Let me ask you to turn to Malakai. I think it's a perfect time for us to be looking at this subject, the dispassionate family. Especially as we are thinking about what's going on in our culture today, and I've been speaking to some that what we are seeing, what you are seeing here in America, it's the same things that we are experiencing, maybe in a different way a little bit, but it's the same things that we're experiencing in Africa. We'll spend our time in Malachi, And the reason is, as we are looking out and see all that is going on, it's good for us to also take some time. And especially when there is such a shift and such, just many people backsliding, living the faith, abandoning the Christian faith.
It's time for us to take some time and look within. And this is why I think this subject is so critical, is so important for us this morning. Titled, The Message, The Dispassionate Family, Seven Signs of Spiritual apathy and how to cure them. We'll spend our time in these four chapters looking within, examining ourselves, asking us the tough questions, hoping that as we look at the children of Israel and their response toward God's love and all that he had done for them, that would help us to look within. What I love about this book is that it's not just God rebuking and correcting the children of Israel in a sense as it were to embarrass them, but God is really taking time to restore them.
But he's doing that with rebukes, corrections, at the same time giving them solutions to how they can deal with their backsliding. A little bit of the history. The Book of Malachi was written to those who had just retained after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. You remember very well the New Testament that the Babylonian captivity was God's judgment on the children of Israel and their rebellion had abandoned God, the worship of God and the will of God and God brings the Chaldeans, judges his people, they run over the city, took away everybody, both the men and women all into exile in Babylon. And then again we see in Jeremiah that God had made a promise that there would only be in exile for 70 years and after 70 years God would bring them back.
He would restore them in the promised land and this book is written to those retaining exiles through Nehemiah and so Malachi is a contemporary of Nehemiah. So Nehemiah, as you read Nehemiah, you notice that he comes before the king, pleads with the king, and he sent back to rebuild the city. The city is rebelled, the temple is restored, and worship is restored. But close to hundred years, Israel begins to backslide again. And this is where we are in this book.
Malachi is dealing with the restored children of Israel in the Promised Land who have started backsliding into idolatry. They drift. They begin to compromise worship. They begin to ignore these precious promises and callings of God toward them. And I believe that for all of us, if we've put our faith in Jesus and have believed in what Christ has done for us on the cross of Calvary, that it's urgent that even at a time where we feel we are okay spiritually, Paul says, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
And so we should be careful even in moments that we feel we are okay spiritually, that we should be careful to continue to examine ourselves and to urgently look within and ensure that we are not allowing these cold and lukewarm signs of backsliding creeping. We're seeing that John Wesley song, Prone to Wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Believers acknowledge that they are susceptible to falling into sin just like the next man. Listen to Octavius Winslow as he speaks concerning this agency that we should be serious about dealing with the signs of backsliding, the signs of spiritual declension. Listen to what he says, quote, Lantintes and hidden and therefore the least suspected and the more dangerous.
The painful process of spiritual disease may be advanced in the soul so secretly, so silently, and without observation, that the subject of it may have lost much ground, may have parted with many graces and much vigor, and may have beguiled into a alarming state of spiritual barrenness and decay before even a suspicion of his real condition has been awakened in his bosom." And so I strongly believe this is very serious and I even preach this to our church to encourage our church that we take these matters very seriously that every believer must be vigilant. You see here Malachi as he prophesies, as he speaks to the children of Israel, the first thing he does is to declare God's electing love to the children of Israel. But when you look at chapter 1 and verse 1, look at the way they responded. Chapter 1 of Malachi and verse 1 and 2. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
God speaks, I've loved you, says the Lord, yet you say, in what way have you loved us? God responded, Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Even Adam, even though Adam has said we have been impoverished, but we will still return and rebuild the desolate places. That says the Lord of Horse, they may build but I will throw down.
They shall be called the territory of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord is magnified beyond the board of Israel and so God comes and declares his love to them and their response is what are you talking about? In what way have you loved us? And so the first sign of spiritual apathy or declension is our apathetic toward God's love and we see the children of Israel completely insensitive to God's love, as if they have got no idea what God is talking about. With all that God had done for them, they're just unresponsive, ungrateful, And here they deny the knowledge of it and if you can go back and trace the history, these are God's people chosen, delivered out of Egypt and all the miracles throughout the wilderness and God fulfills his promise by settling them in the in Canaan and continue to preserve them and to give them victory over other nations God had blessed this nation so richly as we'll see but their response when God says I've loved you, their response is we don't know what you're talking about.
And there will be these moments that we should have through this session that we take a moment and pause and think when God says to me, I've loved you, I've sent my son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you, for your sins, what is our response? What does that do to our hearts? You know, We could find ourselves in this position that every time we hear God proclaiming to us, degrading to us, I have loved you. Yet our response is, in what way have you loved us? It's a dangerous place to be, isn't it?
It's a slow but alarming departure from God when we become so insensitive, so unresponsive, That we refuse to reflect on what God has done for us, his mercies, his grace for us. That we deny an experience. This is what the children of Israel are doing, they are denying an experience. We don't know what you're talking about. In what way have you loved us?
And God shows them that I've chosen you. I've made you a special people for myself. Still their response is, we can't cherish what you're talking about because we don't know what you're talking about. No people group had ever experienced God's favor on them like the children of Israel. God calls them the apple of my eye in Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 8.
In Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse 18, God calls them my treasured possession. In Exodus chapter 4 and verse 22, God calls them my son, my firstborn. Yet when he comes to them and he says, I have loved you, their response is, in what way have you loved us? You ever find yourself in that place? Cold, lukewarm, unresponsive, unmoved.
It's a dangerous place to be and all of us should be looking within and asking ourselves tough questions. How am I responding to this message of the great love of God for me? Challenge ourselves In Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 6, I may ask you to turn there with me, Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6 through 7, as God reminds them through Moses His love for these people. And this could be said in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and also chapter 6 is said about us, God's people. See my words, Deuteronomy chapter 6, chapter 7, verse 6 through verse 7.
The Bible reads, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for he is prized possession above all peoples on the face of the earth and God is talking about his electing love here and this is this is the gospel preached to them The Lord did not set his affection on you and chose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples for you were the fewest of all. It is this love that the Lord is referring to, unconditional, based on God's election, in his sovereign plan and purposes, like Ephesians chapter 1 and 2 tells us, it is according to the riches of his grace. It is based on the good pleasure of his will. For what reason, for what purpose, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
When God proclaims these things, the children of Israel, their response is, we have no idea what you're talking about. Unresponsive, ungrateful, unmoved, in the midst of electing love. So we turn this and we ask ourselves, God, how am I responding to this good news that you would crush your son on that cross for my sins? Your son dies and is buried and after three days he rose from the dead for my justification as a proof that his sacrifice has been accepted before God. Now I can say there is hope.
I am justified before him. How are we responding to that news? See, we could be in church, but unresponsive, ungrateful, just indifferent. It's just another message. Beyond that, God demonstrates his love by making Israel the custodian of the covenants, the law and the promises of God.
God had chosen this group of people and truly placed his unconditional love for them, delivering them from their enemies. God had chosen this group of people and gave them great promises that God has been keeping till today. Malachi continues as God addresses the children of Israel if you look at verse 6 through verse 14, a son honors his father, a servant is master, if then I am the father, where is my owner? And if I'm a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts, to you priests who despise my name, yet you say, in what way have we despised your name?
Again cold, lukewarm, unmoved. You offer defiled food on my altar but you say in what way have we defiled you by saying the type of the Lord is contemptible and when you offer the blind as a sacrifice is it not evil? When you offer the lame and sick is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor would he be pleased with you? Will he accept you you favorably?
Says the Lord of hosts. But now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us while this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably? Says a lot of hosts. Who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? God says I have no pleasure in you nor will I accept an offering from your hands for from the rising of the Sun and I want you to pay attention to these verses we'll come back to them.
Verse 11 for from the rising of the Sun even to its going down my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place incense shall be offered to my name. And pure offering, for my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts." but you profane it. And now you say, The table of the Lord is defiled, and its fruit, its food is contemptible. You also say, O what weariness!
And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts, and you bring stolen, the lame, the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and take a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations." I want us to look at the second sign of spiritual declension and that's a lack of reverence for the Lord's name.
Just a reading of that chapter, it's clear that these people had stopped, there was no fear of God among these people. The second sign of spiritual apathy is a lack of reverence for God's name. And God declares it in verse 11, he says, For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the nations. God was expecting three things from the children of Israel. He expected them to revere the greatness of his name.
He expected them to be grateful and serve him with gratitude, not begrudgingly as they were doing. They sneered at it. He expected them to offer him pure worship. God says, whatever you're offering, if you offered that to your governors, would they accept it? Israel had lost sight of God's greatness, and this led to their lack of reverence for the Lord's name.
Look at what they are doing from verse 6 where we've just read. There was no honor, starts with a priest. They're offering things that they shouldn't be offered to God. They even say the table of the Lord is contemptible. They sacrifice the lamb, the sick, stolen things, No reverence for God's name.
And even among them, there was not a single man, a single woman, who could say, Wait a minute, what are we doing? Look at the things we're giving God. Not even find a single man, a single woman, to speak sense into these people. Now when we begin to especially ask in our culture that the Lord's name is taken in vain anyhow. That the Lord's name is used as a curse word.
That the Lord's name is trampled on. We can become so accustomed to that and just accept it as part of the culture. And when we see that happen, we're not moved at all. We should grieve. We should be moved when we see such things happen to the Lord's name.
God says, you profane my name in that you say the term of the Lord is defiled. So they didn't care who God was and what his name was. They didn't care about his greatness. They had lost sight of God's greatness even though he declares it to them. But the children of Israel responds, what is that to us?
In what way have we defiled you. To come from a place of pure worship having been delivered from bondage and to begin to worship and to serve God and then to move away from that place and to get to a place where you could make a vow and say God I give my life to you and everything that I have and to turn around and break that vow and begin to give God leftovers. It's a dangerous place to be and every believer should begin to look within and say, yes I'm in this family. If this family is going to go down, it's because individuals in the family are going down. So Lord, start with me.
Begin with me. Examine my heart. Am I moving toward this place where I have no reverence for your name? Number three, again in chapter 2, God addresses the priest. He says, And now, O priest, this commandment is for you, if you will not hear and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to my name says the Lord of hosts I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yes I've cursed them already because you do not take it to heart what were the priests doing we'll see shortly but the second sign the third sign of spiritual declension is this heartless service to God.
And to be more specific here is this heartless, priestly service to God. Listen to what they were doing in verse 3 of chapter 2, Behold I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your certain fists and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you that my covenant with Levi may continue says the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace. And I gave them to him that he might fear me, so he feared me.
And he was reverent before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. Listen to this, he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts, but you have departed from from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi. Says the Lord of hosts, therefore I also have made you contemptible and based before the people because you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in the law and then he goes on to begin to address them even in their unfaithfulness regarding the marriage covenants. This heartless priestly service to God. These men, probably five things that these men were doing in summary, they did not hide the weight of the Lord in their hearts. They were priests, but they did not keep the law of the Lord in their hearts.
We see that in chapter 2 and verse 2. And in verse 6 of chapter 2, the priests did not seek to turn back those who were going astray from God. In verse 7 through 9, we see that the priests had lost any sense of their duty and could not be relied on for counsel. People could not rely on these men for counsel. In verse 10 through 11, the priest misled many into idolatry.
They mixed the worship of God with idols in the temple. In verse 13 through verse 16 of chapter 2, the priests, they were the first to dishonor the marriage covenant by divorcing their wives and marrying foreign women. And they encouraged it among the people. It's important to look at these things and look at these men without any zeal, without any emotion, without any consideration of their responsibilities and what God had given them. You see here he gives an example of Levi in chapter 2 and verse 4.
It says that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace. And this is the covenant that we have in Christ it's a covenant of life and peace it is in him in Jesus that you and I have been made priests in Christ. What are we supposed to be doing? The Lord says, and I gave them to him, I gave them this covenant to him that he might fear me, so he feared me.
This is where we should begin, this is where we should be. The fear of God in our hearts as we've talked about and was reverent before my name the law of truth was in his mouth This is what it should look like for us, both men and women, we see this in Proverbs chapter 31 concerning women. An injustice was not found on his lips, the Lord says, he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. These are the things that God expects from those that he's chosen, brought to himself, and now he's caused them to minister before him. You and I in Christ are priests in him.
We are to minister before the Lord through our Lord Jesus Christ. When people come to us, our lips should be full of wisdom and knowledge. People should seek counsel from us. And I always see this with young men, even in Malawi. I tell them that you don't even have some time to talk to some of these people concerning their spiritual life and spiritual declension.
You can just see the way their timeline changes on social media. All about God and the great things God is doing in their lives and then slowly is just about sports, entertainment, life in general and just talking about themselves and you can almost always tell That spiritual declension is on its way. Here's another one. My wife and I have seen this for the last, I don't know how many years now. Men begin to post all these nice pictures with their wives on social media.
Me and my wife in this place, me and my wife in that place, me and my sweetheart. And then after two or three years, he only posts about him and his kids. And my wife and I look at that and we say, all right, it's going down. It's just me and my kids, me and my beautiful kids, me and my beautiful kids. And you can almost always tell that something is wrong in that marriage.
And something happens with wives. So this desire to honor the marriage covenant begins to fade away. And this is what these men, these priests were doing and they were encouraging it among the people. And God says, you're dishonoring and profaning the marriage covenant. Those who spoke and were radical and passionate about proclaiming Christ even on social media slowly begin to proclaim only themselves.
It's hard in our churches and I've seen this not only in Malawi, I've seen this all over Africa, I've seen this among good brethren. So you are at the end of this service, you've heard powerful preaching, amen throughout, you go out and no one wants to discuss the sermon. Everyone wants to discuss sports and the latest things that are happening, politics and all those things. We just heard God speak to us. No one wants to have a good discussion to reflect and meditate on what we've just heard.
When people come to you, are your lips proclaiming the knowledge of God? Again, look at chapter 2 and verse 10. Let's read on. Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal traitorously with one another? By profaning the covenant of the fathers, Judah has dealt traitorously and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which he loves he has married the daughter of a foreign God May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, being awake and aware, yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. And this is the second thing you do, you cover the altar of the Lord with tears with weeping and crying so he does not regard the offering anymore nor receive it with goodwill from your hands yet you say for what reason and so you can see that spiritual apathy comes with this dispassionate and unresponsive and just indifferent, even when God is bringing correction and rebuke toward us. Like we always say that the same rebukes and corrections of God can either harden your heart or can soften your heart. At least can begin to show us that something is wrong and we need to turn to God.
Why is God bringing these things in our lives? It's not always that when God brings things like this and rebuke and corrections and chastisement, it's not always that we it's because we've sinned and God is dealing with dealing with us in a certain way. So we shouldn't look at those who are suffering and think that God is chastising them. But it's also these moments where we should sit down and reflect. Why is God seeking to correct me?
In what area have I compromised? In verse 14, yet you say for what reason because the Lord has been witnessed between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have dealt treacherously yet she's your companion and your wife by covenant but did he not make them one having a remnant of the Spirit and why one he seeks godly offspring So if you are marrying ungodly women, how will you give God godly offspring? Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. I spoke to a pastor in Africa of a big reformed church and as we were talking he said one time to me that one of his greatest disappointments in ministry is his young women in the church marrying unbelievers. We shouldn't rush into marriage.
We should desire, it's a holy thing to desire, But the rush into marriage has led many people marrying unbelievers, marrying immature who would end up immature spouses. Marriage is a good thing. The Lord calls it a holy covenant and we should desire this holy covenant. And I always when I pray for couples in our church who are who are desiring to marry when they just get engaged. I'm always praying and I want our church to hear it.
I'm always praying, God, they have desired a good thing. They have desired a good thing and you're bringing them into this holy covenant that you have set apart for your people. For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce for it covers one's garment with violence says the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously. Here's sign number four.
It's found in chapter 2, verse 17. You have worried the Lord with your words yet you say in what way have we worried him in that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them oh where is the God of justice? So these people can see what is going on. They are backsliding but they also understand what is evil. But now they understand evil completely in a different way because those who are doing evil they look at them and think God is not doing anything against these people so it might be that probably God has changed his view of sin.
No, God has not changed his view of sin, amen? Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord. Can you imagine? To move from a place where you're repentant of your sins, you're convicted, and you run to Christ, and you repent of your sins, and you believe that God has served you, has justified you, has made you one of his own and to slowly begin to move toward a place where you accuse God of justifying sin. So sign number four in the family we should be looking at is our apathy towards sin.
Sin is just overlooked, ignored, sin is not confronted. Now we don't, most of the times in this process of backsliding, we don't usually say the things they are saying here that everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and that God delights in the evil doors. We don't really say that but our dealing with sin the way we deal with it says that. So in our families we need to begin to look at how does each one in the family as individuals in the family, how do we look at sin? Do we see it the way God sees it?
Or we begin to accuse God of injustice? Where is the God of justice? Why is he not dealing with sin? It looks like he delights in the evil doors. Oh God does not delight in evil doors.
But we can get to this place of spiritual declension where we desensitize and this is what Western governments are doing in Africa, where they come and propose that you need to to put laws in place that accommodate sodomites, and the African governments will quickly say no. At least most of them. And what they do now is they go into small community radio stations and they make programs with these non-governmental organizations, creating audio programs, podcasts and all these other things in the local language, using local people who they pay a lot of money, and they begin to do these programs concerning birth control, homosexuality, feminism, and all these other ideas that they want to introduce in these countries. What they are doing is they are desensitizing the masses. And five years from now, they will say, let's hold a referendum.
Let's see what the people think. Oh, they've been doing their homework for five years. So we can get to this place where we are desensitized and sin is not seen anymore And especially as we look at the ungodly and we see them seemingly getting away with sin. We say if they are getting away with it, I might as well. Because there's no God.
He is full of injustice. I'm sure he delights in them. When a family and members in the family begin to drift slowly in that direction, the next thing they do is to plunge into sin itself. Let's look out for those signs. Isaiah 5 and verse 20, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Here's sign number five. Look at chapter 3, verse 8 to 12. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, In what way have we robbed you?
In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Let's stop there.
The fifth sign in spiritual apathy is our apathetic towards giving for the work of God. They're supposed to give, they're supposed to maintain the temple, they're supposed to maintain the Levites who work in the temple, they're supposed to support these men as they serve in the temple, but slowly Israel begin to withhold. But even when God comes to them and says to them you've robbed me what is their response what are you talking about And God goes on into details to show them what they have been doing. And families that begin very well to serve, to give to the church sacrificially, to give to missions sacrificially, to ensure that God, those who are saving the Lord in the ministry are maintained properly, begin to withhold. Is that what is happening in your family?
That's a sign of spiritual apathy. You need to cure it. Are your kids learning how to give? Are they learning how to serve? Their money serving a little bit and then probably even growing it and giving it away?
Are they learning how to do that? Are you teaching them how to give generously towards the work of God? Growing up, My parents would take us to church and they would always, when the offering bag is coming, they would always take some change and give it to us so we can put it in the bag. And I always believed they did what they knew was best, to raise us, to fear God, to serve Him. But we want to teach our kids to give what belongs to them.
Amen? They should grow up knowing that they need a certain amount kept away for the work of the ministry and they need to see that in us. Here's sign number six. Look at chapter three again, verse one through verse seven, sort of going back a little bit. Now read the whole passage, the interest of time, but I want us to see what Malachi is trying to do Because what God does here is to show them that in the midst of his rebukes and corrections, as he's calling them to repentance, at least to bring them to a place to put big sense into them, and to bring them to a place where they can begin to consider these things, he places, verse 1 through verse 7, to show them that his decrees will not be changed will come to pass.
So spiritual declination in the family looks like this that we understand the decrees of God, that what God has desired, what he's purposed to fulfill for his own glory will come to pass whether we are walking in obedience or not, yet we still choose to walk in disobedience. And this is what I was saying in the beginning that what God does in this book is not just correcting them and rebuking them to embarrass them. His corrections, his rebukes are also coming in with promises so that they can look up and see that God has decreed certain things and one of them is the glory of his son Jesus Christ which is clearly given to us here in chapter three. So whether in our families there is spiritual declation there whether we are backsliding, members of the family are backsliding or not, God's glory through his son Jesus Christ will finally be achieved and he makes that very clear in chapter 3 let me read a few verses behold I sent my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight behold his coming says the Lord of hosts is a promise of John the Baptist finally our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so this is a warning that families should not forget God's decrees, but it's also a solution to healing that declension. Look up and see what God is doing in the world today. Here's the last point, chapter 3 verses 13 through verse 18. It's when you look at these six things that we've looked at, they follow one another and it ends in this last one. Listen to what happens in spiritual declension.
Your words have been harsh against me says the Lord, yet you say what have we spoken against you? You have said, it is useless to serve God. What profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before the root of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed. For those who do wickedness are raised up.
They even tempt God and go free. This is the last stage in backsliding. You come so close to the world, so far from the fear of God, and the last thing you do is to plunge head-first into the world. A desire for oddliness. Look at the way they are justifying oddliness.
First of all they speak very harsh words against God. When God speaks to them and tries to correct them to show them what they have done, their response is, we don't know what you're talking about. And then they go on to say, we've wasted our time, it's useless to serve God, we should have just been in the world and serving the world and doing the things of this world. It is useless to serve God. What profit is it that we have kept his oughtness and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts?
And then they look at the world and they call them blessed. I'm better off in the world than in the church. They even tempt God. They say, the wicked are raised, are raised up. They even tempt God and they go free.
So we are okay in the world. There are members in your family who are desiring the world in this way. Feel like it's a waste of time. Why is my family saving God? Why is my family dedicated to the things of God?
Why is my family so committed to saving God? Why is my family calling us every single day to sit down and study the scriptures? Why do we pray? What a burden! It's useless!
Look at the world! They don't do all these things. They're not keeping the will of God. They're not seeking to walk in holiness, but look at them. They're raised up.
They can raise their feast to God and they go free. If you look at all those things like I've said and you follow them, they all end up here. This is the last stage. What kind of solutions does God suggest to us? How do you cure spiritual declension?
Malachi exposes our backsliding in very specific ways. This is how men and women backslide. They get to a point where they begin to scorn and to sneer and and they find the things of God a disgust. So he's designed to show Israel how backslidings but also to give Israel solutions in how Israel should return to God. He's not just seeking to make them miserable, he's thinking to provide solutions for them.
Here's a few thoughts before I give us the main points in how to cure backsliding or spiritual apathy. We must face return in the same areas that we have departed from him. God has been very specific in the way the children of Israel have dishonored him and have walked away from him. He's been very specific. Our return also would have to be specific in the same ways that we have departed from him.
One of the problems with people who are struggling with addiction, sin and different things like that, they get to a place where they begin to understand that what they are doing is wrong, but they also begin to seek to return to God in their own way. A solution to our spiritual declension, our spiritual apathy is found in first of all understanding what sin is, but understanding the method of grace that God has given us and that's what God does in the book that we're looking at this morning. Number one, we need to seriously consider God's unconditional love for us. We need to meditate on God's love. The Bible says we love him because he first loved us.
We cannot return to him without understanding that God has loved us and has loved us unconditionally. He is telling the children of Israel, return to me, I've loved you and I say in what way have you loved us? And he moves on to show them that it's unconditional love. He's not expecting any one of us to cleanse ourselves face and then come to him. He's calling us to come from where we're standing.
The journey itself of restoration to God might be painful but it has to start from where we're standing, where God is speaking us, in that place of misery, in that place of conviction, in that place where God is putting the burden of conviction upon us, that's where the journey to restoration must begin. A lot of people want to return to God but they want to return on their own terms, not on God's terms. God is telling them here you'll return on my terms. Number two, meditate on God's decrees and this is what he does in chapter 3 as he begins to show them the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, the promised one, meditate on God's decrees. Let the decrees of God remind you that whether you and I dishonor God, whether we worship Him, whether we cease to worship Him, His name will be made great among the nations, regardless.
Amen? That God will gain glory out of us whether in showing us mercy or in judgment. Meditate on the decrees of God, they are unchangeable. None of his decrees will change because of our or based on our performance. In the 1689 of the London Baptist Confession of faith on God's decrees, this is how the Confession puts it, God has decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably All things whatsoever come to pass.
The backslider, the man or woman who is apathetic toward God's electing love must meditate on the decrees of God. Number three, take every one of God's correction and chastisement as an act of mercy. It is not useless that we are saving God. It's not useless that he is chastising us. It's not a waste of time that we've committed our lives to Him.
Take each one of His chastisements as an act of mercy, because God does not want us to be judged together with the unbelievers. God is preserving us even in chastisement. So watch out for that root of rebellion, that root of bitterness as you go through God's chastisement. Always remember that God is using trials in our lives to draw us closer to Himself. You feel burdened and God is chastising you.
He's using those things to draw us closer to Himself. Here's number five, chapter three and four, we find God clearly demonstrating how God's people, who have lost a passion for God, can rekindle that passion to return to himself. Look out in the world and see the unbelievers who seem to be going their way and everything seems to be going on all right. He says, he set them up on slippery places, that in their comfort they may slip into hell. The comfort you see is God's judgment.
Then, let's pray. God, we pray that these seemingly simple signs that creep unnoticed in many ways, these signs These signs of box lighting and apathy may be detectable, oh Lord, in our families, in our individual lives, in our churches, that we may slowly begin to deal with them. But I pray that you would give us your grace, your wisdom to see as they begin to creep in. You'd give us discernment, to not miss these things, oh God, but to begin to apply biblical solutions and seeing how much you've loved us and to not ignore that, to not be indifferent, and to begin to work on these symptoms in our spouses, in our children, in our own hearts, and to begin to deal with them. Help us to remember that Lord you have decreed and that those things shall come to pass.
We pray for wisdom, we pray for grace, we pray you'd help us to be patient with those who are struggling. Also pray that you'd help us to be diligent, to be quick, to be wise, to be loving in the way we deal with others, to be prayerful above all, to point them to the cross of Christ where their help is. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.