"Man's Sin and God's Silence"

January 13, 2013
Man's Sin and God's Silence
The Book of Malachi (parts of Nehemiah)
Scott Howard

The book of Malachi was written about/to the people who lived during the time of the book of Nehemiah.  This was just after the Temple of the Lord had been rebuilt and the people were consecrating themselves to God again and making a covenent. 

In Nehemiah chapter 10 the people of God promise 3 things.  They promised not to intermarry with people from other nations and other faiths; they promised to keep the Sabbath Holy; they promised to take care of the Temple of God and to worship God with the offerings due Him. 

However, every promise they made, they broke.  In Malachi, God speaks through him to call the people out on their sin and their broken promises to God.  After this, there is about 400 years of silence until the New Testament and the birth of Jesus, our Savior.

What do we learn about ourselves through this passage?

• We are dead in sin
• We are prone to defile one another
• Sin is too subtle in us---> it is gradual, a slow fade
• Sin is too seductive to us---> it is alluring
• Sin is too strong for us

This makes us--->  Desperate for a Savior
We need supernatural new life---> We must be born again!

If we are dead in sin, we can't do anything about it on our own...we can't try harder, we can't do better.  But we can gain new life through Christ if we just accept His gift and give Him control.  We need Him to come and rescue us from death and to bring us new life.

The people in our text were weary of sacrificing to and worshipping God.  They were not bringing their best to God anymore.  Where once they brought the spotless animals for sacrifice, it became the norm to bring the diseased and imperfect sacrifices.  They defamed God in supposed worship. 

Are our hearts far from God when we come to worship Him?  Are we bringing our best?  Are we just singing the worship songs we've memorized, and sitting in the pew just to say we were in the house of the Lord?  May we really sing worship songs to God with passion; really meaning those words of worship to God.  And may we come to the house of God to give Him the praise and glory that He is worthy of, while allowing Him to speak to us through His Word.  Let us not fade slowly, and gradually away from Him, but allow Him to keep giving us new life!