Good to have Jennifer with us
this morning. Just to read a couple of verses
beyond where we were in Psalm 102, the first hour, for he hath
looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven did
the Lord behold the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner
and to loose those that are appointed to death, to loose them from
the fear of death, to loose them from the prison of sin. The Lord
looks down from heaven to do that. And that's our hope this
morning, that he will do that. Let's stand together. Tom's gonna
come. lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. He's ransomed us. It's in the
first line of our hymn. We're going to sing the hymn
that's on the back of your bulletin. Let every ransomed sinner sing
and praise the triune God. With grateful hearts your honors
bring, let us extol our God. The father gave his darling son
to ransom his elect. The lamb was slain ere time begun,
for we incurred our debt. In the fullness of time, Christ
came, God's Son in human flesh, that he might put away our sin
and bring in righteousness. Praise God, the Holy Spirit too,
for His almighty grace, who sprinkles Jesus' blood on you and gives
your conscience peace. Behold the virgin's infant child
was Jesus come to save. He was and ever will abide the
God-man who can save. Emmanuel the God-man died and
rose again for us. With his own blood appears on
high and claims heaven for us. Please be seated. Would you please join me in God's
call to worship to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. This week I've been, as you go
through the Bible, how many times God's prophet or preacher has
said, remember. And how many times did Paul say,
put them in remembrance? Well, what God's telling you
is, I'm going to tell you something that you already know. But it's
so important, I'm gonna tell you again, because I fear that
it becomes dull to you, and you become complacent. Well, that's
me. I need to hear it. That's why
we come every week. Verse 16, it says, this is a
covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the
Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them. and in our sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of sin is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ Jesus,
by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest
over the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful, that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. This is the verse Lord's been
piercing my heart on not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so
much more, as you see the day of Christ approaching, I was reading and I, I stumbled
upon a article by brother Henry talking about this assembly of
ourselves. And I'd like to try to paraphrase
it if it's okay. Brother Henry said there was
a small gospel church in a town in the country. And one day the
preacher noticed that one of the members hadn't been there
for several weeks and said, well, I better go check on him. Said
it was a horrible day, cold and wintry. But the preacher went
to the man's house and knocked on the door. The man opened it
and he said, can I come in just for a few seconds and then I'll
leave. I need to talk with you. And
he ushered him in and there was a raging fire in the fireplace. He said, I was so happy to get
in there and get warm. And he said, there was two chairs.
He said, we sat down and neither one of us said anything. And then the preacher. took the
tongs, for you know what that is, and he reached into the fire
and he took out a burning coal and he set it on the hearth and
he put the tongs back. And they still didn't say anything.
But in just a few minutes, that coal, that one coal that was
burning red that he set on the hearth was red no more. And the smoke drifted up And
the coal turned black. And the man says, Preacher, I
got your message. I'll be there next Sunday. Before me are the coals of God. And we pray this morning that
he'll send his servant, Brother Greg, that he'll light a fire
on those coals in Christ. But I wants to see that it's
so much more than just us burning, we burn each other. You understand
what I'm saying? And when new coals come on the
fire, they absorb the heat and fire of the other coals. We're
not here to browbeat or shame anyone to come to church, but
if you're all, I'm sure you're guilty just like him. You know,
I have seen so-and-so in four or five weeks. Wonder what's
going on. It's a fear that they be that
lone coal on the hearth that burns out and dies. That's our
concern. The other coals will continue
on. And I urge you, I will say this
quickly, forgive me if it's true for all of us, but especially
our young people. The treasures of this world are
before you. Pleasure, power, popularity. and it's going to
entice you to come. And the older ones, we were right
there with you. I don't know if you, Robert,
maybe you, Dan, you remember, they used to tell you it's full
of piss and vinegar. You ever remember that? That man, you
were heart-charged. But here's the warning. Many
times those opportunities come, and they'll entice you and tempt
you to forsake the assembling of yourselves. Don't do it, because
your coal will burn out. and die. I want to close with one last thing
that I thought about. The gospel of God's grace in
Christ that God used to save us is the same gospel that God uses
to sustain us. It's no different. So this idea
that I'm saved and I can No, don't forsake this. Stay where
the fire's at. Be where the other coals are
at. I'm looking at some of you that's come here for that. It's
not the same, is it? When you come and join the coals
of God's fire, the Lord keeps it hot and he keeps the fire
of Christ in you. That's why we've assembled this
morning. That's why we're here. And may God bless, and we pray
that he'll bless his word and speak to our hearts. Let us try
to pray if we may. Lord, we confess that we have
no strength nor power within ourselves, that we're totally
dependent on you, Lord, to send your spirit to enable us to worship
you and to praise you and to glorify you and to rest and believe
on and in you. We know you're present, Lord,
We ask that you would meet with us this morning. We pray for
your servant, Brother Greg, and your other gospel preachers,
Lord, that you would speak to their hearts, give them boldness
and confidence to declare you, that your spirit would be on
them to let them gather their thoughts and speak clearly and
concisely. Lord, we plead with you as your
people. Oh, keep the fire of Christ in
us. that you would give us the ability
not only to hear but the faith to believe what is preached this
very morning. And we plead for those who gather
with us that they may become part of the cause of Christ.
Keep us faithful to you and your gospel, Lord, and to love one
another. We ask it for your glory. Amen. Number 296 in the hardback teminal. Let's all stand together, 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here my faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter
and my soul a thirst may be, gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day This my song through endless
ages Jesus led me all the way This my song through endless
ages Jesus led me all the way Please be seated. Adam Cherin
is going to bring special music. This one should be familiar,
but if you'd like to follow along, it's 299. Day by day and with each passing
moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my father's wise
bestowment, I've no cause ? Don't worry your forefears ? He whose
heart is kind beyond all measure ? Gives unto each day what he
deems best ? Lovingly it's part of pain and
pleasure mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord himself is
near me with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares He fain would bear
and cheer me He whose name is Counselor and Bow The protection of His child and
treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. As thy days, thy strength shall
be in measure, this the pledge to me he made. Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord That I lose not faith's sweet
consolation offered me within thy holy word. Help me, Lord, when toil and
trouble meeting, e'er to take as from a father's hand. One by one, the days, the moments
fleeting, till I reach the promised land. Thank you, Adam and Rachel. Will
you open your Bibles with me to the third chapter of Malachi? Third chapter of Malachi. Those
of you that are familiar with this book know where we are,
and many of you have had experiences like me in the past. in religion where false prophets
will use this passage of scripture to try to shame people into giving
more money to the church. That is the absolute very last
thing I want to do this morning. Truth is, we do not give in order
to be blessed. Giving is the blessing. Giving is the blessing. Now, I don't make these comments
by way of apology in any way. I don't ever want to be thought
of someone apologizing for God's word. But I know that there are
people that will be listening that don't know me and they don't
know our church and they may come to the same conclusion that
they've had bad experiences with in the past, thinking, well,
preacher just trying to talk about money. This text does talk
about money, as does much of God's word. And the pattern of
preaching here is to go verse by verse through God's word.
And that forces us to have to deal with everything that God
says, rather than picking our pet peeves and choosing passages
that are easy and passages that we, that we like to preach from.
Um, we, we want to preach the whole council of God. Paul said,
I'm. I'm devoid of any offense to
God because I've told you the whole counsel. So I want to deal
with this passage as God has given it to us. And I want it
to be an encouragement to God's people, um, giving. We don't give to be blessed.
We give because we are blessed. Giving is the blessing, but I've
titled this message robbers and givers. Uh, what's the opposite
of, of robbing the scripture clearly says, look at, look at
me Malachi chapter three, verse eight. Will a man rob God yet
you have robbed me, but you say, where, and if we robbed the in
ties and offerings. Your curse with a curse, for
you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now wherewith saith the Lord of hosts, if I will
not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing,
and there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke
the devourer for your sake, and he shall not destroy the fruits
of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before
the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts, and all nations
shall call you blessed, for you shall be a delightsome land,
saith the Lord. I just want to make a few comments
at the beginning here about money. And those of you that know me
and come here know this is a subject that we rarely discuss. But as
I said, it has a lot of place in God's word. There's much to be said about
it. But I don't want to concentrate on that. us to understand the
spiritual application as it relates to the gospel, as to what it
means to be a robber of God and a giver of grace. So, by way
of encouragement, I would say to all men, if you don't want
to give, don't. Don't. God loves a cheerful giver. You know, it's a grace to be
able to... Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
8, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 7. Therefore, as you abound in everything... He's talking about growing in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers
and sisters, this word is for God's people. It's for God's
people. Last thing I want to do is put
any of God's people under the law. Last thing I want to do
is shame them. Last thing I want to do is try to manipulate them
or anything of the sort. But here's what God says. as
you abound in everything. And God's people do bound. They
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
faith, in utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your
love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. Now the whole
chapter is talking about giving. And he goes on in the next verse
to say, I speak not by commandment. In other words, I'm not. I'm
not commanding you to give. That'd be the last thing we'd
want to do is to give under the duress of a commandment. And
so. I would say what the scripture
says about giving is that we should give proportionately.
We should give of the first fruits we should give regularly. We
should give sacrificially. And. And someone says I want to give. I want to give. But I can't. I'm not able to give. And I would say to that sincere
child of God, there's only one reason for that. Only one reason
for that. You live in a bug of means. And here's what the scripture
says. Every man, according as his purpose in his heart, so
let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth
a cheerful giver. So, the Lord puts the grace of
giving in our hearts and he says, see that you grow in this grace
also. Luke chapter 16, verse 9. says this, make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness so that when you fail, they may
receive you into everlasting habitation. Make for yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness so that when you die, those treasures
which you've laid up in heaven, We'll be there. We'll be there. Where moth does not eat and rust
does not corrupt and thieves do not steal. Now the problem
with our relationship with money is that we haven't made friends
with it. We haven't made friends with it. Friends are giving. Friends are compassionate. Friends
are generous. Friends are free. Friends are
honest. One thing that friends are not is that friends do not
dominate. Friends do not control one another. Friends do not demand anything.
Friends do not manipulate. And friends do not intimidate.
And I fear, I fear that there's too many believers that are being
manipulated by the mammon of unrighteousness. They're being
intimidated by it, and they've not made friends with it. And
my encouragement to you, child of God, the one whom God has
put in your heart a desire to give, is make friends. The world's not friends with
money. No, they're not. Money is their
master. That same passage in Luke chapter
16 says, no man can serve two masters. For either he will love
the one and hate the other, serve the one and forbid the other.
No man can serve God and mammon. The whole world is serving mammon.
Why? Because it's the love of money
that's the root of all evil and money buys what this world has
to offer. It buys pleasure, it buys popularity, it buys power. Child of God, don't get caught
up in that. Don't get caught up in that.
Make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness. Don't let
it manipulate you. Don't let it intimidate you.
Don't let it control you. Don't be in debt to it. That's
it. That's according to God's word
and. I speak those words by way of
instruction. Will God's people give? Yes.
Do God's people need to be reminded to give and taught to give? Yes.
And that's my purpose just now. Is to encourage you and remind
you. Not to be like the world and
be dominated by the material wealth of this world. Now. There is a. spiritual application to this
passage of scripture that goes far, far beyond anything that
we've set up to this point. And it has to do with robbing
God of his glory rather than giving to him praise. This passage
is about robbers and givers. I thought, what's the opposite
of robbing? The opposite of robbing is being a giver. And what do
all men do by nature? All men by nature rob God of
His glory in salvation. And they do not give to God praise
for His grace. They don't do it. And so the
Lord says, will a man rob God? Yeah, every man robs God. And
that's the worst robbery of all. And the sentence for that robbery
is not financial problems. The sentence for that robbery
is eternal separation from God. And so my primary hope and prayer
and concern for you and I this morning is that God will show
us how not to rob him of his glory. and how to give him the
praise that is due his name. Now we preach about divine election. We declare a gospel that gives
God all the glory of having chosen a people according to his own
will and according to his own purpose in the covenant of grace
before time ever began. And men deny God His sovereignty
when they say, well, you know, I don't know about that, or I
don't agree with that. Men by nature deny the Lord God
Almighty His sovereignty when they rob Him of His electing
grace. There's no gospel apart from
election. If God didn't choose a person,
if God didn't choose every person that will be saved, then salvation's
up to something other than God. And if you're listening to someone
that's preaching a gospel that doesn't emphasize, we're not
talking about just a, well, you guys got a different emphasis,
you guys have a different, you know, no, no, this is the heart
and soul of the gospel. This is the beginning of it all.
And men hear about election and they say, well, that's not fair.
And they rob God of his sovereign grace and fail to give him the
praise and glory that's due to his name for having chosen a
people. He's the potter, we're the clay. He has the sovereign right to
choose from the same lump of clay, some vessels of honor and
some of dishonor. Child of God won't rob God of
that. Won't rob God of that. We believe in a gospel. whereby God's people have been
justified in Christ eternally. We're talking about eternal justification. And men say, well, no, we're
not justified until we believe. My faith is what justifies me
before God. And the scripture says he was
offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our justification. We are justified We are without
sin, we are in Christ before the foundation of the world.
He's the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the
world. We're justified before God, eternally
in Christ. Men say, well, that can't be.
That robs me of my say-so in the thing. Yes, it does. Yes,
it does. It robs you. You see, men are
either going to rob God or they're going to rob themselves. We believe in a work of atonement
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross, a covering
for the sins of God's people, a shedding of his precious blood
to put away the sins of God's people once and for all, and
that it was particular and limited to those whom God chose in the
covenant of grace. This is the gospel. There's no
gospel apart from that. This idea that Jesus loves everybody,
he died for everybody, he wants everybody to be saved, it's not
true. It's not the gospel. Men hear about limited atonement,
and what do they say? That's not fair. And they rob
Christ of his glory in having accomplished the salvation of
God's people, and they say, well, he made an offer of salvation,
but the final accomplishment of it is determined by my will. Men rob God. instead of giving
him what he is due, praise and glory. We believe in a gospel whereby
man has no righteousness whatsoever
in himself. Not only does he have no righteousness,
all he has left to himself is his sinfulness. The scripture
says in Genesis chapter 6 that God looked down from the heavens
and he peered into the recesses of men's hearts and he saw that
every thought and imagination of the heart was only evil and
that continually. That man has no good thing in
himself. And men rob God when they stand
up in rebellion against God and they object to that truth. And they say, well, there's something
good about me. Not before God there's not. Not before God. Don't rob God of His glory. If you confess to God that you've
got something that's meritorious, something that's worthy of salvation,
then you're robbing God of His glory. You see, absolute total
depravity is necessary, just like eternal justification, just
like election, just like limited atonement. These are all necessary
truths to the gospel, but these are the things that men rob God
of. You say, well, that's not true. And they rob God of His
holiness and they rob Him of His righteousness. We believe in a gospel. whereby
our God makes his people willing. He sends his spirit in the day
of his power. He opens the eyes of their understanding. He takes out their heart of stone.
He puts in the heart of flesh. He gives them faith and he does
it unilaterally. He doesn't ask for their cooperation.
He doesn't ask for their permission. He raises them from the dead
by the power of His grace. It's called irresistible grace. You can't say no to it. You can't
resist it. You can't stop it. And men say,
well, what about my will? I've got a decision to make in
this thing, don't I? And they rob God of His omnipotence. And they credit themselves. with
what only God's worthy of. You see, all men in this respect
are either robbers or they're givers. I want you to be a giver
because of the grace and the blessing that comes. But you know what? Every believer
Every child of God is a giver when it comes to the gospel.
They give to God all glory and they will not rob him of that. And every unbeliever robs God. Every unbeliever robs God of
his glory. When men call into question the integrity and the veracity
of God's Word, they rob him of his truthfulness. They say, well,
you know, well, that doesn't really mean that. It means this,
or we're not going to worry about that. Listen, I spent 25 years
of my life, graduated from seminary, preached, studied this book. And when the Lord was pleased
to call me out of darkness into his marvelous light and reveal
Christ to me, he rewrote this book. I can't tell you how many times
going home on Sunday, Tricia says to me, what in the world
did we believe about that before? I mean, that is so clear. That
is so simple. What did we do? We just passed
over it. It didn't fit our gospel. We were robbing God of his glory
and salvation and not giving to him the praise due unto his
name. And so if there was passages
of scripture that didn't fit, we just ignored them or we explained
them away. I'm speaking to you this morning
from personal experience and many of you can relate. To not be thankful for all things
or to accuse God of wrongdoing is to rob him of his goodness
and of his perfection. I know we all have knee-jerk
reactions to circumstances that basically accuse God of wrongdoing. But in the end, when we're listening
right now, the child of God cannot say anything in their life is
wrong. Everything in their life is right. Isn't that true, child
of God? You know it's true. Lord, forgive me for my murmuring
and for my complaining, but I know that everything you do is right.
I would not rob you of your goodness. I would not rob you of your perfection. You see, God's people won't rob
God. And the unbeliever, that's all they do is rob God. To not bow in worship and kiss
the hand that feeds you. bow in total dependence upon
the Lord Jesus Christ is to rob God of his deity, to rob God
of his glory. And the child of God, like that
Syrophoenician woman, says, truth, Lord, and she worshiped him.
She worshiped him. Lord, there's nothing I can do
but worship you. To think that you have anything
that God didn't give you, or that he doesn't own, is to
rob God of his sovereignty and of his deity. And one man says,
well, they're talking about money. You know, I've worked hard all
my life for what I have. I got two things to say about
that. Who enabled you to work hard? And the second thing is,
this world is filled with millions of people that have worked a
whole lot harder than you have and don't have what you have.
You say, well, I was smart with my money. Who gave you the intelligence
to know what to do? And second of all, there's a
whole lot of folks in this world a whole lot smarter than you
are that don't have what you have. Now, where'd you get what
you've got? And who owns it? You see, we don't rob God of
his ownership. We don't rob God of his glory. To think that we have any knowledge
that wasn't graciously given to us by divine revelation. Share the gospel with somebody
that no doesn't believe the gospel and the first words out of their
mouth is, I know. I can't tell you how many times that's happened.
I know. Robbed God of his omniscience. Come to God as a mercy beggar. Come to God not knowing anything.
God's not impressed with what you know. He's not impressed
with what you have. He's not impressed with what
you can do. We go through life impressing
one another, and God says, you thought that I was altogether
such a one as yourself? You think you're going to impress
me like you impress men? I'm not impressed. I'm not impressed
with you. Oh, I'm glad. Aren't you? Ascribing to God glory is the
message of the gospel. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
14. Revelation chapter 14. Verse six, for they have shed
the blood of the saints and prophets and thou has given them blood
to drink for they are worthy. I'm sorry. I'm reading the wrong
passage of scripture. I thought that doesn't go with
what I wanted to say. Revelation 14, verse six. And I saw another
angel fly in the midst of heaven saying the everlasting gospel,
having the everlasting gospel. That's what we're preaching right
now. This gospel is everlasting. Now you remember what everlasting
means? Everlasting doesn't mean it started today and it lasts
forever. It started at the cross, it lasts
forever. It means it's always been. That's
why election is so important. That's why That's why eternal
justification is so important. That's why limited atonement
and total depravity is so important because it has never changed.
It's always been that way. The new covenant is eternally
older than the old covenant. The old covenant was that law.
The new covenant goes back long before the law. And this angel
now comes having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth. And an angel is a messenger.
This book of revelation starts out by talking about the, the
pastors being angels. It doesn't mean they're angelic.
It means they're messengers from God. They bring you the word of God.
That's all we're doing. To every nation and kindred and
tongue and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and give
glory to him. For the hour of his judgment
is come. And worship him that made heaven
and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. Bow before
God and give to him the praise that's due his name. Escape the
nations. Come out from among them and
be separate, saith the Lord. Don't take part in their robbing
of God. God's people don't rob God. Turn back with me a few pages
to Revelation chapter four. Brethren, this is the song that
we're going to be singing for all eternity. Revelation chapter
four, verse nine. And when those beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who say, who
liveth forever and ever. The four and 20 elders, now that's
symbolic language of the church. It's the 12 tribes of Israel,
the 12 apostles of the New Testament. It's the saints of the Old Testament
and the New Testament. All the saints of God are called
24 elders. They're also referred to as 144,000. It's just symbolic language describing
the church. So here's the whole church. This
is all of God's people, and they're in heaven. The four and 20 elders
sat down before him and that sat on the throne and worship
him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before
the throne saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive. You see,
the difference from robbing is to give. What do they give? To receive glory and honor and
power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they
are and were created. It's the content of the gospel,
it's the message of the saints, it's the reason for eternal judgment. Revelation chapter 16. Verse
9, and men were scorched with great heat and blaspheming the
name of God which hath power over these plagues. And they
repented not to give, to give, to give, to give unto him glory. They refused. They repented not. I'm not going to believe that
God is sovereign. I'm not going to believe that
salvation is in God's hands. I will rob him of his glory.
And I will take it unto myself. And the child of God says, Oh
no, not unto us. Oh Lord, not unto us, but unto
thy name, give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth sake. Give unto the Lord. Oh, you mighty
given to the Lord, glory and strength given to the Lord, the
glory due to his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of his
holiness. It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. We give thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken
to thee thy great power And thou has reigned, Lord you reign,
we give unto you glory. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks to God always
for you brethren. I want you to see this passage,
2 Thessalonians 2. Second Thessalonians, this is
a passage of scripture worth committing to, well, what kind
of language is that? All passages of scripture are
worth committing to memory. But this is a summary passage.
This is one of those passages of scripture. Remember when the
Lord said, truly, truly, I say unto you, or barely, barely,
I say unto you? What he's doing is summarizing a lot of scripture
into one poignant point. And that's what this passage
is. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 at verse 13. But we are bound to
give thanks. To give thanks to who? To give. Can a man give to God? Yes. And
give him glory, and give him praise, and give him honor, give
him thanks. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning Now that word beginning refers to everything before time. Time is created. You and I live
in a bubble we call space-time and one day God's going to take
a pen and pop it. And everything outside of time
is where God is. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification and belief of
the truth, wherein you are called by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will a man rob God? Yeah, all men rob God. God's
people rob him? No, Lord. You chose me. In eternity past, you redeemed
me. You called me. It's you that's
keeping me. You're the one that's going to
present me faultless before the throne of God. Lord, to you receives
all glory and honor. I can't rob God. All I can do
is give to God. Hebrews 2, verse 1 says, give
unto God earnest heed to the things which he says. 1 Timothy
4, verse 13 says, give your attention unto God. Give ear, give ear
all ye unto God. Robbers and givers. Paul said that the giving of
our money is the proof of the sincerity of our love. Money
summarizes so many things in life. Scripture has a lot to
say about it. If God causes us to give our
hearts first, he'll release the rest of it. Make friends with the mammon
of unrighteousness. But most importantly, give, give
to God. Don't rob him. It's in man's
nature to rob God and all men are robbers or they're givers. Everybody. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your word and we ask now that your Holy Spirit
would. Would go with us and remind us
of the things that you've said. The things that we have heard.
Give us faith to believe you Lord forgive us. For our unbelief,
we ask it in Christ name. Amen. Number 374, let's stand together 374. ? Jesus calls us o'er the tumult
of our lives ? ? While breathless sea day by day His sweet voice
soundeth ? ? Saying Christian follow me ? Jesus calls us from
the worship of the vain world's golden store, from each idol
that would keep us, saying, Christian, love me more. In our joys and
in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease, still he calls
in cares and pleasures, Christian love me more than these. Jesus calls us by thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear thy call. Give our hearts to thy obedience,
serve and love thee best of all.