Sin Against God's Institution of Marriage

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Malachi 2:10-13
Psalters: 177, 201, 208, 159
  1. The sin.
    1. There were a significant number of the marriages were with unbelieving mates (11).
      1. Also (even) among the priests (Neh. 13:28; 10:30).
      2. They based dating and marriage on carnal lusts, not on spiritual oneness in Christ.
    2. As then, so today (and even more so) do we live in a world where Balaam’s advice is powerful.
      1. The world is pre-occupied with the fulfilling of personal desires.
      2. The pulpit must provide an answer and the incentive to resist these temptations.
  2. Why does Malachi point out this sin, rather than other gross evils?
    1. Marriage is a picture of Jehovah’s covenant evidencing God’s intimate bond between Himself an His people.
      1. Marriages reflect the covenant when we marry believers and when we live in marriage “in the Lord” (I Cor. 7:39).
      2. By marrying unbelievers and marrying for unbelieving reasons, God’s covenant is profaned.
    2. The supreme positive reason why God forbids marriages of mixed faiths is that it contradicts the holiness God requires.
      1. God requires holiness of His people, for He is holy (pure and good in Himself).
      2. A marriage in the Lord, built on holiness, is one where they go to the cross.
  3. God responds to these unholy unions: He would cut off those who do it, master and scholar (pupil).
    1. God viewed it as treachery (10) and abomination (11).
      1. Treachery is a friend who works secretly to destroy.
      2. An abomination is something God abhors, loathes and detests.
    2. They shall be “cut off,” i.e., removed from the experience of the blessedness of His covenant friendship.
      1. The master and the student will both be cut off out of the tabernacles of Jacob, i.e., out of the fellowship of Christ.
      2. And their offerings would not be acceptable to God.
    3. Positively, build your marriage upon the foundation of faith in God, of holiness to God.