Let's take our Bibles, please. This will help us a lot to have
some extra time, but I won't abuse my privilege, Lord willing, anyway, if He'll
help me. To the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi 3. We're going to read that chapter, which
is only 18 verses in length. But there's an issue that is
addressed in Malachi 3. I don't know how religious people
were in Malachi's day, but I have a good idea that they're about
as mean and hateful and bent on getting their way as they
are today. Human nature is pretty much the
same wherever we find it. And this chapter can certainly
offend. I hope it does. I hope it does
to me as well as you. Malachi chapter 3. The Lord is speaking concerning John the Baptist being
the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, I will send my
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me And the Lord
whom you seek, the Messiah whom you are expecting, shall suddenly
come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom
you delight in. Behold, he shall come, says the
Lord of hosts, but who can abide, I rather substitute the word
can for the word may, but who can abide the day of his coming? And if you're any kind of Bible
reader at all, surely you must be familiar with Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. And the Lord Jesus was not the
most popular feller in his day. He didn't tell people what they
wanted to hear, he told them God's message concerning himself
as the only Savior of sinners. Who may abide the day of his
coming, and who shall stand when he appears? For he is like refiner's
fire and like fuller soap. And he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness." That is, to bring to God a righteous
offering. Do you understand? A righteous offering. This very hour, this very day,
people virtually everywhere in the world are bringing God some
tokens, and He won't have it. I know the preacher's going to
say, God accepted it, He'll bless you for it. If you will give
it, you'll get more back, you'll never miss it. All this kind
of stuff. An offering in righteousness. Now, I hope you know, I know
that most of you know, I hope all of us know, that the only
righteousness that God will accept from me and you is the very righteousness
of Christ. The imputed righteousness of
Christ. And here in the Old Testament,
of all places, we have this very issue that is addressed in many
places in our Bibles in the New Testament. Verse 4, if these persons bring an offering
that is righteous, holy, acceptable to God, then shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem Be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days
of old and as in former years. And I'll come near to you in
judgment, and I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers
and against the adulterers and against the swearers and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the
fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right And
fear not me, says the Lord of hosts, for I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." God cannot change. He's not ever
changed and He never will change. Whoever is God is absolutely
complete. Absolutely perfect in everything. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Verse 7, even from the days of
your fathers you are gone away from my ordinances and have not
kept them. Return unto me and I'll return
unto you, says the Lord of hosts. But you said, we don't remember ever leaving
you. You said, where in shall we return? We haven't done anything that
we need to amend or change or get rid of. There's just all kinds of applications
to that statement. Wherein shall we return? Here is my title for today, Will
a Man Rob God? And the answer is a resounding
yes, we will. Matter of fact, we do. We have,
we do, and we will. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you
say, wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse.
For you have robbed me even this whole, as in entire, nation."
The whole nation? Now you just substitute America
and stick it right there in that verse and you'll be dead right. You're cursed with a curse, for
you have robbed me. even this whole nation. Bring you all the tithes into
the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove
me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open
you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I'll rebuke
the devourer for your sakes, And he shall not destroy the
fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field, says the Lord of Hosts. And all
nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a delightsome
land, says the Lord of Hosts. Your words have been stout against
me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken
so much? against you? Now, which one is telling the
truth? The one that is denying it, or the God who is expressing
this? He is the truth. He is the truth. Why have we spoken so much against
you? And here it is. Don't you realize that this man
Malachi must have often fled for his life? And in the Jewish kingdom at
least, he's a hated and despised man, because these few short
chapters that make up this prophecy of Malachi is full of these very
things. He accuses the priesthood of
taking animals that had defects and disease and offering it as
a sacrifice to God. Whereas that Passover lamb that
Ed was talking about this morning had to be watched for several
days to make sure there was not so much as a blemish on that
animal. Yet you know and I know that
the animal or its blood cannot put away sin, but it pictures
and represents our precious Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
whose blood washes away our sin. And that's the only means by
which we can part with our sins. Alright, let's read these two
verses, 14 and 15. You have said, this is God putting
words on our tongues, You have said it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we
have kept His ordinance? And that we have walked mournfully
before the Lord of Hosts? And now we call the proud happy,
and religion still does. Right now, this morning, preachers
are engaged in that very same business. And I ought to know I used to
do it myself. We call the proud happy. Yea,
they that work wickedness are set up. Yes, they that tempt
God are even delivered, are declared to be delivered from their sins. Then they that feared the Lord. There was a generation of believers
during Malachi's day. They that feared the Lord spoke
often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance Now, don't put too much stock
in this book of remembrance. God doesn't need anything to
remember. We're the ones that have problems
with remembering, especially certain things, things that we
want to put out of our mind and our thoughts. A book of remembrance was written
before him For them that feared the Lord, and that fought upon
his name." In the Bible, many times and many places, God is
spoken of using human terminology, and this is certainly one of
them. If you want the big term, it's anthropomorphisms. Speaking of a book of remembrance,
being written for God. Verse 17, And they shall be mine,
says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,
and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves
him. Then shall you return. And watch what changes now in
regard to the Lord's people, then shall you return." Return
where? To the Lord. And be able to distinguish between the righteous and the
wicked. Now, you can go to the bars and whatever unseemly things take
place on a daily basis in America, and every other continent for
that matter, every other nation. That's not where the biggest
sinning is done. The number and severity of sin
is in religion. That's exactly where it is. Man has figured out how he can
manipulate God and use Him to his advantage, and he thinks
that's the real God. But my soul, he can't spend much
time in this book where he wouldn't be able to sleep at night because
his God is not in here in those terms. Then shall you return
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serves God and him that serves him not." And the top of the
ladder in that list is preachers who don't know God, who do not
know Christ, and are lost as they were when they came into
this world. And I've been there and done that. Alright, so let's go back over
here and find our title back in verse 8. Will a man rob God? Let me ask you to turn to a certain Let's see, I've
got some printed stuff in here. But I want you to see this, even
though I've got it printed. We're already in the Old Testament,
so we're going to go to our left, and we're going to go all the
way past Psalms, and we're going to go past Job. We're trying to find the prophecy. of Ezra. Well, how about that? I had it
marked. Ezra is God's prophet. You go
ahead and find Ezra. I'll just talk to you a little
bit while you're finding out where it is. the children of Israel in captivity
in Babylon, and God's prophet is among them. And when Babylon conquered Judea, and especially Jerusalem, brought all the things that were
gold and silver and precious, as far as value is concerned,
all the way back many hundreds of miles to Babylon. And now the time of their release
under a different king, he's turning them loose to go back
to Jerusalem and Judea, and he's going to enable them to rebuild
that temple and give them all of this stuff that was stolen
from that temple. And Ezra has talked to this king,
and he has spoken of God in such a way that here he is charged
with delivering all of these valuable things. No telling how
many crooks are going to be on this road. People who would think
nothing of killing you in order to have at least part of it,
if not all of it. So Ezra has told this king in whatever
talks he had with him. Let me just read you what he
says here. Did you find chapter 8 of Ezra?
Beginning at verse 22. The time has arrived now for
them to take these things back to Jerusalem, I suppose in a
wagon pulled by horses or something, I don't know. That's immaterial. Verse 22, Ezra chapter 8. Ezra says, I was ashamed to require
of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against
the enemy. in the way, because we had spoken
unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for
good that seek him. But his power and his wrath is
against all them that forsake him." Now, is that really, really,
really true? Or is that just some fancy idea
in our minds? Do you mean to tell me, preacher,
that the God of heaven and earth comes down here and does things
for his people that nobody else can do? That's exactly right. And he's against all them that
forsake him. For what did they do? So we fasted
and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us. Now that's when a fellow really,
truly, honestly believes what he claims to believe. When he's willing to risk everything just so that pagan king will
understand that their God, Ezra's God, is one who safeguards his
people. And he's still in that business
right now. So just in this matter of robbing God,
you heard me read in that third chapter of Malachi about the
tithes and offerings and so forth and so on. But I'm here to tell
you, it ain't got nothing to do with money. It's not how much you give or
don't give. The real crux of the matter when
it comes to robbing God is robbing Him of His glory. His glory. Do you understand that? Today's religion wants your money.
God wants your heart and he'll get it. He won't wait for us to bring
it, he'll get it himself. So let's talk about this matter
of God's glory being stolen. Stolen. I've got it broken down under
several headings, and I will be reasonably quick about it. And then I've got another list
that I won't be so quick about. But where is God's glory now? It is to be found wherever it
is on this globe. It is to be found in the praise
of God. Believers praise God like no
one else. No one else. Even when God does not smile
on us, we have this problem, that problem, the other problem,
financial trouble, medical trouble, whatever. We still believe He's
God and He's sending us what we need, not necessarily what
we want. So remember, I believe we sung this chorus,
didn't we? Yes, we did. Praise waiteth for
thee, O Lord. Oh, I hope this is one of those
places where praise waits for the Lord. All right, the second
heading, all of these beginning with the letter P, The second
heading is prerogatives. You and I cannot limit what God
can and cannot do. We do not control what God does. If you take this book literally,
and we should, He does whatever He's pleased to do. Whatever
pleases Him, He does. So when it comes to this matter
of prerogatives, God taking on himself the right to rule and
reign as he sees fit, our privileges must be viewed
in the light of God's sovereignty. He's sovereign. He does everything
well. We cannot improve it. It's perfect. All right? The third P has to
do with power. Think of that word in regard
to these three words. It was all what power it took
to make this universe and this globe on which we live That, my friend, is power. Power. God expresses that power in creation. And the Lord Jesus is declared
to be, in our Bibles, our Creator. There ain't anything made that
was made that he didn't make. He made everything. Second word. having to do with
power, is the word providence. Providence. Providence is God's
governing this world to suit himself, 24-7, all the time,
every day, everywhere, and everybody. This is who God is. He says he is all-powerful. And if we've got a lick of sense,
we better bow to that. Not only that, it's not something
that we begrudge. It is wonderful. If he has all
power, he governs all things and everybody, including the
devil. I can never forget the day I
heard Scott Richardson say that the devil is God's devil. I never heard that before in
all my days. Stupidity beyond measure. You think you know something
and you don't know anything. It comes secondly in regard to
power, to this matter of divine providence. that God governs
all the circumstances in everything in this whole world. And then this beautiful word
associated with God's power is His grace. His grace. You know this, but I've got to
remind you. TV religion is utter stupidity. If you get your religion from
the television, you ain't got no religion at all. When it comes to robbing God, We would take from him, if we could, you understand,
we can't, but if we could, and give it to other figures, or
names, or whatever. One of the ones that constantly
makes the rounds, in our part of the world at least, has to
do with this character by the name of Mother Nature. She's not a real person, you
understand. It is simply an idea in people's
minds. And they give this false god and false idol more
power than you could possibly imagine. And yet, the real god
is unknown to them. Every time they attribute something
to Mother Nature, they have stolen that from the God of the Bible. And we ought not sit still for
it. When we hear that word, we ought
to scoff at it. Let people know how stupid they
truly are for the use of such things. Oh, I know people say
it doesn't mean anything. doing anything wrong, well, you
just take that up with God, is all I've got to say. I think it does mean something.
For one thing, it means that people who use such language,
and seem to enjoy it, do not know who God is, nor who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. Then there's another woman that
takes center stage quite often, and it is Lady Luck. Lady Luck. The Bible speaks of
rolling dice, and it plainly says that the outcome is of the
Lord. Not Lady Luck. Believers ought to despise that
expression. I'm telling you, if we were getting
stuff on luck, we'd be telling where we'd be or if we would
be. And then there's another woman
by the name of Miss Fortune. I'll just leave that one with
you. Alright, the fourth word is the word performance. It is
the exercise of God's power. He not only is all-powerful,
He expresses that power every single moment of every day. God
simply acts like God. Once in a while you run into
religious people that want to talk about what God can do. And that's problematic. Let's talk about what He's done.
What he's already done. You can believe God can do anything,
but that don't mean you know squat. Then there's the word perpetuity,
which means uninterrupted perfectness. Then there's that word person,
the person of God, the character of God, the attributes of God. Let me read you a statement. Paul was writing to the Corinthians
and he made this statement. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, they're not physical, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every fault to the obedience
of Christ. Therefore, this matter of God's
person, this matter of His character and of His attributes is of utmost
importance. It behooves us to know who God
is, if He is our God. Then there is God's pleasure. He does as He pleases, simply
put. And everything God does, everything
God does, He does it on purpose. It's not ever by accident or
just happenstance. It's always on purpose. Now,
you and I are not built like that. I hope you understand. I think you do. All right, now we come to our second part of this outline. Will a man rob God? And here's how I put it, and
I don't know where I found these
words or if they might have accidentally somehow appeared in my own brain. I doubt that seriously. Will
a man rob God? What is so wrong about me and
God sharing the glory? I can think of several things.
We don't deserve it. And he does. We can't determine. But he does. He speaks and it's done. We might
think if we could live that long a million years and never accomplish
a thing. But God does everything every
day that he wants to do. And nothing can frustrate Him.
No matter who or how many. Nothing. Here's what it says
in Isaiah 42. I am the Lord, that is my name.
And my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. And that includes a little cross
dangling around your neck. That too is an idol. It is an
idol. People worship a piece of wood. If that cross could be found,
can you imagine the people that would flock to that place? And
it would do not anything more or less than damn their souls.
Christ is no longer on that cross. He is in glory sitting on a throne,
reigning and ruling, and he's coming again. Secondly, why can't
God be worshipped with my hands? What's wrong with what I do that
God can't accept it? Hey, how about turning to... Wait just a minute, I've got
to think of it. Acts 17. In verse, Paul is at Mars Hill,
you know, that huge outdoor place where all their gods were on
display and so forth. And just in case they missed
one, they had one shrine to the unknown God. And Paul said, that's
the one I want to talk to you about, the one you don't know. And when he's giving this description
in verse 25 of Acts chapter 17, neither is worship, neither is
God worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything. Now please understand this. God doesn't need me and you.
We need Him. We need Him. Neither is worship
with men's hands as though He needed anything, seeing He gives
to all life and breath and all things. My, what a God that is. We ought not have any trouble
worshiping that God. Then we come a bit further with
this notion of why God cannot be worshiped with our hands.
And this time I read to you from Jude 11. Woe unto them, for they
have gone in the way of Cain. What is the way of Cain? Adam
and Eve had two sons while they were still living in the garden.
One of them was Cain, the oldest of the two, and the other was
Abel. Abel came and brought his sacrifice,
which was the one God ordained throughout the whole of the Old
Testament, a lamb. And God accepted his sacrifice. And Cain brought the fruit of
his hands. He was a farmer. So he brought
fruit and vegetables and so forth. And expected God to accept it. And He didn't. And Cain was so
angry he could have chewed nails in two. And subsequently he killed
his brother. The first two people born in
this whole world. And now one of them is dead.
Because his brother hates God while he claims to love Him.
And God refuses his offering. Woe unto them, they've gone in
the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Horah." Now we come, thirdly,
why does God insist that He does not need me? Why does God insist that He doesn't
need me? Oh, I can think of dozens of
Scriptures. I've got several written here. Let's do Philippians. Oh, I've
got that printed. I'll just read it to you. Philippians
2.13, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. The willing and the doing is
God's willing and God's doing in our hearts, in our souls,
in our minds. Goodness me! It is God who works
in you both in the willing and in the doing of his good pleasure. How many good works have you
ever done in your life? Zero. If you have any good works, God
gave them to you. Ephesians 2 says, Created in
Christ Jesus unto good works which God has I can't even remember
it, I may turn to it. This one just came out of nowhere,
so I wasn't expecting it, but I know where to find it if I
can get my Bible to cooperate. Ephesians 2. Verse 10. We are His, that is God's workmanship. Paul is writing to the Ephesian
believers. Watch this. Created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. which God has before ordained,
that we should walk in them. He gives us our works as His
gift. And there are statements in many
other parts of our Bibles that address the very same issue. At what point am I trying to
make God doesn't need me, I need Him? That's what it is. I need
Him. Lord, we couldn't take another
breath if He didn't give it to us. Yet man is so proud and arrogant,
despises the God of Holy Scripture. So why must God's gospel be so
offensive? Let me read it to you straight
out of 2 Corinthians. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the
savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are being saved and
in them that are perishing. To the one, the saver of death
unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the
many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but
as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." Speak we
in Christ. I started one time to print this
out, and I changed my mind. I thought you ought to see this as it's put into our Bibles. Let me see where I'm turning
here. 2 Kings 8. 2 Kings 8. 2 Kings 8, beginning at verse 7. Elisha is God's prophet at this
point in time. And Elisha came to Damascus. Now Damascus is a city in Syria. And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
was sick. And it was told him, saying,
The man of God is come here. So the king said to his servant
Hazel, Take a present in your hand, and go meet the man of
God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover
of this disease? So Hazel went to meet him, took
a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty
camels' burdens, and came and stood before Elisha and said,
Your son Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to you, saying, Shall
I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go
and say unto him, You may certainly, you may certainly How be it? The Lord has showed
me that he shall surely die." Now watch this. And Elisha settles his countenance
steadfastly on this character named Hazel. He settled his countenance steadfastly
until that servant was ashamed, and the man of God wept. Elijah
himself cried, and Hazel said, Why weep, my lord? And he answered,
Because I know the evil that you will do unto the children
of Israel. Their strongholds will you set
on fire, and their young men will you slay with the sword,
and will dash their children and rip up their women with child."
And Hazel said, here's our problem. You can't talk any plainer with
any man than these words of Elisha. You just can't do it. But this
man is offended. And I'm here to tell you, if
the preacher's message don't offend it, it can't save. I'm
serious. It cannot save. This ain't no Sunday afternoon
picnic. This is a place to meet in, to
find out who God is and who Christ is and who we are, and what His
grace and mercy is in His Son. So in verse 13, Hazel said, But
what is your servant? A dog? That he should do this
great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord
has showed me that you shall be king over Syria. So he departed
from Elisha and came to his master. And his master said unto him,
What said Elisha to you? And he answered, He told me that
you should surely recover. And it came to pass, The very
next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water
and spread it on his face so that he died, and Hazel reigned
in his stead. Now he is offended by what Elisha
said to him, but the very next day he killed his king. That, my friend, is the perfect
religion of this world. Offended because God says you're
a dead dog sinner. And yet, if we could get our
hands on God, we'd kill him. Pull him off his throne and kill
him. Oh, my time is gone. Listen to these few words. Till
to Jesus Christ you cling. By a living faith, doing is a
deadly thing. Doing ends in death. How is a sinner saved? By what
God has done in Christ. It ain't what he does. All right.