The final words of Malachi’s book, found in Malachi 3:13-4:6 are also the final words of the Old Testament. While the Old Testament begins with God’s creative work in Genesis 1:1, it ends with God’s promise of a destructive work in Malachi 4:6. This is helpful, because it reminds us that while God’s people in the time of Malachi were unfaithful to their covenant reponsibilities, God himself was not unfaithful to His people. And, even though they spoke against Him, He did not pour out His judgement upon them, but sent them a messenger whose ministry was to restore broken relationships. In all this ‘God was reconciling the world to Himself’ and preparing the way for the One who would come to be its Saviour.

Message

Outline

• The last in this series
• The story so far…
• ‘Whitewashed tombs’
• See how the Lord revealed that there were…

1. Some who complained about Him (3:13-15, 4:1-3)
2. Some who feared Him (3:16-18)
3. One who would speak for Him (4:4-6)

Authentic faith…
The invitation of Jesus (who came after Malachi) …

When our thinking about God is wrong, so too everything else will be wrong. In Malachi 2:17-3:15, the people of Judah’s thinking about God was way off. They thought that He had changed to the extent that He no longer cared about punishing sin or evil, and that He actually approved of sin and evil. They couldn’t have been more wrong! Thankfully, their wrong ‘theology’ was quickly corrected and God made very clear where He and they stood, promising to come to them, to judge them, but before that, to send them the Messiah and the one who announced His arrival.

Message

Outline

• The 5th in this series
• The story so far…
• ‘God isn’t blessing us as we would like!’
• See how the Lord through Malachi revealed …

1. What the people of God said about Him (2:17, 3:13-15)
2. What God said about Himself to the people of God (3:1-12)

Those pesky sparrows!
The voice in the desert…
He gave Himself for you…now do that for Him!

it has been noted that ‘the fish rots from the head down’. Given that the Lord God had already shown through the prophet Malachi that the priests (the leaders of the religious aspect of God’s people) were corrupt and spiritually poor, then it is little surprise that the people also began to disregard the word of God and its importance in their lives. And one of the ways they did this was in the area of marriage. In Malachi 2:10-16, we find that the men were marrying women who worshipped other gods and (presumably) divorcing their own wives in order to do this. Neither of these was acceptable to God, and this slack view of marriage only revealed just how low their view of God really was.

Message

Outline

• The 4th in this series
• Familiarity breeds contempt
• A difficult text, but clear!
• See how the Lord accused the people of …

1. Marrying outside of the covenant family (v.10-12)
2. Treating the marriage covenant with contempt (v.14-16)

Not a time for joking!
A reflection of God’s covenant with His people…

You may have heard the expression, ‘the fish rots from the head down’. As with that proverbial fish, so with God’s people. In Malachi 2:1-9, we find that the cause of the spiritual decay that had set in among the people of Judah, was found in the priests of the day who were unfaithful and corrupt. They themselves were led astray and so by their teaching were also leading the people astray and to despise the word of God, just as they were doing. It’s a terrible picture, but something that wasn’t happening just ‘back then’. As goes the leadership of today’s church, so also goes the church.

Message

Outline

• What we’ve seen so far in Malachi
• The foundation established
• Decline from the ‘top down’
• See how the Lord accused the priests of …

1. Abusing the privilege of their calling (v.1-3)
2. Ignoring the responsibilities of the covenant (v.4-6)
3. Failing to set a godly example (v.7-9)

‘Going down like a lead balloon’
Generational decay
We need the Perfect Priest!

We have a saying in Australia that goes, ‘things are crook in Tallarook’. Maybe they aren’t always, Tallarook is quite a pretty place. But things were certainly ‘crook’ in Judah when Malachi declared God’s word in Malachi 1:6-14. The people had settled back into Jerusalem after the exile, but the worship had been turned upside down. Were they bored with worship or with God or both? Either way, they weren’t giving their best to God and He was not pleased. Worship can be all wrong when are hearts are far from Him.

Message

Outline

• Those opening verses of Malachi
• Two truths in tension
• Bored with God?
• See how the text tells us how there was…

1. A problem with the present worship (v.6-9, 12-14)
2. A promise regarding the future worship (v.10-11)

Guess who’s coming to dinner?
Out with hypocrisy…!

The book of Malachi is the last of the books of the Old Testament, written about 450 years before the appearing of John the Baptist. In it, Lord addressed His people through the prophet Malachi, calling them to wake up to themselves. Their spiritual condition was poor. And so in Malachi 1:1-5, it’s surprising to see the note with which the book begins. The Lord’s love for His people! It’s this backdrop that makes later messages from God through Malachi shine out in importance, calling His people today to ‘put matters right’ with our God who has chosen us to be His own.

Message

Outline

• Malachi
• 450 years before John
• The sad state of the people…’how have you loved us?’
• See how the text calls us to remember …

1. The nature of His love for them (v.1-3)
2. The depth of His mercy toward them (v.3-4)
3. The greatness of His purposes for them (v.5)

The correct diagnosis
The Lord’s love for you…