Ill: “Don’t be hating on me.” Author Anne Lamott – “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people that you do.”
Background:
• Reading of 1 John 4:7-8 & Malachi 1:2-3.
• When the book of Malachi opens up we come to a period of time in Israel where the environment is quiet harsh. The nation has
been torn apart for centuries, and they are being ruled by whoever has the biggest weapons. In a short time they will enter over
400 years of silence on the part of God. The voices of the prophets are growing faint, and in these few chapters we read God’s
last words of warning for His people Israel.
• The book opens up with the people questioning the truth that God really loves us. Have you been there? So Malachi greatest
evidence for God’s love for Israel is the fact that of all the nations and tribes and peoples of the earth, God chose them above all!
So we read 1:2-3.
• Remember! Before we try to answer any difficult verse in the Bible, our default is this truth: God is perfect and right in every way!
(Romans 9:14 – “Is there injustice on God’s part, by no means!”) Is God a hating God?
• Hated – “to dislike, to be hostile to, to loathe someone or something
I. God’s Chose to Love Me.
• God is not any less God if He chose to destroy every human being!
1. Example of Israel over Esau: Malachi 1:2; Rom.9:8-13
• God choose Israel, not because they were great, but because they were the least. Rom. 9:14 – “God has mercy on
who He chooses mercy.”
• Malachi – “You want proof that God loves you, He chose Jacob over Esau!”
2. Example of the church over the lost: John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10,19
• Ill: I chose to love Stephanie, TN, KBC, meatloaf….
* Why God chose us? Romans 9:17 – “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power in you, and
that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” Mal. 1:5 – We were saved in order to tell and
show others what the power of God can do for a sinful human being.
II. God’s Love Does Not Excuse My Sin.
1. Example of Esau/Edom: Mal. 1:4; Obadiah 3
• The book of Genesis mentions no divine hatred of Esau himself. It is the prophet Obadiah that declares God’s hatred
toward Edom because of their pride, idolatry, and hatred toward Israel (never helped Israel their own brother).
• When confronted with their sin, Edom still chose to reject God…pride (1:4).
• Scripture is clear that God always hates sin! The used of the word “Hatred” is not how we use it today. It is more
diplomatic language not personal language. God does not hate people but he hated what Esau would become. See Ps.
11:4-7; Hosea 9:15 – “God hated the evil deed of Israel…”
2. Example of the Lost/World: Rev. 21:7-8
• Many today think that “A loving God” means He will let me live however I choose, and I can be whoever I want to be
without consequences. Ill: Doctrine of Lady Gaga – “Baby I was born this way!”
• Ill. Let us say that you were able to travel back in time to Austria to April 20, 1889, and there have the privilege to help
deliver a baby boy born on that day. As you hold the baby, you ask his mom the name of this newborn, and she
responds, “Adolf Hitler”. Would you hate the baby or who the baby becomes? In a sense when we read that God
chooses, He knows the whole future and knows every person and how they will respond when confronted face to face
with God. But without His intervention, no man would ever make it to heaven. GRACE!
• God’s love demands what is best for me and you!
III. God’s Love Demands A Response From Me. Malachi 1:6-14
1. My Sincere Honor: (vs 6)
2. My Best Offering: (vs 7-ff)
3. My Joyful Worship: (vs. 11-ff)
Conclusion: Romans 9:8-ff
• Being born human does not guarantee our entrances into heaven. (Rom. 9:8)
• Doing good as a human does not invite God’s favor. (Rom. 9:11)
• All those who die lost does so when they trip over the Rock…Jesus. (9:30-32)
• If we are not careful we can spend more time arguing why God chooses to save some and allow others to go to hell and take our eyes off the greatest of all questions – “Why would He chose to save anyone, especially me!”
