God’s Love Never Falters

Pastor Chris Baker //11.03.19 // Centralia FBC

Intro

Good morning, church!

We truly serve a good God and He has been exceptionally good to us in recent days. While you're turning to the book of , I want to reflect for just a minute on His goodness.

Malachi can be challenging to find. If you turn to and flip backward, you'll be there. Malachi is the last book of the .

God truly is good, and He demonstrates His goodness in numerous ways.

Last week, He led us to acknowledge with one unanimous voice the man He has prepared to become our new associate pastor. Keith Jones spent the weekend getting to know our congregation, and he is excited to join us in January.

But God isn't just working in our staff. He's working in our whole body. Many of you are experiencing His grace as you pursue the 'one' who you committed two weeks ago to reach with the gospel.

Others have taken your next steps of faith recently. For some of you, that means baptism and joining our church. For others, it means joining a study or meeting a felt need in your neighborhood.

One family, in particular, I believe, experienced a miracle on the medical front this week. We prayed at the end of last Sunday's gathering for Bob Fair's daughter, Amy, who was planning to undergo a complicated procedure in St. Louis on Wednesday. Between Sunday and Wednesday, many of you prayed. The family felt those prayers. But more importantly, God heard those prayers. That much was made more evident Wednesday afternoon when the doctor reported to the family that the procedure and initial stages of recovery went much better than they ever could have expected.

We serve a good God, church.

1 A God whose goodness we don't just see in Centralia, but all over the state of Missouri and, really, the rest of the world.

Eight of us had the privilege this week to represent our church at the Missouri Baptist Convention's Annual Meeting. There we saw God's goodness working through church planting, disaster relief, Baptist universities, one-on-one disciple- making efforts, and benevolent ministries caring for children and the elderly. We'll offer a full report of our experience there at our next Members' Meeting, but I can speak for all eight of us when I say we came home this week more fully convinced that God is good.

I hope that you leave here today more convinced of God's goodness in your life. To put it more boldly, I hope you leave here absolutely awed by God's goodness in your life.

The song we just sang begins this way:

Amazing love

That welcomes me

The kindness of mercy

That bought with blood, wholeheartedly

My soul undeserving

(Scott Ligertwood / Brooke Fraser / Kristian Stanfill / Brett Younker)

Amazing love welcomes me, even though my soul is undeserving.

The realization of that truth should leave us floored.

Somehow, though, our hearts can grow numb to the reality of God's love.

Growing up in East Tennessee, I became numb to the beauty of the mountains. I saw them every day. They were a regular part of daily life. It wasn't until we moved to Iowa that I began to appreciate their beauty. I remember driving back into Dandridge, the town where I grew up, after being in Iowa for several months. There's one spot where you're driving downhill toward the old downtown area, and you can see Douglas Lake with the English Mountain the background. It's amazing. And I

2 lived there for almost 25 years and never stopped to appreciate it. It had become normal.

God's love is not normal. Allowing ourselves to become unimpressed by God's sovereign and unfailing love is extremely dangerous.

Malachi served an underwhelmed nation that had fallen unimpressed by God's love. We see it in our first text from this short but profound book. Join me in reading Malachi 1:1-5

Pray

The sovereign love of God for His people never falters. That's the central theme of these five verses. The sovereign love of God for His people never falters.

If you can live your life in light of that statement, it will change you. But here's the problem: you don't believe that.

Unfailing love is a concept foreign to our fallen hearts. Sure, you believe it here. Saying God's love is never going to let you down is a great way to get an amen in a church service. And I hope you'll go out of here today more convinced of it. I hope you're still convinced of it tomorrow. But what about Thursday? Between Sunday and Thursday, you sin. One of the causes and bi-products of our sin is doubt. We sin because we doubt God's sovereign love, and we doubt God's sovereign love because we've sinned. It's a vicious cycle. Peter Adam wrote:

It looks as if God's people think that they have found a satisfactory neutral middle ground between obedience and disobedience. They will not obey God, nor do they have the nerve to disobey him. They think they can remain God's people, questioning and criticizing him, distrusting him and declining to obey him. But there is no neutral ground.

(Adam, Peter. The Message of Malachi (The Bible Speaks Today Series). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.)

Israel went through that cycle over-and-over again in Malachi's day. They had grown unimpressed by God's sovereign love, and they doubted that it was genuinely unfaltering.

Their doubts shape the structure of this unique book. From the very beginning, we see we're dealing with something substantial. The passage we just read begins with

3 the words "a pronouncement." The word for pronouncement might be oracle in your Bible, but the literal meaning is a burden. Malachi had a burdensome, or weighty message for God's people.

Six burdensome messages, in fact. All six are framed as questions and answers.

There are three distinct components to each section: (1) God speaks an accusation against 's lack of faith; (2) Israel responds questioning God's charge; (3) God responds by expanding Himself.

Most scholars characterize these sections as disputations, or arguments, between God and Israel.

Disputation 1 (1:1-5) -- Verse 2, "I have loved you," says the Lord.

Yet you ask, "How have you loved us?"

Disputation 2 (1:6-2:9) -- 1:6-7 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name."

Yet you ask: "How have we despised your name?"

Disputation 3 (2:10-16) 2:10 Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Disputation 4 (2:17-3:5) 17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.

Yet you ask, "How have we wearied him?"

When you say, "Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord's sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?"

Disputation 5 (3:6-12) 7 "Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of Armies.

Yet you ask, "How can we return?"

Disputation 6 (3:13-4:6) 13 "Your words against me are harsh," says the Lord.

Yet you ask, "What have we spoken against you?"

4 The structure on the screen is also our roadmap for this series, by the way. We'll spend two weeks on disputation two since it's the longest, but otherwise, we'll follow the outline Malachi has provided for us.

That outline begins with Israel fundamentally doubting God's sovereign love for them.

The first words from God we have in Malachi are the most excellent words any human can hear: I have loved you.

Though, like us, Israel struggled to believe that.

We see it in their response anticipated by God. Yet you ask, how?

And so God takes Israel back to her roots as a nation in Genesis.

If we were to lay the Old Testament out as a timeline, we're at the end, aren't we? That's part of why I think understanding Malachi is so essential. These are God's last words to His people for 400 years. This is a very unique time in Israel's history. God spoke through the prophets from to Malachi. The role of the prophet was to act as God's mouthpiece. They stood in front of Israel and declared the word of the Lord. From Moses onward, there was always a prophet. Sometimes there were many. But from Malachi to John the Baptist--some 400 years or more--there was nothing. No one spoke for God. From Malachi until John cried out in the wilderness, no one heard a new word from the Lord.

If these are God's last words before 400 years of silence, I bet they're important.

And he begins them by walking Israel backward to demonstrate His unfailing love.

The sovereign love of God for His people never falters.

Does your heart believe that this morning? It's just that it never fails. It never even falters. It never wavers one bit.

God glances into Israel's history to illustrate that. And as we follow Him back into Genesis, I think you'll see how His love has never faltered in your life, either.

He says:

5 "Wasn't 's brother?" This is the Lord's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals."

We might struggle with this. We're uncomfortable with God hating Esau but loving Jacob.

But if you remember the story starting in Genesis 25, Esau abandoned his relationship with God for a bowl of stew. He traded his place in God's family for food. Esau earned his place in God's eyes--the place of rejection.

Jacob was favored by God, but he didn't earn that favor. God's love in Jacob's life never faltered, but that's not because Jacob didn't trip up at every possible opportunity. He lied, he deceived, and he cheated, but God's love never faltered.

Esau earned his judgment. Jacob didn't earn God's love, but God gave it to him anyway. God's love for his people is never earned, but it never falters when we fail.

You can see that all the way back in Eden. Adam and Eve doubted God's love when they ate the fruit. Their sin brought consequences, but even in those consequences, God demonstrated His love.

Romans tells us the penalty for sin is death, but God didn't kill them. Instead, he sent them out of the garden, and He did it with a promise.

Genesis 3:15

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

The first promise of the gospel in all the Bible is a demonstration of God's unfaltering love. Instead of giving them what they deserve, God makes a promise that ultimately culminates with Him dying in their place. Your actions earned death, so I'll die for you. That's the message of God's love.

But, still, we doubt.

6 By pointing Israel back to Jacob, God was leading them back to their entire history. They were an entire nation in a relationship with God, but they began as a family.

From Adam and Eve, God chose a descendant named Noah. He demonstrated his love by saving him and his family from a catastrophic flood that wiped out the rest of the population.

But humanity didn't embrace God's, unfaltering love. Instead, they rebelled, and shortly after that sought to replace Him by building a tower at a place called Babel so vast, it would demonstrate their self-sufficiency.

So God, in another act of his grace, confused their language and scattered people all over the globe.

From this scatted people, God called a man named Abram to follow Him. Over and over, doubted and rebelled. But God's love never faltered.

In Genesis 12 God promised:

I will make you into a great nation,

I will bless you,

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Abram was the grandfather of Jacob. We've already seen that God loved Jacob. He also loved his family. One of his sons, Joseph, was first mistreated by his brothers and then sold as a slave in Egypt.

God's love never faltered in Joseph's life. He prospered in everything he did, despite being betrayed by people over-and-over again.

God used Joseph to save Egypt from famine.

7 He was so popular that Pharoah invited his entire family to settle in Egypt, and things were good for God's people. So good that they grew from a family into a vast nation.

Eventually, a Pharoah came to power who was paranoid and didn't trust these foreigners living in his land. So he enslaved them and finally tried to exterminate them.

But these were God's people. And, as you may be noticing, His love for them never faltered. So he rescued them from slavery in Egypt through a man named Moses.

Israel was in Egypt for 400 years. And you'd think after generational slavery, that upon being rescued they'd respond by worshipping God, wouldn't you?

Well, they did. For 45 whole days. That's how long it took for them to doubt God's, unfaltering love.

Exodus 16

2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!"

God overcame Egypt, but they didn't trust he could overcome their hunger. But He didn't quit on them. He provided. Why? Because God's love never falters.

God promised Abraham his family would be given land, and through Moses, God led Israel to the border of that land.

But Moses died, so Joshua became the leader of Israel, and the people rallied around God's purpose.

It seems like God's unfaltering love was starting to sink in for them. Listen to Joshua 1:

16 They answered Joshua, "Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. 17 We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. Certainly the Lord your God will be with you, as he was with Moses.

8 God's got this! Here we are, Lord! Do whatever you want, and we'll follow. And it works! For seven chapters.

The first five words of Joshua 7 in the CSB are The Israelites, however, were unfaithful. They didn't trust God was going to provide for them, so they tried to provide for themselves.

Are you sensing a pattern here? God's love is unfaltering, but Israel's trust in that love comes and goes like Missouri weather.

Sure, there are times when God disciplines Israel. He puts them through hard circumstances. But always to express His love for them more perfectly.

If you're a parent, you're familiar with that kind of love. Learning to tie your shoes is hard. Sometimes it comes with tears. But you're better off in life for having gone through the pain.

God's love never faltered for Israel. He provided them, leaders. First Joshua, then a host of others we refer to as Judges who led when they were needed.

That is until the people thought they knew a better way. Listen to 1 Samuel 8. This is long but listens to how it expresses our heart:

8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 2 His firstborn son's name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest profit, took bribes, and perverted justice.

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have."

6 When they said, "Give us a king to judge us," Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord. 7 But the Lord told him, "Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. 8 They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. 9 Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them."

9 Samuel explains to the people they are essentially making themselves slaves yet again to a human king, but we read in verse 19:

19 The people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We must have a king over us. 20 Then we'll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles."

21 Samuel listened to all the people's words and then repeated them to the Lord. 22 "Listen to them," the Lord told Samuel. "Appoint a king for them."

Having God is our leader isn't good enough. We'd never say that with our mouths, but we say it with every sin we ever commit.

Despite the fact that God's love had never faltered, Israel thought it knew a better way.

So God appoints for them a king. First, Saul, then David and Solomon. The only three men to rule over all Israel in the Bible. After Solomon's death, the entire nation falls apart.

There was a power struggle between one of his servants, Jeroboam, and his son, Rehoboam. Of the 12 tribes descended from Jacob, 10 follow Jeroboam and 2 follow Rehoboam.

God's love didn't falter, but He allowed their sin to separate them from one another.

And the cycle continued for generations. The people rebelled, repented, followed for various lengths of time and then rebelled again. All throughout, God's love never faltered.

It was tough love, sometimes, but it was still love.

After generations of this cycle, God allowed the Assyrians to overtake the Northern part of the kingdom. Later, the Southern Kingdom (where sat) was destroyed by the Babylonians. They took the leadership of Israel back to Babylon as their captives.

None of this caught God off guard. In fact, all the trouble that came Israel's way in this period was meant to draw them to God, not push them away.

Eventually, they were allowed to return to and rebuild Jerusalem. Ezra and Nehemiah detail God's faithfulness in that period. 10 Somewhere around 100 years later, Malachi comes along.

Writing to a disenchanted people in a disenchanted period in Israel's history, we see the very first thing he does is to proclaim God's love.

These people had been stripped of their pride. They had hoped to be a great nation, and here they were still living in fear of other nations. Sure, they were in Jerusalem, but it wasn't the same. Sure, there was a temple, but it wasn't anything like the one Solomon had built so many years ago.

Life hadn't lived up to their expectations. And they needed a stark reminder that God's love never falters. No matter what our circumstances may tell us.

That's a really rough thumbnail sketch of somewhere around 1500 years of Israel's history, by the way.

1500 years that contributed to Israel's lack of awe. For many of us, it hasn't taken nearly that long for us to be skeptical of this great love.

But there's hope for us, too. Now that we have the lay of the land, let me point you to three things in the rest of these verses that I think will help you be convinced that God's love hasn't faltered in your life.

First, God's love is pre-existent.

God has loved you from before the foundation of the world. Verse 2 tells us God loved Jacob. Look back with me briefly at Genesis 25:

21 prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

11 Jacob inherited Esau's birthright because Esau gave it up. But we see that God had already prepared to pour out his love in a special way on Jacob before the two were even born. The younger was to serve the older in the cultural economy of Jacob's day. But that's not how it was to be in God's economy.

Ephesians 1 tells us God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

That means you don't have to do anything to clean yourself up for God to love you.

We struggle so mightily to understand unconditional love. We can't wrap our hearts around the idea that God knows who we are at our worst and loves us anyway.

I can't tell you how many times I've had people say to me I'll come to church or I'll get baptized or something like that AFTER I do X.

That's like saying I'll go to the doctor as soon as I get over this cancer.

God's love never faltered even at Israel's worst. He's with you at your worst, too.

That leads us to the second truth; God's love is non-contingent. It's not contingent on our behavior.

We don't do anything to earn God's unfaltering love. We accept it. The only ones who get what they earn are the ones who rebel. That's what Edom did. The Edomites were Esau's family, and they had declared their rebellion against God. So, no matter how hard they worked, their life was going to end in destruction because they separated themselves from Him.

God's unfaltering love in our lives is never the result of anything we earn.

And that should cause us to worship.

The sovereign love of God for His people never falters. What's the result of that? Look at verse 5

5 Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, 'The Lord is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.'

Have you seen God's unfaltering love in your life? Even when you can't see it, do you still trust that it's there?

There will come a time in your life, if there hasn't already, where you'll honestly ask yourself: How do I know God loves me? 12 People have sought the answer to that question in every possible manner over the course of time. And we have the answer right here in the pages of Scripture.

Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Just like He did with Adam and Eve, just like He did with Israel, God chose us, despite our weakness.

We had alienated ourselves from Him. We weren't just sick; Ephesians 2 tells us we were already dead because of our sin. But God made us alive, and not only that, but He adopted us into His family as sons.

Robby Gallaty wrote: "We can do nothing good to persuade Him to love us more. Neither can we do anything wrong to make Him love us any less. No one will ever love you like God loves you and the only proper response is to love him back. (Exalting Jesus in Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, p.208)

Do you remember “He loves me not?” The little thing kids used to do with flowers? I fear some of us do that with God based on our life circumstances.

We need to be awed anew by the reality that God’s sovereign love for His people never falters.

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