God is good, and yet evil exists. How do we reconcile the two?

In today's text, we will see that God intends to judge every last drop of evil. It is only a matter of time. For the righteous, that is welcome news - and for the wicked, it means that a 'reckoning' is right around the corner. We will consider these topics and more in today's study of Malachi 3.

Questions That We'll Answer:

A) Why did God allow His own people to grow so wicked?

B) If they killed the prophets, was a better Messenger coming?

C) What did Malachi tell the people to expect in the near future?

Speaker : Rev. Dr. Toby B. Holt

Questions this sermon helps answer:

1. What is the main issue raised in Malachi: Justice And Injustice, A Reminder (Ep. 4)?

2. How does this passage point listeners to Christ, grace, repentance, and faith?

3. How should Christians respond in worship, obedience, and daily life?

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more Bible teaching at newgeneva.org.

Why does God say He hates divorce?

In Malachi 2:10-16, God confronts His people for breaking faith in their marriages. Dr. Toby Holt explains why marriage matters so deeply to God — and what He means when He says He hates divorce. God charges His people with "treachery" — unfaithful both in marrying those who worshiped false gods and in betraying "the wife of your youth." Marriage is a covenant God designed, picturing Christ's faithful love for His church. That is why breaking it grieves God so deeply. Yet the chapter ends in hope: Christ loves His people with a faithfulness that never fails.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why does God take marriage so seriously? Because marriage is a covenant He designed, and it pictures Christ's faithful love for His church. Breaking it is no small thing to God.

2. What does it mean that God "hates divorce"? He hates the betrayal and broken faith that tear apart what He joined together. He grieves the harm done to families.

3. Is there hope for those affected by broken marriages? Yes. The chapter points to Christ, whose faithful love never fails, and who offers forgiveness and healing to all who turn to Him. "'For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce…' Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously." — Malachi 2:16 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Pastors are not supposed to show partiality - not in what doctrines they teach, and not in who they teach those doctrines to.

In Malachi's day, this was a problem. The Old Testament priests were showing partiality to specific teachings and specific people. And that had made God angry! Click to learn more in Episode 2 of our new series in Malachi.

Questions That We'll Answer:

A) What is the sin of 'partiality?' How was it being committed?

B) In what way did God threaten the priests of Malachi's day?

C) What are the responsibilities of OT priests (and modern pastors)?

Speaker : Rev. Dr. Toby B. Holt

Questions this sermon helps answer:

1. What is the main issue raised in Malachi: Partiality Among Pastors & Priests (Ep. 2)?

2. How does this passage point listeners to Christ, grace, repentance, and faith?

3. How should Christians respond in worship, obedience, and daily life?

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more Bible teaching at newgeneva.org.

How do you know God loves you?

In Malachi 1:1-5, God's people ask a heartbreaking question: "In what way have You loved us?" Dr. Toby Holt opens the book of Malachi and God's surprising answer.

The people had drifted from God and doubted His love. God answers not by pointing to the Exodus, but to two brothers: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." God set His saving love on Jacob before the twins were born — unearned, based on His own choice. He proves it in history: Jacob's line was restored, Esau's nation wiped away.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did the people doubt God's love? They had wandered from Him and measured His love by their circumstances. When life was hard, they assumed God had stopped loving them.

2. What did God mean by "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated"? He had set His saving, covenant love on Jacob by His own choice, before the brothers were born — shaping the history of their two nations.

3. What does this teach about God's love for His people? That it is unearned and rooted in God's grace, not our performance. Because He chose to love His people, His love does not fail even when they stray.

"'I have loved you,' says the LORD… 'Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated.'" — Malachi 1:2-3 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Will there be a temple in heaven?

In Ezekiel 40-48, the prophet is given a sweeping vision of a vast, measured temple. Dr. Toby Holt explains what that future temple really is — and why it is not a building made of bricks. Taken to a high mountain, Ezekiel sees a glorious temple measured out in detail, and the glory of God returning to fill it. It reads like a guided tour, not a blueprint — a picture, not a construction plan. The apostle John saw the same reality in Revelation, where there is "no temple," because God and the Lamb are the temple. The vision points to God dwelling forever with His people.

Questions this study answers:

1. Did the Israelites need a new temple? In the vision, God promised His presence would return — but the deeper promise was God Himself dwelling with His people, not a particular building.

2. Is this a blueprint for a future temple? No. It reads like a tour, not a construction plan. It points to a spiritual reality fulfilled in Christ and His people.

3. What does this teach us about worship? That God's presence, not a place, is the heart of worship. In the end, God and the Lamb are the temple. "Son of man, this is the place of My throne… where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever." — Ezekiel 43:7 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Can dead, hopeless things live again? In Ezekiel 37, God sets the prophet down in a valley full of dry bones and asks, "Can these bones live?" Dr. Toby Holt unpacks one of the Bible's most vivid pictures of hope.

The bones picture God's people in exile, who said, "Our bones are dry, our hope is lost." As Ezekiel preaches God's word over them, the bones come together, take on flesh, and the breath of God brings them to life as a great army. God brings spiritual life through the preaching of His truth. The chapter ends with a promise to reunite His divided people under one King, "David My servant," pointing to Christ.

Questions this study answers:

1. What did the dry bones symbolize? God's people in exile, who felt dead and without hope. The vision answered their despair with a promise of new life.

2. How did the bones come to life? Only after Ezekiel prophesied God's word over them. It shows the life-giving power of God working through His proclaimed Word.

3. Why was this vision so encouraging? Because it promised that God could revive what seemed beyond hope — and would gather and restore His people under one King. "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.'" — Ezekiel 37:5 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Can God change a hard heart? In Ezekiel 36, God promises to remove His people's "heart of stone" and give them a "heart of flesh." Dr. Toby Holt explains the great doctrine of regeneration — the new heart only God can give. Israel had broken covenant and disgraced God's name, yet God promises to act — for the sake of His own holy name, not their merit. He will sprinkle them clean, give them a new heart, and put His Spirit within them. This is the new birth: we cannot soften our own hearts any more than we can raise the dead. Regenerating dead sinners cost the blood of God's own Son.

Questions this study answers:

1. What is "regeneration"? The new spiritual birth — God replacing a dead "heart of stone" with a living "heart of flesh." It is His work, not ours.

2. Who brings about the new heart? God alone, by His Spirit, for the sake of His own name. We cannot change our own hearts.

3. What happens if we are not regenerated? Without a new heart from God, we remain spiritually dead in sin. The new birth is essential to truly know God. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." — Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Why does pride lead to a fall? In Ezekiel 26-28, God pronounces judgment on the proud, wealthy city of Tyre — and in doing so, gives a startling glimpse of the devil himself. Dr. Toby Holt traces the deadly path of pride.

Tyre gloated over Jerusalem's fall and trusted in its wealth and island fortress. God judges the "prince of Tyre," a human ruler who claimed, "I am a god." Then, describing the "king of Tyre" as a perfect cherub cast out of Eden, the passage reaches behind the human king to Satan himself — whose downfall, like Tyre's, was pride. History fulfilled it precisely: Tyre was scraped bare, left a place for fishermen's nets.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did Tyre deserve God's wrath? Because it gloated over Jerusalem's fall and exalted itself in pride and greed. God humbles the proud.

2. How does this passage point to the devil? The "king of Tyre" is described as a cherub cast out of Eden — language that reaches beyond the human king to Satan, whose ruin was also pride.

3. What happened to Tyre historically? It was besieged and finally scraped to bare rock, becoming a place to spread fishing nets — exactly as Ezekiel foretold. "Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, 'I am a god…' yet you are a man, and not a god…" — Ezekiel 28:2 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

History is filled with false prophets, false teachers, wicked Pharisees, and all manner of religious charlatans. Why would the modern church be any different? Spoiler alert: it's not. God's people are supposed to remain on guard against those that would lead them into apostasy and destruction.

Join us for today's study (from Ezekiel 13) as we learn about about God's judgment on false teachers.

Questions That We'll Answer:
A) What is the difference between a 'real' prophet and a 'false' prophet?
B) Why did the people embrace these false prophets in the OT?
C) How can we be on the lookout for false teachers in our own day?

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Toby B. Holt
Church Website: www.fpcgulfport.org

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when God leaves a church?

In Ezekiel 8-11, the prophet watches the glory of God lift from the temple and depart. Dr. Toby Holt explains one of the saddest scenes in all of Scripture. God shows Ezekiel the hidden idolatry inside His own temple — leaders worshiping false gods with their backs to Him. What is most striking is not God's anger but how long He held back judgment. Faithful people are marked for protection, echoing the Passover, before judgment falls. Then the glory of God slowly departs, moving eastward — the same direction Jesus would later go. Yet God still promises a remnant and a new heart.

Questions this study answers:

1. What does the word "Ichabod" mean? It means "the glory has departed." It captures the tragedy of God withdrawing His presence from a faithless people.

2. Why would God abandon His own temple? Because it had been filled with idolatry and corruption. God will not bless persistent, unrepentant sin, even among His own people.

3. Is there any hope in this judgment? Yes. God promises to preserve a remnant, give them a new heart, and be their God again. Judgment is not His final word. "Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim." — Ezekiel 10:18 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.