The Lord's Love for Israel
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Maidestone & Forest Gate
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
Sermon
Sermon
Background
Israel has returned from captivity in Babylon, 539BC
Achaemenid Empire, founded by king Cyrus the Great, fought Babylon in the “Battle of Opis” which led to theirrelease
Temple was completed in 515 BC, functional but not as glorious as King Solomon’s
Normal life in Israel resumes
The warm response to Zechariah’s call to rependance had grown cold
Impatience with God
Now approx 450 BC
Malachi calls the people to repentance with respect to:
the priesthood, which had become corrupt;
Worship, which had become routine;
divorce, which was widespread;
social justice, which was being ignored;
tithing, which was neglected.
Malachi also predicts the coming of both John the Baptist and Jesus, “The Messenger of God”
The Burden
The Burden
The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
Oracle means “to bear burden”
Malachi the Prophet
Heartbroken & Deeply Disturbed
Anxious
Furious
In Tears
Malachi has a Message from God
God’s men are not always happy-go-lucky people
To be a child of God, to have our sins fogiven, to have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to be bound for heaven are glorious things
They are not gloomy and despondent
Christ gives his people peace and joy
Its because when they see the world from God’s point of view
Stubborn, lifeless, and bitter religion of Pharisee-ridden Jerusalem
Mourning because of the sins of the people
no self righteousness
they see sin as the horrible insult to the God they love
sin is taking many people to hell
God is not being loved and glorified by his people as they ought
Malachi is distressed
He is a Messenger of God
A message, people will not like but must hear.
A message as relevant today as it was then
long-established churches
people who have been Christians for many years
first love has given way to erosion of living faith and spiritual urgency
every day life with its stress and temptations jas cooled the spiritual temperature
adverturous young christian has become a staid pillar of the church
the fiery Christian Union Student, had got married settled down and joined the establishment
a committed qualfied driven individual never quite got out to the mission field as they thought
Our minds have turned from spirirtual gain and treasure in heaven to person comfort
We have become indifferent and we have heard it all before
We have become indifferent to the prayer meeting, personal devotions, prayer, and bible reading
God addresses our spirirtual decline
He knows what has happened
Don’t play dumb but listen and take action
A good prophet or Pastor, will expose our self-deception about our spiritual lives, that we may feel but would never admit to in public
Malachi’s message is a call to repentance from a hallow religion and back to genuine enduring faith in the Lord
The Love of God for Israel
The Love of God for Israel
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
Silently our thoughts and behaviour raise questions internally
In moments of spiritual weakness, waywardness and blindness
Does God really love me?
Do I serve God in vain?
“I have Loved you” says the Lord
The great promises to Abraham, of blessings and of a saviour had been given over 1500 years prior
God had led his People out of slavery in Egypt
The covenant was made at Mount Sinai
If they were obedient to Him, God would bless them as a nation
But if their hearts had turned away from Him and become sinful and disobedient, God would punish them.
Even in this punishment he would bring them to repentance, and once again know his blessings (Deut 30:1-10)
God loved this nation of the Jews in a way he never loved other nations
He desired to bless this nation in a way other nations had never been blessed
What made the insincerely and sinful indifference to God such a terrible thing was that God Loved them (A priviledged people)
Poem by Allan Ahlberg
“I did a bad thing once.
I took this money from my mother’s purse
For bubble gum.
What made it worse,
She bought me some
For being good, while I’d been vice versa,
So to speak—that made it worser.”
What makes it a weight and terrible matter
Christians when you having grown cold and cynical in your faith, you are robbing God of His rightful praise
Is the fact that “God Loves You”!
The Christian message of the Love of God is the most dynamic and soul-satisfying message on earth, yet very often it is not given a second thought
Over-familiarity
Love from another is a wonderous thing, and helps us feel we can take all the knocks and troubles of life
for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
You are a priveledged child of God
You are the one in whom the Lord takes delight
Return...
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
God chose you out of all who could have been chosen
God reminded His people that they lived in relative comfort whilst Edom was a wasteland
How are we priviledged?
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
So many who struggle spiritually struggle because they are uncertain that God loves them.
Losing Touch with the Living God: The Message of Malachi The Love of God for Israel
Spurgeon gives good advice: ‘I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. “Oh!” I said, “that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God’s putting it there.” You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you and did not get there by force of any goodness in you. You may conclude with absolute certainty that God loves you if you love God.’
Christian, The Lord does Love you. You are a privileged person.
You may not be well off in goods, but consider your non-Christians firneds with all their comforts. The are on their way to hell.
A half-hearted approach to Christianity is such a terribly obnoxious thing.
God Love you and you sin against His Love and it has got to stop.
The Love of God for the non-Christian
The Love of God for the non-Christian
Are you unmoved by this teaching of God’s love to Christians?
Is there not a glimmer of a awarm response to Jesus who has died?
Consider, have you ever surrendered your life to Him?
Have you never tasted of his loving-kindness?
It may well be that this talk of priviledges and special love of God towards Christians unsettles and irritates you.
Unbelievers, you too are recipients of God’s love and you too are privileged above others...
Consider creation
All other planets reports come back from exploration showing them to be barren inhospitable landscapes.
Yet on earth we have everything we need for life and health.
When God calls you to break with your sins and trust in Him, you turn away, you sin against the great love and privilege God has bestowed on you.
Consider Jesus, and what he came to do
God has passed other by, non-Christian, for you
Not only did man rebel, but so did an enormous company of Angles, let by Satan
Jesus did not become an angel in order to save them, He passed them by
He became a human being and through his death on the cross a genuine offer of salvation is made to you
Christ died for our sins, and was raised again and all who believe will be saved
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
God has given a promise...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Will you sin against God’s love?
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Q&A
Q&A
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Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology