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Don’t Cheat God
November 2, 2019

Last week we looked at possible curse from Malachi chapter four and learned to avoid this curse the hearts of the fathers must be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. This week, we will look at other chapters of Malachi and passages from the New Testament to see that we can't cheat God. In addition to this Bible study is a companion sermon available as an audio file and transcript. The children of Edom, descendants of Esau and brother to Jacob, were told that they would always be less than Israel, the Children of Jacob. Even though God was honoring Israel, He felt they did not repay the honor. Instead of offering their very best, they tried to trick God and offered animals that had disabilities or were sick. There is nothing wrong with having a disability; the problem with the offering by Israel was their perception that they were giving less than the best to God while trying to trick God. Disability and physical diversity are a natural part of the human condition. Because the people were trying to trick God, God did not respect their offering. Because the people did not want to offer the very best to God, God did not respect their offering. God is magnificent and in charge of the entire universe. God deserves nothing less than our very best in what we do. In all things that we do with God, we must do our very best. There is no fooling God in what we do day in and day out.

Malachi 1:1-14
The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

There is no amount of money we can give God, that we can give to a church, that we can give to a priest that will guarantee our salvation. Salvation is not something that can be bought with money. That’s simply a vain idea that has been around since the beginning of time. Mankind is corrupt, that will never go away. People will always see the opportunity in trying to bribe their way into a better tomorrow. Having money will not cause God to respect us. God looks at the heart of people to determine a person’s righteousness.

1 Peter 1:17-21
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Sometimes men will read the Bible and incorrectly determine the Bible says they can be abusive to their wife, and sometimes a wife will read the Bible and incorrectly determine they need to take abuse from their husband. As Jesus Christ is the husband, if you will, to the church, the husband in the marriage should be willing to equally lay down his life and sacrifice himself for the benefit of the wife and the family. Being a husband is an act of service to the wife and to the children. Being a husband does give a man the right to abuse his wife and being a wife does not mean being weak and submitting to abuse.

Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

The Book of Malachi is not only the final book of the Old Testament, it serves as a reminder that the ultimate judgment that will come upon all of mankind is whether we serve God or if we are simply serving ourselves. That is the ultimate judgment that we will be judged in. We want to be among the group that is found to be worshipping and serving God. We know we are worshipping and serving God when we don’t try to cheat and trick God. We need to give God our very best in what we do at all times. In all that we do, in worshipping God and serving God, we cannot do that if show partiality to people. All people are equal before God, all people should be equal in our hearts. As we are worshipping God and striving to be counted among those who serve God and not being self-serving, we also need to remember that what we do in private behind closed doors must match what is seen in public. But the reality is, all of us have a door that we close at the end of the day, and what we do behind that door is as important to God as how we are when we are in public. God does not expect, nor will God tolerate hypocrisy from us.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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