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Gratitude Sermon Series: Week #3 “Gratitude Is a Choice” 1 Peter 1:3-7

Gratitude Series: Week 3

Gratitude Is a Choice

1 Peter 1:3-7

Introduction

An estimated 10,000 physicians have phony foreign medical degrees that brought one broker of fraudulent diplomas $1.5 million over three years, a congressional panel was told. Claude Pepper, Democrat-Florida, said many American citizens may be receiving medical treatment from doctors who lied on their medical school loan applications, and used the money not to go to school but to pay a broker for fake documents claiming they completed school and training.

Pedro DeMesones, who served a three-year prison sentence for mail fraud and conspiracy, told the panel that in three years of “expediting” medical degrees, he provided about 100 clients with false transcripts showing they had fulfilled medical requirements of schools they didn’t attend. “Clients paid me from $5225 to $27,000 for my services, ” DeMesones said. “In all I earned about $1.5 million in those three years. I only got to keep about $500,000 of this total. The rest went for bribes and expenses.”[1]

Wouldn’t you want to know that the doctor you go to is a real doctor and not one that bought a phony degree? Sure you would. Also, wouldn’t you want to know if your faith in Christ is genuine or fake? Peter takes us through this idea in 1 Peter 1:3-7

Prayer

_______________

The real test of thankfulness comes not when things are going great, but when the bottom falls out and things fall apart. The Bible says we should remain full of gratitude for what trials can produce within our lives. Like fire refines and purifies metal, so suffering and difficulty purify our lives as well.

I.  Praising God Because of His Promise (vv. 3-5)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled[2], and unfading[3], kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter began this section stating that God is to be blessed because he has caused us to be born again. Our praise and thanksgiving should be directed to God because it is he who gave his Son so that we may have hope.

 “The word “blessed” here is eulogétos, a word applied to God alone in the New Testament. We derive the word eulogy from it. It means to praise or speak well of someone. We are to eulogize the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our thoughts and hearts are to rise at every thought of Him.”[4]

The word “According” points to reasons we should be grounded in our salvation – it is because of his great  Mercy is not getting what you deserve. How deep, how wide, how immense is God’s span of mercy?

We are born again to “a living hope” – our hope of eternal life is not rooted in superstition, wives’ tales, but in the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was dead (not a comma, or swooned, or passed out from blood loss). The hope mentioned here is not “Are you saved?” “I hope so,” No – our assurance of our salvation is a hope in the living Lord. It is a living hope.

Hope is an essential element in human life. “without it even the finest and best which earth can yield is shrouded with a deadly miasma of futility. Lacking a realizable future, our most meaningful experiences of – and our most profound confidences in – reality are but tantalizing projections of our fancy. Of what value is the education of man, the cultivation of his implanted capacities, the arousal of his noblest potentialities, if he at last is enveloped in the dark night of death and the unfeeling grave of extinction?”[5]

“God foresaw the fall of Adam and the subsequent ruin of the human race. He knew what He intended to do about that. When Father, Son, and Spirit decided that they would act in creation, they knew that the time would come when they would have to act in redemption. The plan of redemption also involved regeneration, giving us back in Christ what we had lost in Adam.”[6]

“The human spirit was to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Man would thus be enabled to cooperate with God in all aspects of his life. When sin entered into Adam, however, the Spirit of God departed from the human spirit, leaving Adam, and his race, permanently crippled.”[7] Regeneration happens when that spiritually crippled descendant of Adam receives Christ’s gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit comes into the believer’s soul and serves as proof of salvation in heaven.

Ephesians 1:13-14 “In him [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

You usually don’t receive an inheritance unless someone dies. Peter uses several analogies that direct our thinking to death – the word eulogy (blessed), being born again – indicating that we were spiritually dead, a living hope (pointing to Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and then the promise of an inheritance, which again, you don’t receive until someone dies.

Then Peter gives a description of what awaits believers when they die. He describes it as an inheritance.[8] In the Old Testament the inheritance is the land that God promised the people.[9] Abraham is promised an inheritance of the land of Canaan (Gen. 15:18; Acts 7:5; Heb. 11:8).

“In the Promised Land, every Israelite had his own possession, sat under his own fig tree, and enjoyed the fruit of his own vine (1 Kings 4:25).” But this Promised land was never safe and secure. “Marauders from the desert would invade the land and plunder the possessions of the inhabitants.”[10] There was constant fear of insects and drought.

The things we consider wonderful fade – we may have wealth today, but tomorrow the market could crash. We have popularity today but tomorrow the crowds seek to cancel us. We have power today, but tomorrow we are voted out of office, — everything this world has to offer fades, spoils, and decays.

The “Peter used a triple word picture to describe this inheritance. Our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade. These verbal adjectives indicate that our inheritance is untouched by death, unstained by evil, and unimpaired by time. Our inheritance is death-proof, sin-proof, and time-proof. This inheritance is kept in heaven, for believers.”[11]

How do you explain eternal life, salvation, an inheritance in heaven? Peter has to describe them in negative words (perishing, spoiling, fading) because this is all we understand. “The glory of our heavenly inheritance is so far beyond human conception that the Scriptures must often resort to figures of speech instead of the literal terms or to weak comparisons with earth and thus to negatives, which tell us what will not be in heaven. The realities themselves transcend human language.”[12]

For the believer, the inheritance already exists and is waiting for them in heaven. No matter what difficulties we endure in this life, there awaits an eternal life in the life to come. We don’t have to worry about losing it – for it is God’s power that guards it and keeps it.

This inheritance is also described as a salvation. “Salvation can be defined as being rescued from God’s judgement or wrath on the last day (1 Pet. 4:17; cf. Rom 5:9; 1 Thess. 5:9).[13] Peter describes salvation as something that will be received in the future, it is a promised inheritance.

Salvation is discussed here in three different tenses. “As to the past, it cancels all of our sins, and because of Calvary, it cancels the penalty of sin as well. As to the present, by means of the indwelling Spirit of God, it deals with the power of sin. As to the future, we anticipate the return of Christ and an ultimate end to the very presence of sin.”[14]

The power of God mentioned here does not shield believers from trials, suffering, anguish, or persecution. “It means that God himself guards and watches over our salvation, our inheritance. Our relationship with God now as we grow more like Christ is a foretaste of that salvation which will be revealed when Christ returns.”[15]

Not only does God guard our inheritance in heaven, but he also guards us so that we do not lose our salvation. God does not operate in or upon our faith but above, over, and around us, upon our enemies. “It kept Daniel in the lion’s den, the three men in the fiery furnace, set bounds for Satan in afflicting Job, freed Peter from Herod’s prison, preserved Paul amid dangers, hardships, persecutions, etc. Great and wonderful is this protection of omnipotence, without which we should soon be overwhelmed.”[16]

In the Greek, this verb “shielded” or “guarded” (v. 5) is a military term that can mean either “to protect someone from danger” or “to prevent someone from escaping.” It is the same word used in Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”[17]

“guarded through faith”[18]– When we speak of faith, Peter mentions both God’s protective power and human responsibility. Although, God has promised to protect us, we must employ our faith in our fight against the evil one. Ephesians 6:16 “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”

“It is as faith which commits one to the keeping power of God. It is not man’s power but God’s power which, like the watchman of a city gate, guards the security of the one who is trusting in him.”[19]

II.  Praising God Because of His Provision (v. 6-7)

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In response to this wonderful inheritance of salvation that is being guarded by God himself, “In this you rejoice” Our response to life, with all its’ pain and suffering is to rejoice, to have gratitude in this life. Peter says that these trials “though now for a little while,” are for a purpose. But to remember that this life is but a speck in light of eternity.

He also explains that there is a purpose behind the various trials. The explains this purpose with the illustration of a goldsmith. “To form a useful object, raw gold must be melted, requiring a temperature of 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit. When the gold is melted, the impurities rise to the surface, where they are skimmed off or burned off.

A goldsmith knows the gold is ready to cast when the liquid gold becomes mirror-like and he can see his face reflected in the surface.”[20] Peter does not mention a refining, only a determining a genuineness.

The language of this illustration may also refer to the first-century process of making pottery. Potters baked clay pots to give them strength. The process sometimes cracked pots that had flaws, but the ones that survived the process were marked with the Greek word Peter used here (dokimos) for “genuine.”

“Sufferings function as the crucible for faith.”[21] Our tested faith by the trials of life will prove to be far more valuable than gold when Christ returns, “at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Earlier, in verse 5 where it says, “to be revealed in the last time” is where we get the word apocalypse – “ready to be revealed” is a day when Christ is revealed in all his glory and power.

The sufferings and trials that we endure here and now are purifying and giving value to our faith, that will last for all of eternity. The faith we take with us, that has been found genuine, refined and purified will be with us forever.

We are to value the trials because they reveal our flaws and impurities. They are an opportunity to change. But Peter explains, “What God now finds is what pertains to the reward of grace which he will bestow upon us at the last day.”[22] While I am here, I can change and become more like Christ, and God is working to make me more like Christ (through trials).

To Neville

When it was time for me to get an engagement ring for Kimberly, I drove and hour and half to a business building where I was buzzed in to meet with Tom Neville in Montgomery, Alabama. Tom is a retired NFL football player and opened his jewelry business in 1983.

He met with just me, and walked me through the different kinds of diamonds, colors, how they were classified and got out trays of diamonds for me to look at and for me to pick the right one. Even later after she said yes, he mailed me three diamond wraps for Kimberly’s wedding ring. But one of the things that stuck was that there are no natural flawless diamonds – every natural diamond is flawed, it just to what degree; can you see it with normal eyes, or does it require a microscope?

A diamond after years of tremendous pressure is fixed. It is then shaped to the shape the jeweler desires. It can’t change, continued pressure does nothing to it. Gold can be purified, and purified, and purified. Gold and diamonds have impurities, but only one can change that.

_____________________

[1] Spokesman Review, December 8, 1984

[2] “The Greek word amiantos, which means undefiled, refers to a mineral found among the rocks and made into a fire-resisting fabric. Though soiled, it turned pure white when placed in the fire. Romans paid generously for it; in it they wrapped the remains of their dead, so that in cremation the precious ashes would be preserved in a fabric unaffected by the consuming fire. The Christian’s inheritance is free from the taint of defilement; it is unaffected by the fiery judgement.”  George Arthur Buttrick, Gen. Ed. The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Abingdon Press, 1957) 94.

[3] “The Greek modifiers (imperishable, undefiled, unfading) all begin with the letter “a” imparting the kind of alliteration frequently used in sermons: aphtharton, amianton, amaranton.” Clifton Allen, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Publishing, 1972) 151.

[4] John Phillips, Exploring The Epistles of Peter (Grand Rapids Michigan; Kregel Publishing, 2005) 36.

[5] Buttrick, 92.

[6] Phillips, 38.

[7] Ibid, 39.

[8] “Peter uses an astonishing variety of expressions for the coming salvation of the end-time. (for example, “a living hope” [1:3], God’s “wonderful light” [2:9], “the gracious gift of life” [3:7], “inherit a blessing” [3:9], “crown of glory” [5:4], and “eternal glory” [5:10]. (Kistemaker, 44)

[9] Num 32:19; Deut. 2:12; 12:9; 25:19; 26:1; Josh 11:23; Ps 105:11; Acts 7:5

[10] Simon J. Kistmaker, New Testament Commentary, Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Book House, 1987) 43.

[11] Max Anders, Gen. Ed., Holman New Testament Commentary, 1&2 Peter, 1,2,3, John, Jude (Nashville, Tennessee; Holman Reference, 1999) 8.

[12] R.C. Lenski, The Interpretation of 1 and 2 Epistles of Peter, the three Epistles of John, and the Epistle of Jude (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1966) 34.

[13] Thomas R. Schreiner, The New American Commentary, 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman Publishing, 2003) 63.

[14] Phillips, 47.

[15] Anders, 8.

[16] Lenski, 36.

[17] Kistemaker, 44.

[18] Revelation chapters 2-3 seem to indicate that there are angels for each church? Are there angels that stand guard for churches today?

[19] Allen, 151.

[20] Ibid, 9.

[21] Thomas R. Schreiner, The New American Commentary, 1,2 Peter, Jude (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003) 67.

[22] Lenski, 40.

 

Malachi 1: How Do You Respond to God’s Love?

*The following is an approximate transcript of a sermon given on 5-15-2016 at First Baptist Church, Valdosta, GA.

How Do You Respond to God’s Love?

Malachi 1

There is a story about an old village in Spain. The people of this village heard the king planned to visit there. No king had ever done that. So naturally, they became excited and wanted to offer a great celebration that would show their adoration and that would honor the king. But what could a village of such poor people offer?

Someone proposed that since so many of the villagers made their own wines, they could offer that to please the king. And they each decided that they would all take some of their best wine, and combine them as a gift for the king.

On the day of the king’s arrival, they all came to the village square early in the morning with a large cup of their finest wine and poured their offering into a small opening at the top of a large barrel. They were excited to see the king enjoy the best wine he had ever tasted.

When he arrived, the king was escorted to square where he was ceremoniously presented with a silver cup and invited to draw wine from the barrel. He was told the villagers were delighted to have him taste the best they had to offer.

He filled his cup from the spigot. And when he drank the wine, to his surprise he tasted only water. Had some miracle-worker turned wine to water? Had someone stolen all of the wine that was meant for the king?

No. Each villager had reasoned, “I’ll withhold my best wine and give water. There will be so many cups of excellent wine poured into the barrel that mine will never be missed.” After all was said and done, the king was left with a town full of people who simply went through the motions of showing their love and admiration for him.[1]

In Malachi the people of God were just going through the motions of worship and service. Their attitudes were bad and their hearts toward God were hardened. How are you responding to the full and complete love of God for you? How is the understanding of what He has done for us affecting how you live?

Prayer – Lord help us to see how you view our worship. Let us put aside our preference, cultural trappings and expectations, and truly show us your heart and how we should approach you. You alone are worthy to be praised and worthy of our worship. Forgive us for when we approach you in a half-hearted and ungrateful posture.

Malachi 1:1-5

The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “2 I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ˜the wicked country,” and ˜the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

I. Israel’s Reaction To God’s love — #1 Questioning of God’s Love

The Lord begins by telling his people that he loves them.[2] The tone of the book is set in the opening verses. It is their reaction to this love that causes the oracle to be given, and the book to be written. Israel’s reaction to God’s election is not one of humility or thankfulness, instead they are arrogant and indifferent toward God’s love and favor.[3]

God’s people have a rich history of how He has loved them. Just to name a few:

  • They were chosen among all the people’s of the earth to be the receivers of His Word.
  • They have been protected from their enemies; winning impossible victories against them.
  • Escaping from slavery in Egypt.
  • Guidance as a pillar of smoke and fire through the wilderness (manna, quail, etc).
  • Even in their rebellion and cycles of sin, the Lord disciplines them, but always brings them back close to Himself.
  • Their plants and livestock prospered. When there were droughts and plagues it was a result of the people’s sin, and God always sent a prophet to warn them ahead of time.
  • God sent prophets, judges, and leaders to guide them through difficult times.

In spite of this unprecedented display of love, the people say, “How has God loved us?” As if all of the historical accounts of his mighty hand were not enough, they wanted more. It is amazing how, even with the presence of God in our lives and our seeing Him work, that we grow complacent and apathetic. We always want more.

The Lord then gives the examples of Esau and the city of Edom. Jacob (Esau’s brother) sinned against his family, went away, and was disciplined. He then returned home with God’s love and was able to be restored. The book was originally written to the descendants of Jacob. They were the people that God forgave, disciplined as a child, and loved again and again.

Edom were the descendants of Esau.[4] The city was destroyed, whereas Jacob was disciplined but shown God’s grace and love again and again through the generations. God’s people are confusing discipline with hatred or destruction.

“but Esau I have hated” is a hyperbole where the author chooses exaggeration to make a point, God favors Jacob so much over Esau that it appears as though it is hate, the difference is so great.

Upon returning from exile they are questioning if God loves them or is seeking to destroy them. This doubt and lack of understanding of God’s love is resulting in inauthentic and insincere worship. Whenever there is ingratitude or a lack of recognition of God’s love in a person’s life there will be the inevitable moral decline.[5]

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19

The only acceptable response to this complete and full love of God for His children is one of whole-hearted obedience and genuine worship. God’s people are unwilling to see that He has favored them, while rejecting others. Their response is one of questioning, question after question. Malachi then goes on to show how their worship of Him and relationship with Him is unacceptable.

II. Israel’s Reaction to God’s Love –  #2 Overlooking Sin, and Settling for Less than the Best

6A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ˜How have we despised your name? 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.

God uses the description of Father and Master to describe his relationship with His people. They should show honor and reverential fear. Instead, their reaction and response to God is to despise His name.[6]

The reaction to being told that they are not honoring or showing respect is a demand of proof. They are then given the examples of polluted food and a polluted attitude.

The priests regarded the Temple service as a miserable job, and performed it with contempt (i.e. “weariness”). They are doing their duty with no attention to important details and with a horrible attitude. They were well aware of the requirements of the law, but were not following it.[7]

If they were to behave or do their duties in such a way for an earthly king they know what would happen to them? They were offering it to the “Lord of Hosts.”[8] The Lord says it would be better to shut the doors and not have worship than to have this parody of true worship. The priests were not bringing the animals to sacrifice, but were allowing the people to offer “polluted” animals instead of their best.

III. Israel’s Reaction to God’s Love – #3 Bad Attitude in Service, Insincere Worship

9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 13 But you say, “What a weariness this is,” and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

In 1 Samuel 13 king Saul is concerned that Samuel the prophet was not slow in arriving. While Saul was claiming to seek the favor of the Lord and to have Him go with them into battle, he ignored the proper way of doing it (which was for a priest to offer the sacrifice). Saul is indifferent to God’s receiving of the act of worship, only in it being done. He seems to see worship as a formality and of having no power; it has to be done before the men can go to battle. He figures he can just slaughter the animals, wave his hands, say a prayer, and get on with the fighting (the real way that they will win the battle).

1 Samuel 13:12 — “Samuel said, ‘What have you done?’ And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.’ 13 And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.'”

In Malachi 1 the table of the Lord is polluted because the priests do not understand that the favor and presence of God is directly related to the authenticity of their worship. Worship involves sacrifices and a turning of the heart away from the world and toward God.

Their reaction to this highlighting of their lack of concern for their worship services is for them to say “What a weariness this is, and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts.’ This is tedious, tiring, shouldn’t God just receive whatever I give Him? The answer is a clear no. He does not want your leftovers, the second best (that includes time, possessions, family, talents, excitement, energy, etc.) He wants your heart to respond to His love and for your worship and relationship with Him to be real and genuine.

Verse 10 shows us that God would rather someone just close the door and to have a room full of people that give insincere and false worship. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

The people are returning from exile, “ the Assyrians had attacked and carried them off into captivity and slavery because of their sinfulness and unwillingness to listen to prophets. God allowed the Temple to be destroyed. Now they have been allowed to return to a desolate land after a period of discipline, they must rebuild everything. But even before the Temple itself is rebuilt their worship has already become hollow.

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ are also people who have returned from being slaves and captives. We have been released and are now free to worship our Savior. Are you questioning if God really loves you? Look to the cross. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world . . .” “There is no greater love than this, that one would lay down his life for a friend.” But we were not friends with God, “ we were at war with Him. But He loved us anyway.

What does your worship look like?

*** another point that I did not get to that is worth thinking about:

In the end, the Lord is great and His name will be praised all over the earth. While this may draw the church toward missions and a desire to share the gospel with the world, it is genuine worship that the Lord desires. Missions and evangelism will soon pass, but worship of the Lord will continue throughout all of eternity.

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” [9]

_____________________________

[1] http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-sermon-central-staff-stories-honor-hypocrisy-dishonor-76905.asp

[2] The people had just returned from exile and are being challenged to rebuild the Temple (Haggai and Zachariah).

[3] The Broadman Bible Commentary, Hosea-Malachi, vol. 7 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press) 374.

[4] Genesis 36; Numbers 20:14-21; Psalm 137:7

[5] Romans 1:18-31

[6] Duet. 14:1; Lev. 25:55

[7] Duet. 15:21

[8] The phrase Lord of Hosts is used 24 times in the book of Malachi indicating the importance of understanding His high place of authority and control of the Hosts of heaven.

[9] The New American Commentary, Haggai-Malachi, vol. 21A (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishing, 2004) 286.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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