The sermon opens the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, addressed to the remnant of Israel living under Persian rule. The preacher explains that Malachi's name means "my messenger," and that, like many prophets, he delivers a message that is bitter before it is sweet. The congregation had returned from exile, yet their circumstances remained hard: poor harvests, foreign rule, and an absent king. Beneath their outward worship, the people nursed a bitter, unspoken accusation against God — that he no longer loved them. Malachi 1:1-5 exists to answer that accusation.

The sermon walks through God's opening declaration, "I have loved you," and Israel's skeptical reply, "How have you loved us?" It notes that the Hebrew grammar behind "loved" is not simple past tense but conveys a love that began in the past and continues into the present — God is not merely recalling old affection but asserting a love that still stands. Rather than ignoring their silent complaint or ending the relationship, God patiently answers it, which the sermon holds up as itself an expression of covenant love: a God who did not have to explain himself chooses to do so.

Instead of pointing back to the exodus or the wilderness provision, as one might expect, God proves his love by contrasting Israel's restoration with Edom's ruin. Both nations were destroyed by war, yet only Edom is described as leveled beyond rebuilding, its land left to jackals, "the country the Lord is angry with forever." Israel, by contrast, was allowed to return, rebuild the temple, and even fortify Jerusalem's walls under Persian favor. The sermon insists this differing fate is not because Israel was more numerous, more moral, or more deserving than Edom — Deuteronomy 7 is cited to show Israel was chosen simply "because the Lord loves you," with no further explanation given.

The sermon then traces this love back to its origin in Jacob and Esau, twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Citing Genesis 25, it stresses that God chose Jacob over Esau — the younger over the older — while both were still unborn, before either had done anything good or bad. This, the sermon argues, is the pattern of grace throughout Scripture: God repeatedly chooses the weaker, younger, and poorer to display kindness that cannot be traced to merit. Grace is defined plainly as "kindness that is undeserved," illustrated by the image of a meal cooked and given freely to someone who cannot pay and has done nothing to earn it.

Two objections are addressed directly. First, does God's prior choosing make human choices meaningless? The sermon answers that Scripture holds divine sovereignty and human responsibility together without contradiction, pointing to how God's choice of Jacob was worked out through Esau's own despising of his birthright and Rebekah's scheming — real human decisions, freely made, yet woven into God's predetermined purpose. Citing theologian Herman Bavinck's line that "mystery is the lifeblood of dogmatics," the sermon urges the congregation to trust what God has revealed (Philippians 2:12-13 — work out your salvation, because God is at work in you) without demanding to fully comprehend what he has not.

Second, is it fair for God to love some and, as the text says, hate Esau? The sermon argues that divine hatred, unlike human hatred, is untainted by sin — it is the necessary counterpart of holy love, since one cannot truly love good without hating evil (Isaiah 61:8; Psalm 11:5 are referenced). It contends that fairness, applied consistently, would condemn everyone; Romans 9:29, quoting Isaiah, is used to show that without God's preserving grace Israel would have fared no better than Sodom and Gomorrah. A story about theologian R.C. Sproul granting his students grace on a deadline, only for a group who received it twice to later demand it as a right, illustrates how grace, once presumed upon, ceases to be recognized as grace at all. The point is that Israel's survival, not Edom's judgment, is the real wonder of the passage.

The sermon closes by locating the ultimate proof of this love at the cross. Jesus, though truly innocent, cries "My God, why have you forsaken me?" — bearing the very abandonment that Edom and Israel both deserved, so that those who were once like Edom, outside the covenant, are grafted in as sons of Abraham by faith. Quoting Romans 8:32, the sermon reasons that a God who did not spare his own Son for us will certainly not withhold anything else needed for our good. The preacher urges the congregation not to measure God's love by circumstances — harvests, health, unmet longings — but by the cross, and closes with the theme that gratitude for undeserved love, not performance, is the true foundation of obedience.

Bible Verses Used

• Malachi 1:1-5: The sermon's central text, in which God declares his love for Israel and contrasts Israel's restoration with Edom's permanent ruin as proof of that love.

• Deuteronomy 7:7-8: Cited to show God chose Israel purely because he loved them, not because of their size or merit.

• Genesis 25:23: Used to establish that God chose Jacob over Esau before either was born or had done anything, illustrating unearned election.

• Philippians 2:12-13: Applied to show believers work out their salvation because God is already at work in them, holding sovereignty and responsibility together.

• Isaiah 61:8: Referenced to show God's love of justice necessarily includes hatred of wrong.

• Psalm 11:5: Cited alongside Isaiah 61:8 to show God's hatred of the wicked is holy, not sinful.

• Romans 9:29: Quoted (via Isaiah) to argue that without God's preserving grace, Israel would have been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.

• Romans 8:32: Used to conclude that a God who gave up his own Son will graciously give his people all things.