:10

Malachi chapter 2 and verse 10, 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? Thank God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening. Geography is an important subject, but apparently it isn’t sinking in with many of today’s students. According to an article in the U.S. News and World Report, there is an alarming decline in this field of knowledge among U.S. students. As one educator put it, Johnny not only doesn’t know how to read or add, he doesn’t know where he is, This is illustrated by a survey that was taken of a group of 12-year-olds, and they were asked to point out the United States on a world map, and 20% of them pointed into a country in South America. That’s geographical illiteracy. Now, many Christians do little better in their knowledge of their position in Christ. I might talk about sports. spiritual illiteracy with regard to this matter. Because Christians don’t seem to realize that they are all one in Christ Jesus. No matter what country they are from, no matter what race or nationality that they may be, they are all one in Christ. They are united to Christ. They form one body, according to Scripture. All true children of God, no matter what denomination or church affiliation, up the true church of Jesus Christ. Melachi at this point is going to turn his attention away from the priest or what we call the ministers, if you would, and now I was going to deal with the common people and the spiritual deterioration among them. One of the areas of sinfulness was the treachery in which they were the treachery in which they were treating treacherous way in which they were treating one another. For example, in verse 14, yet you say, wherefore, because the Lord hath been witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. And here is one of the areas was divorce, and the way husbands were treating wives. It’s one area that. will be spoken about here. They all came to worship at the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem, but they were very unkind to one another outside the assembly, as we see. Malachi goes on to explain that this is one reason why they have been experiencing a loss of God’s blessing in their life. Disloyalty to the unity of the family of God is a reason for God’s withholding his blessing from your life and from mine. Now, let me begin by saying this. You must recognize the unity of all believers in Jesus Christ. Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us. Have we not all one father? Now, we could. easily yank this text out of context and build a whole case for the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. You can see how people might do this. You could point to this passage and say, see all human beings can claim God as their father. We’re all brothers, whether you’re a Hindu or you’re a Buddhist or you’re a Muslim or or Shindu. toe or whatever or you’re Christian. We really are all worshipping the same God and he is the father of us all. This pluralism, this no one belief system has the truth concept. That all faiths are vital and should be accepted is a denial of the fact that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. comes under the, no man comes under the father but by him. However, I have to remind you that Malachiah, or Malachi here, is not writing to everyone. He is addressing a specific group of people, and if we read verse one, it has to do with Israel of chapter one. It’s Israel to whom he writes. Or as we see from verse 11, Judah half dealt treacherously. Again, defining who he is speaking about in verse 10. He will contrast this a little bit later on with those who are called the daughters of another god or a strange god, if you would. He’s not talking about the heathen here. So it’s not written to the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Persians, and the Syrians or the Edomites. He’s not saying to them, we all have one father. He has a specific target group. Thus, when Malachi says here, have we, not all one father? I want to put the emphasis on the we here. He means we Israelites. We who are the people of God. Specifically, as we’ve tried to point out from chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, he’s talking about the elect. He’s talking about the true Israel of God. in Exodus chapter 4 verse 22 we read say unto Pharaoh thus say at the Lord Israel is my son even my firstborn and I say unto thee let my son go that he may serve me or if you would look with me at Jeremiah a few pages back here to Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 8 and 9 is what the Lord says to his people here Jeremiah 31 8 and nine, Behold I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coast of the earth with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together, a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of the waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble. For I am a father to eat. Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn. I’m a father to Israel. This is the clear teaching of God. God is never portrayed as the spiritual father of all men. Indeed, some are hated by God, as we saw in chapter 1. For instance in the New Testament, Jesus Christ said, ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father will you do. John 844. If you say you have God as a father, you must act as one who is a child of God, is what Jesus indicates to the people of his day, who thought that God was their father. The fatherhood of God, therefore, must be rejected as a false teaching. We can’t just take this verse of scripture and rip it out here and say, hey, this is what it teaches. Look at it carefully, look at the context, carefully. is he’s not speaking to everybody here. Now today, this truth must be recognized by all believers. Every true child of God prays our father, which are in heaven. In the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, in verses 17 and 18, here’s what God promises to his people in the New Testament. It says, wherefore come out from among them and be you separate. the Lord, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you. And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. It is the people of God that have God as their father. A lady once went up to a minister who was a guest speaker at a church and asked him what denomination he belonged to. He said, well, I belong to the same denomination. is David. And the woman said, well, what denomination is that? I didn’t know he belonged to a specific domination. To which the guest speaker said this. David said, I’m a companion to all those who fear thee and of those that keep thy precepts, quoting Psalm 1163. We can claim, you can claim God as your father. And the denomination is not really the issue here. I know that there are those who are Baptist, and I’ve talked about perhaps this before there, those who hold to Baptist bride. Unless you’re a Baptist, you are not even in the bride of Christ. And I read Presbyterians or Protestants who taught that Baptists are not part of the true church, so therefore they’re not included. I think it would be wise for us to realize that all who are true believers are in the body here of Christ, Jesus. There are many who are, are Christians who may languish in a church where the full truth of God’s word isn’t being proclaimed. And I’ll give them charity on this issue with regard to their position. But they’re not growing in grace. They’re not growing in the knowledge of the Lord. Maybe they’re just babes in Christ still. They need to be fed the truth rather than a lot of mumbo-jumbo and a lot of emotional material and things of this nature. Certainly we would think that God would be dishonored where Armenian doctrine is proclaimed. I’m not condoning false teaching and I’m not saying that people should remain in dead churches. All I’m saying is those who truly believe in Christ are the ones who make up the true church of Jesus Christ. But only true believers. not merely those who profess to be believers in Christ, but in works deny him. Many claim to be Christian, but they’re not your brothers and sisters in Christ. Then God is not their father. There are multitudes who will say in the last judgment, well, have we not done this or that in your name? We’ve done all these mighty works in your name. And Christ is going to say, I don’t know who you are. You’re not one of mine. So have we not all one father? Yeah, if we’re believers in Christ, we all have one father. That is clear. Hath not God created, hath not one God created us. Malachi here is not thinking in terms of the Genesis account in Adam, in all people being created in Adam. Rather, he’s thinking about God creating the Jews as a nation here with the covenant at Sinai. as a people, as a nation. They all have the same origin. God brought them into existence as a nation. Isaiah 64, verse 8 and 9, we read these words. But now, Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay, and thou the potter. We all are the work of thy hand. We are all thy people. And he connects that way. with the fact that God created them as a nation, as a people, the fall of the Lord. The idea is the creation of a people under the leadership of God. Or as Isaiah 4315 says, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. That’s the concept I think we should see in all this. So Malachi is saying that God has a special people in this world, a people that he has formed for himself, the true Israel of God, who are bound to him by a special covenant relationship. The covenant consists of the off-repeated phrase, you are my people, and I will be your God. We find it both in Exodus and throughout the Old Testament and in Revelation 213 as well. It includes the elect alone. The remarkable story that is unfolded in the Bible is the story of how God perseveres in calling out of people for his name. And we see him adding, even Gentiles, to the olive tree of true Israel. The branches are broken off if they’re in unbelief, but the wild olive tree is grafted in, the branches are. And so we see him, continuing to call out a people for himself. Everyone in the true church then is a new creature in Christ. God has created you as a believer in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 210, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. So we have a common creation. We are made a people by our new creatureship in Christ Christ. We’ve been called by by the Holy Spirit, brought into the one body of Christ. And the king of kings, the Lord and the Lord reigns over us. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. That’s what the scripture says about his people. So you must recognize the unity of all believers in Jesus Christ. Secondly, you have a response. responsibility to be faithful in your dealings with God’s people, all God’s people. Verse 10 goes on to tell us here in our text, why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? You’re not to deal treacherously here unfaithfully with those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, if I could sort of put this in New Testament terms, sinful attitudes, sinful actions against your fellow believers are wrong in God’s sight. They violate the unity that God has established with his people. The spirit has brought us a unity, a unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. as scripture talks about. To violate this covenant relationship, all believers have, being united in Christ, is a serious matter. You look at the book of Galatians in chapter 5, verses 13 to 15. We read these words. For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love, serve one another, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devire one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. A family had a little dog with a long tail, and his name was Fritz. Seemed that one day the youngest boy in the family accidentally closed the porch door on the dog’s tail and broke it. And there was this yelp of pain and an immediate growl of anger when the boy closed the door. Well, Fritz’s tail was never quite the same. After that, it seemed like it was always bent, and something was changed. Fritz seemed to harbor resentment against the boy and wouldn’t make up with the boy, no matter how hard. the boy tried to reconcile with the dog. In spite of the little boy’s attempts, it took Fritz a very long time to forget what happened to it. Much the same thing can happen among Christians, their feelings get hurt. A grudge places a barrier then between you and your fellow believer, and you start biting and deviring one another. and you feel wronged, and you slice and dice perhaps this person verbally, and you’re filled with bitterness and envy. You harbor malice in your heart toward the individual, and the person’s attempts to behave in reconciliation perhaps, are ignored. All these things are dealing treacherously with those who are your fellow believers in the Lord. The tenderness and the relationship is gone. There may be fire in your eyes. every time you see this person, perhaps you can’t seem to say anything good or beneficial with regard to your Christian brother or sister. Now, remaining in that condition is a terrible thing with regard to the bond of friendship you have with the other people in the body of Christ. I read a story about a woman, she was very touchy, and she often was suspicious of her fellow church members to avoid offending her. the other members went out of their way to make sure that they showed her special kindness and consideration. One summer, they planned a fellowship picnic. But because in oversight, this woman was not invited. When they realized their mistake, they sent someone to the house to apologize, to ask for forgiveness about forgetting her and ask her she wouldn’t come to the picnic. Her response was quick and, to the point quite miff, she snapped at the church member and she said, me, go to the picnic. It’s too late for that. I already prayed for rain. Too many Christians, I think, were like that woman and the way they deal with their fellow believers. They’re always praying for rain on someone else’s parade. If things don’t go right, I’m going to pray for something bad to happen. That’s not what God would have us to do. Notice here that God withholds blessings from you. you when you sin against fellow believers. Now, God doesn’t withhold his blessings out of a mere whim, but there’s usually a reason for God, let’s say, to not hear your prayers. Of course, sometimes he is teaching us patience and perseverance, as Luke 18 indicates to us. We have to wait on the Lord. He may bear along with us. However, sin in your life can cause God to withholds. hold his blessing, even though you might flood his throne with tears. Notice verses 13 and 14 of our text here in Galachian, in Malachi chapter 2. And this have you done, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with goodwill at your hand. Yet you say, wherefore? Because the Lord hath been, witness between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet she is thy companion, the wife of thy covenant. We are praying, Lord, you won’t hear us. Yeah, I won’t hear you, because look how you treated your wife. Look how you treated here, your fellow believer. Certainly, God answering our prayers does not depend on sinlessness, else we would never have any prayers answered. But I think The psalmist puts it out clearly for us in Psalm 6618. If I regard, if I cherish, if I harbor iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. When you sin against the people, God, you’re sin against God. And consequently, God may no longer answer your prayers as you would like to have them answered. We have something similar in the New Testament. If you look at 1st Peter, for example, 1 Peter 3 and verse 7. The scripture says this, likewise ye husbands dwell with them, your wives, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor under the wife, as under the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life, your fellow believers, that your prayers be not hindered. Similar ideas. Also, we might think that it is a prerequisite to profiting from God’s word. chapter 2 of 1st Peter. He says, wherefore laying aside all malice and all gile, hypocrisies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babe desire the sincilled milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If we want to grow from the word that has spoken to us, he says, you have to lay aside all these things. And you’ll notice that these things are usually looked upon as against some. someone else. The idea of guile and malice and envies and evil speakings and so forth seems to relate to others. Lay these things aside. If you want to grow in grace and be benefited by the proclamation or the reading of the word of God. In Ephesians 4, 29 to 31, when he talks about all the things that we should set aside and how we shouldn’t have evil communication come out of our mouth against our brothers and sisters and Christ. He says there, grieve not the spirit, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption. You grieve the spirit? By doing these things. So God withholds blessings when you sin against fellow Christians. Notice here that God expects you to watch over other believers. The church is sort of like an old-fashioned coal fire. If you take one of the coals out of the fire and set it aside, it will cool very quickly. People drift away from God. And if they’re no longer in church fellowship with other Christians, they lose a sense of identity with the body of Christ. You have people that sometimes just float around from church to church to church. But the people makes it clear, the Bible makes it clear that all Christians have a responsibility to correct other believers if they are overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual. Brother, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. The idea of the New Testament is that we want to bring them back with gentleness, with meekness to try to bring them to repentance, and that they may be corrected and be back in fellowship with the people. people of God. Matthew 18 gives us the means by which we deal with those who will not be corrected, but we should always be thinking about others in the church and how the unity of the body is important. Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Guard, Tenzing, Norge, completed their historic in the first. It was a feat of remarkable courage and skill. On their descent, however, down Mount Everest, Hillary lost his footing. Instinctively, Tenzing held the line taunt and kept them both from falling. And digging in his axe into the ice, he kept them secure, sure until Hillary could get his foot onto another place and then they could finish their descent. When they got down to the bottom, the reporters called Tenzing a hero. He refused any credit. He said this, mountain climbers always help one another. He considered a routine part of the job. When another believer stumbles along the way, it’s a routine part of the job, that we try to help them, that we try to spare them. Christians always help one another is the philosophy that we should have as the people of God. So here is the unity of all believers. And we should see that this Christian unity, if we have ignorance of it, it is a real tragic thing. The unity of the people of God should be such that we care about one another. So the foot can’t say to the hand, I don’t have need of you. The hand can’t say to the nose, I don’t have need of you, or the ear, I don’t have need of you, and so forth. Dealing treacherously with your fellow believer, not only breaks the unity of body of Christ, but it causes God’s blessings to be withheld. And so we should keep that in mind. Let me have the Lord bless us as we think about this text of being one in Christ tonight. Let’s close will work.