Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The
Reformer's Fire
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
To begin our study this morning I want you to imagine yourself behind the wheel of your automobile on the way to Church. You are quietly driving along when all of a sudden you hear a siren and see red and blue lights behind you. As you pull over, you wonder what on earth you have done. As the officer approaches the car he is wondering if you will admit to the error he has noted! When pulled over almost every single motorist confronted with errors will deny doing them. How very seldom does anyone admit immediately to their mistake. Some will argue all the way to court and beyond over a minor traffic offense.
Yet, what if, your officer had asked you to step out of your car. And then, began saying: "You have the right to remain silent ... ." Oh my goodness, this is indeed serious! You are hearing the result of the Miranda v. Arizona case in the sixties! As any serious Television viewer knows, rights are always read to criminals! Well, hopefully, none of you have had your rights read to you. Until now!
Before we begin our study of Malachi today, I would like to read you a serious warning from the letter to the Hebrews! "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest,' See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.'" Hebrews 3: 7-13
Just as in the Miranda warnings, the words "you have the right" are repeated again and again, so here is one phrase repeated several times. The phrase conveys the idea of "a hardened heart". "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Now, this concept of a hardened heart is just about as out of date as some of the other doctrines we have been hearing of late. No longer is the heart popularly understood to have any effect upon our personality or living! Anyone who would seriously suggest such an idea would be viewed in the same light as a person who believes in a flat-earth.
Well, I'm not a member of the flat-earth society, but I do believe that the Bible has something to say about the state of our hearts. In 1855, theologian Franz Delitzch examined the Bible to develop his thinking about the heart. Here is his main idea: "If it can be proved that the heart and brain communicate with each other, that would explain the spiritual importance that Scripture gives to the heart." What he was thinking of here was the heart's nervous character rather than its muscular function. If there is anything to this, we would begin to understand why these heart transplants today often involve serious personality changes.
Today, a husband and wife team have been doing research in this area of the heart's importance in personal behavior. Their names are: Doctors John I & Beatrice C Lacey. They have shown that the heart goes its own way and doesn't always respond in the same way that other body parts react. This fact plus other experiments seem to show the heart and brain communicating. Very interesting! Delitzch may be right, if he is right, then of course Scripture is right as well! How very strange that our argument must proceed in this direction at all!
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
The Scriptures repeatedly use this phrase as they also speak about stiff necks. Did you know, that in the neck is the carotid sinus, which is one of two major origination points of nerve fibers which sense heart messages from the walls of the main arteries. In other words, this sinus area is a transmitting station between the heart and the brain. If the sinus wall is stiffened, the artery wall is less elastic and the nerve has trouble picking up a message. The Scriptures would indicate that we can stiffen our necks in an act of mind over body.
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
Relax those neck muscles, if you are tightening up. Remember your reaction to our imaginary policeman? Wouldn't you tense up, wouldn't your neck stiffen? It is a natural phenomenon, whenever we or our ideas are threatened, there we go with our tenseness.
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
In our message from Malachi today, there are harsh words for those who would call themselves God's people. If you hear something that tromps on your toes, don't tense up, give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to speak to you.
"Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?" Malachi 2: 10
In Malachi's time, the spiritual condition of Israel was desperately low. There was little heartfelt love for God and little care for spiritual things in general. Sounds familiar doesn't it! Perhaps the people wondered why God was no longer paying attention to them. Well, God is fair. He does not withhold his blessing from people out of mere whim or caprice.
When God no longer appears to be listening to our prayers, he does this for a reason. Sometimes it is to teach us patience and persistence. More often, however, it is because there is sin in our lives which we are aware of but are unwilling to do anything about. Now, let me be clear here. We are not expected to be sinless! It is not the presence of sin, but the toleration of sin which angers the Lord. "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer." Psalm 66: 18
What particular sin was hardening the communication lines between God and man in Malachi's time? Malachi began by reminding Israel that their spiritual problem had taken place against the background of God's love for them. "I have loved you," says the Lord." -Malachi 1: 2 we read last week, now Malachi uses three questions to establish the principle he seeks to remind Israel of.
"Have we not all one Father?" Malachi 2: 10 The nation of Israel had one father, every Israelite was part of the same family."
"Did not one God create us?" The nation of Israel as well as each individual person owed his existence to the Creator.
"Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another." Here He is implicating the people in a serious covenant violation. God's people were being faithless against each other within the "Church" of Malachi's time. By dealing falsely with one another, they were violating the unity of God's people and so violating the covenant which God had made with their forefathers.
What is more, God's people were tolerating this situation., thus God was no longer answering their prayers. Like Israel, we have a responsibility to be faithful and honest in our dealings with all people, but there is a special duty towards God's own people. We must treat all of those within the Covenant as we would treat God himself! There is a prominent promise repeated over and over throughout the whole Scripture: "You shall be my people and I will be your God."
This is the story of the Scriptures of how God persevered with the His purpose in spite of man's rebellion and falling into sin. Even now, he is seeking, finding and gathering a people for himself. Against this background, we can really appreciate, the needless disunity and faithlessness that we can create within our institutions. When God's people sin against one another, such sins oppose the very purposes of God!
"Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord cut him off from the tents of Jacob - even though he brings offerings to the Lord Almighty." Malachi 2: 11-12
Once there was a liberal lady who was upset with one of her friends who had entered into a racially mixed marriage. She sought the advice of two conservative friends. Wasn't it wrong she asked for races to mix in marriage. She was rather surprised to find her conservative friends disagree. One remembered that Moses had married a Cushite. The other went on to add that the only mixed marriages not permitted scripturally were those between Christians and Pagans. This is what Malachi is getting at here. He is saying that God is not opposed to marrying foreigners, but to daughters of foreign Gods! That means people who actually practice a faith different from the real faith of Israel. The problem with this is that it destroys the unity of the family under God's authority.
Malachi 2: 13-16 gives is another reason for lost communication. Our essential question is how do we lose contact with God. Already, Malachi has laid down one principle. We have seen how a vital relationship with God can fade into stagnation when people deal faithlessly with others of God's people. If we do not do all we can to preserve and stimulate the unity of God's true people, then we are heading for trouble. In the same way, this principle applies towards marriage. Remember those marriage vows that you took, only yesterday! Or at least I hope it seems as only yesterday for you!
Of course it is still rare for Christians to wantonly practice or advocate physical adultery. But what about your thoughts, as you watch the Soap Operas, or Beauty Pageants? Malachi warns here: "Guard yourself in your spirit ...". Would you disrupt the unity of your marriage for the pleasures of an imaginary fling? Remember, our God has access to your thoughts. Thank goodness, our thoughts are hidden from others. But, what must the Lord think? Even worse is physical adultery and divorce, but the marriage covenant is just as surely broken within the mind. So "Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth." The marriage covenant here is emphasized so that we may understand the proper relationship between God and His own people! What is true for one concept is just as true for the other.
In Malachi 2: 17-18 yet another charge is levied against God's people. They have wearied the Lord by questioning why he has not blessed them in their circumstance. Do we wonder why God has not blessed our efforts? Do we wonder why the wicked prosper. Do we wonder why churches that preach less then the gospel prosper? Are we jealous, are we envious?
In Malachi 3: 1-5 we see what the Lord intends to do eventually for all of us. "So I will come near to you for judgment. ..." Just as our imaginary policeman at the beginning, God will pull you over and inform you of your sins! Do we listen? What happens if we do not?
Perhaps we can learn something from the old-fashioned refining process. The precious metal of silver was brought to a high temperature to melt. Then the impurities in the metal would float to the top of the molten liquid and could be blown with bellows from the surface. When the refiner of silver had done his work he was rewarded at the end of the process. As the last of the thin covering of oxide disappeared and the pure bright surface of the silver appeared. Then the refiner could see his own reflection. Isn't this what God is doing with His church, with each of us who are his people? God is working, seeking to refine us from sin and transforming us into his own likeness. Yet, this process of purification is not without discomfort. This refining process involves destruction, scorching heat and devouring flames. He works on both individuals and on churches. I have seen Him work His refining will on several congregations and some individuals in the last few years. Yes, we must let Him work. But, it is always easy to see how He should work on others.
What is not so easy is to admit that we are also in need of refinement! We have to remember that we are all equally guilty and in need of forgiveness. When He comes to judge, how do we escape? When you feel the heat of sin and truly see your need to repent, what must you do? God requires faith and repentance! This is conversion. Now true conversion is a complex matter. It involves a transformation of the heart, and mind. Repentance and faith are two aspects of this transformation. Repentance is that aspect of change whereby the soul turns from sin and experiences true abhorrence of it. Faith is that aspect of change whereby the soul turns to Christ and experiences supreme attachment to him.
To often in our time we see conversions taking place where people desire to come to Christ yet there is no deep feeling of repentance. Far too many people do not really believe that they deserve His anger and curse. Like the average motorist face to face with a traffic violation, it is almost impossible to own up to the fact of guilt! Do you know what happens when you take that attitude with God? May we be taught by the Spirit to admit our sin and to ask for the mercy given to us in Jesus Christ.
Resources Used:
Benton, John. Welwyn Commentaries: Losing Touch With the Living God.
Beechick, Ruth. A Biblical Psychology of Learning.
Smith, George Adam. The Twelve Prophets.
Williamson, G.I. The Westminster Confession of Faith.
Places Preached:
Jersey Reformed Presbyterian Chruch (PCA) 10 August 86
Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) 08 March 87
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213
Mal02b 24 September 89
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