Welcome this morning. We're going
to be in the book of Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18. You can go over there and find
your place and we're going to start in the New Testament though.
We need to have some preface to our message from the book
of Numbers chapter 18. I stand amazed many times at
how close the Bible class lesson and the message are. And as Brother
Mike brought out, we are just going through the Bible and here
we are. He's taught about the widow's
mites and we're going to be talking about what it is there in giving
in the book of Numbers chapter 18. Now to preface that, I have
to say this, how liberating It is to be able to just trust the
Lord, to trust the Lord with salvation, to trust the Lord
that He will save whom He will at the appointed time. And it
is not my business to get involved in that. I used to think it was. I found out in salvation it isn't.
It's God's business. Only he can give the new birth. It is my business to be faithful
to God's word. It is your business to be faithful
to God's word. That is our business. We must
be faithful to God. And that is in preaching his
word, we must be faithful to God. In living his word, we must
be faithful to God. So as we look here at Numbers
chapter 18, would you join me first of all, keep your finger
there, put a marker there. We will be there, but turn with
me to the book of John chapter three. There must be something
said before we get into the subject of giving. As we find there in
the book of Numbers chapter 18 and many other places. We find
that God must work a work of grace. That song we sang out
of the green hymnal, I don't know if we've ever sang it before,
but I tell you, it stirred my heart that this man knew something
about the gospel. Here, we read in John 3 that
the Lord is speaking to a very religious person, just like you
and I are before we are born again, very religious. and he
shares with this very religious man that is afraid to talk to
him during the day for political and religious reasons. He is
a leader among the Jews. And if he is caught talking to
this teacher that has come on the scene, if he is seen, he
is going to be ostracized. So he comes at night, thankful
to God Almighty that he would even draw him at night, that
he would bring him to him at night. This is a divine appointment.
And in John chapter three, turn there with me. We've read this
many, many times. You've read it. We've heard preaching
on it. But in John chapter 3, we find the Lord Jesus Christ
dealing with this very religious man and he's sharing with him
what you have is not it. The dress you have is not the
dress that you need. The words you have are not the
words that you need. The life that you have is not
the life that you need. You haven't got the first start.
You haven't been begun yet. You are religious, you have all
the religious preparations and you're here to visit with me
and I am going to be faithful to the word of God and I have
to share with you that what you have is absolutely worthless
in the eyes of almighty God. And then he shares with us in
John chapter three and verse three, the scriptures here share
with us these words. Jesus has answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, truly, truly, amen and amen. He says, ye must
accept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. All the stuff you have is not
this. All the stuff you have learned is not this. It is not
the new birth. And you will not get the new
birth by having this stuff. And then if you'll drop down
with me there in verse seven, it says, marvel not that I said
unto thee, ye must be born again. Now he never tells him how this
is gonna take place. You know, when you have a child,
we never discuss how that baby's gonna grow in the womb. That's
the business of God. But it must happen before there
is going to be birth. And the same is true from a spiritual
context. Now back up with me in the book
of John to chapter 1 and verse 13. As we look at the preparation
that goes into what God intends for us to do with what we have. God must give us a new attitude
towards God. God must give us a new attitude
towards sin, and He does this in the new birth. He gives us
a new attitude about God Himself. We see Him as the Almighty, the
Sovereign King of the universe. We see Him as the Sovereign over
salvation. We see Him as Sovereign over
every aspect of salvation. and it's not by our works of
righteousness in any manner. In John chapter 1 and verse 13,
we read these words that say, In verse 12, it says, but as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born. Now, don't stop at verse 12. Go on to verse 13, which were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man. None of that, Nicodemus, is going
to be of any asset to you when you stand before Almighty God,
even though you're a very religious person. And the same is going
to be true as he speaks to the Israelites, even in the wilderness.
It is not these things that are important. You're not born of
blood. It isn't an inherited thing.
Even though there are certain people believe that if you're
saved, then your children are automatically in the kingdom.
That is not true. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
have all saved brothers and sisters. If anybody ever had the opportunity
of doing for everybody in his family what we would like to
have done in our family, the Lord could have done it, but
if they were not in the Lamb's book of life, he was not going
to do it. He is sovereign over the salvation
of even his own half-brothers and half-sisters. He is sovereign
over the salvation of his mother and of his stepfather. Well,
here it says, we're not born that way. We're not born that
way. You must be born again as we get in chapter three, but
you're not born by inheritance. You're not born by your own will.
And then he goes on to say, and you're not born by the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man. I cannot will you into the
kingdom. And then he goes on to say with
us, but of God. That just puts it in a totally
different realm. We find in 1 Peter. Would you
turn with me to the book of 1 Peter? 1 Peter 1 and verse 23. 1 Peter 1 and verse 23, we find
these glorious words written, and they all are just what was
preached in the Old Testament as well. The necessity of God
doing the work. Over there, he called it, I will
circumcise your heart. Over there, he says, I will give
you a new heart. Here, we say, The New Testament words for it
is, you must be born again. Same thing, dealing with the
same issue. In 1 Peter 1, verse 23, being born again, not of
corruptible seed. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed. You know, when my dad had his
children, they were marked out for deaths. They're born of corruptible
seed. My family started with 10, and
I was talking to my youngest brother the other day, and now
we have six. I have a twin brother that's
the next in line for the boys. I almost wrote and told him,
well, you're next. Corruptible seed. You know, to
be born of corruptible seed does not inherit the kingdom of God. Corruptible seed does not get
saved. that way. It goes on to say,
by the word of God, not by corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
word of God that liveth and abideth forever. So God is in charge
of this great thing. Now, this produces this wonderful
work that God performs in his people that he has marked out
from the foundation of the world, this great work produces something
in them. And in 2 Corinthians 5, verse
17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature
or creation. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 17, let's
just look at that. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 17, these
words are left there for 2 Corinthians, excuse me, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, verse 17. It's quite obvious when 1 Corinthians
doesn't have a verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Now that word is creation. It
has the same merit to it as, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Without counsel, He created the
heavens and the earth. Without any input, He created
the heavens and the earth. And when it comes to salvation,
without counsel, without input, He gives us a new creature, a
new creation in Christ Jesus. And then goes on to say, all
things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Now, I'm still trying to comprehend
some of that all things become new. Now, he does not say all
old things are passed away. Many old things are passed away.
But you know what? I still have this flesh and this
flesh is still sinful. He did not overcome that yet. The time is coming when it will
be overcome. In the resurrection, at the moment
and the twinkling of an eye, He will change this body to be
likened to His glorious body and then we'll know what it is
to be sin free. Now for the moment he saves,
he gives us the Holy Spirit, we have the down payment of our
inheritance, we have the down payment of his complete work
of salvation, but as he shares with you all things are passed
away, but behold all things spiritual become new. There's absolutely
nothing that we carry over, nothing that we bring into this side
of our salvation, of our new birth. Everything is so new. The Bible is so new to us. God
is new to us. A God that we used to try to
manipulate. No, I was listening to a message
that a friend of mine sent me. A man preached a message in 2014
upon free will, and he's preaching against it because there's no
such thing in the Bible. But he said, you know, when we're
saved, we follow what Mary, the mother of Jesus, said. Nevertheless,
not my will be done, but thy will be done. We never go into
our prayer closet and say, Lord, let my will be done. We go into
the closet and say, let thy will be done. I hope we mean it most
of the time. Well, that's what happens. When God does a work
of grace, it is a spiritual, it is eternal, and it is completely
different from anything that can come or be produced physically
or religiously. It is absolutely so different
than turning over a new leaf. doing something religious, becoming
religious. And you know what? That never
lasts. Just never lasts. You can trade
religion to religion to religion, and it never lasts. Oh, we're
doing fine for right now, but when Jesus, the Son, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit saves us in the
new birth, it's eternal work of God. It is eternal. Now in Hebrews chapter 8, twice
it mentions it in the book of Hebrews, that what God is going
to do, the results of the new birth, this is what I'm going
to do for you. And this is going to be so close to where we're
getting into our subject there in the book of Numbers chapter
18. The book of Hebrews, Hebrews shares with us so much about
what was going on in the Old Testament. Here in the book of
Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6, we find that the Lord, through
the writer of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit is truly the author. He
used secretaries, but he's truly the author. I was reading something
the other day and he says he just could not comprehend how
Moses knew all that stuff. It had to be handed down from
word of mouth to word of mouth to word of mouth. He says, if
you just believe what the word has to say, it's the Holy Spirit
that gave him the message. Now, the Holy Spirit was there
present in the very beginning when the world was created. The
Holy Spirit was there in all of those episodes and activities
and everything, and He can give a clear description to a man
2,000 years later about what took place. The word of God came
by inspiration. We don't have to worry about
if they were able to, you know, if I started over here and shared
a message, whispered it in an ear, and by the time it got over
here, we probably wouldn't be able to recognize it. But when
God takes care of it, it's the same all the way through. It's
by inspiration. So here in the book of Hebrews
chapter 8 and verse 6 through 13, we have what the Lord calls
the new covenant, the everlasting covenant. And this is what I'm
going to do. When I save people, when I give them the new birth,
this is the results of it. And this is the glorious results
of it. It tells us here in verse 6. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6,
but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much
also he is a mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. Now there's several things in
that verse of scripture that shares with us that this covenant,
the everlasting covenant, is so much better than the old covenant
because the mediator of the old covenant, Moses, is dead. And
the mediator of the new covenant is alive, sitting at the right
hand of the Father, making intercession for us. It's so much better.
Well, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then there
should have been no place have been sought for the second. For
finding fault with them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, which I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. Now, he's not talking about a
piece of property or a national thought, he's talking about the
church here. This is the covenant he made.
And then he says, not according to that covenant that he made
with the fathers. And when a day I took them out of the, by the
hand and led them out of the land of Egypt because they continued
not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. So
there's no need whatsoever to ever start that covenant again
and say, this people, is my people." You know what he says? The church
is my people. The church is my people. Now
for a season I had them set aside to demonstrate that all the good
things that I could do for them if I did not give them a new
heart, if I did not give them the new birth, they still wouldn't
follow me if I supplied every bit of stuff they needed. Well,
Now, this is the covenant, verse 10, that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
in their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least unto the
greatest. Now, what does that do for us? If God does that for us, what
does it do for us? so much. There's no end to telling
what God does for his people because we are finite and he
is infinite and he has promised us every spiritual blessing and
he has promised to take care of every need that we have. He
supplies the need for it. He takes care of it. The new
birth gives us a view of God that we never have seen, a love
for God we never had, and a desire about service we never knew. The effects are everything. Now that leads us right into
Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18. It is evident then unless God does a work of
grace, unless God does a work of salvation, unless God gives
them, as the Old Testament turned forward, a circumcision of the
heart, New Testament word is new birth, which means the same
thing, unless God does that, then what people do is out of
obligation. They're trying to earn a position
with God. They're trying to earn a position
and merit. They're trying to merit it. And
this is so evident among the Israelites. They're trying to
merit a position with God. And God says, I don't take your
merit. I take the merit of my son and
I impute that merit to you. I give that merit to you. That's
the only favor that you have with me is because you have the
son. I have given you the son. And
so as we look here in the book of Numbers chapter 18, the last
few verses of this passage share with us that there was a gift
to be given to the Levites. It was called a tithe. And this
is used a number of times in the Old Testament, this term
that is used here, a tent or a tithe. And you know, before
you know it, there's people that have turned that into a very
religious thing. And that's exactly what God said,
don't do. Don't ever turn this into a religious thing. Turn
this in, trust the Lord thing. Trust Him with all you, all yours,
all you have, and all your soul and mind and spirit. And we can
only do that when God gives us a new birth. We'll never trust
Him with all of it. We don't even know how much we
have to trust Him with. It's required in the Old Testament
that you trust the Lord God, trust God with all your heart,
with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your
being. And you think about that, that's an impossibility, because
we can't get there from here in our works of the flesh. But
we have been given that by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Our great high priest has loved
the Father with all of that, and he has given us that love
the same amount. All right, as we go through here,
We find that the Lord is sharing with Moses, there beginning with
verse 24 of this passage, it says, but the tithes of the children
of Israel, which they offer as an Ahiv offering unto the Lord,
I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore, I had said
unto them, among the children of Israel, they shall have no
inheritance and the Lord has spoken to Moses saying, and this
is covered several verses in this passage of scripture, closes
out this whole chapter, is dealing with the subject about what the
Levites get. They get the tie, they get the
10th. As we look at the scriptures,
we find out that many people looked at that as just a religious
ordinance, and yet we find that the Lord never intended for that
to be that way. He is giving that to people that
wouldn't give anyway, but he's given to the church. I love a cheerful giver. And
let's look at this from the Old Testament view. Thirty-two times
is tithe or tithes, or tenth used in the Bible, and eight
of them are found in the New Testament. And we're going to
read each one of those in just a moment. The first time that
we run into this word is found in the book of Genesis chapter
14, when Abraham goes, his nephew is captured, and a whole bunch
of people of Sodom are taken, and Abraham, out of his own servants,
raises up an army. And in chapter 14, goes and gets
his nephew back, and defeats those kings, and he, on the way
back to where he lives, Lo and behold, who does he meet? Melchizedek, king of Salem, king of righteousness. Now what does he do to Melchizedek? He gives a tithe of all that
he has gotten. Now why did he do that? Abraham
realized that this man is even though I'm powerful and I can
raise an army and I can defeat kings, this man is so much greater
than I am. This man, I believe firmly, this
man is the incarnate Christ came out to meet him. Now, if you
don't agree, that's all right. I'm not going to argue about
it, but that's what I believe about it. Either he's a good
picture of it or he is. But anyway, when Abraham met
him, this man Melchizedek came out with bread and wine and they
had a gospel meeting. That's what the gospel is. It's
the blood of Christ. It's his broken body. They came
out there. They celebrated the wonderful gospel. And because
this one who was declaring the gospel was so much more powerful,
honorable, greater, the Lord is so much greater than any of
us in any capacity. That's why he said, I'm going
to give all this to him. Now, one time I asked a preacher,
I said, do you think Do you think for a moment, could you consider
this, that if more money was given and more missionaries were
sent to foreign fields, would there be more people saved? You
know what his answer was? Yes. If there was more money
and more missionaries, there would be more people saved. I
said, you do not believe that. Oh, yes, I do. I said, no, you
don't. If you believe that, there wouldn't be a dime in your savings
account. You have spent all to do what
you just said needed to be done. They don't believe that. We find here in the scriptures
that God loves a cheerful giver. Now let's back up in the book
of the law, the book of the law Leviticus. First chapter of the
book of Leviticus. When we went through here many
years ago, and sometime we're going to go
again. But in Leviticus chapter 1, in
the book of Leviticus, there's many, many sacrifices made. People are touched. They bring
a lamb or a goat or a heifer or something, and they presented
to the priest and an offering is made because they've done
something. There was even if you thought
about committing a sin that you didn't even know about, there
was an offering for that. And my goodness, how often we'd
be there if that was the case. I didn't even know I did that.
I don't know I'm doing it. But the Lord said, if you come
to the conclusion, there is a sacrifice for that I want you to do. Now,
I don't believe that there were many of those sacrifices. I don't
believe that there were many sacrifices at all, because nobody
would bring them unless they had the need to. Now, notice
here in the book of Leviticus chapter one and verse three,
Leviticus chapter one and verse three. If his offering be a burnt
sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish.
He shall offer it," what does it say here? "...of his own voluntary
will." God never wanted any of those
sacrifices that was by people out of necessity. He wanted those
sacrifices out of voluntary will. Now, who had that? Who had a
voluntary will to do this? If you had raised this lamb and
it was worth 10 shekels to somebody else, you certainly wouldn't
be bringing it. And we find out that there were people that were
doing that. They brought the worst they could possibly bring
because they couldn't sell it. Now, that's not out of voluntary
will, that's out of necessity. It goes on to tell us here, it
is of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation before the Lord. Now, we find wonderfully
written for us in Psalm 110 verse 3, thy people shall be willing
in the day of his power. Who brought that sacrifice that's
described there and many other sacrifices? Those who God had
touched. They brought this sacrifice.
It wasn't out of requirement. They brought it out of their
own voluntary will because God made them willing. Let's just
look over here in the book of Exodus chapter 35 for a moment.
Exodus chapter 35. In Exodus chapter 35, We read these words along the
same subject, Exodus 35, verse 5. Take ye from among you an offering
unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart. You know what? God said, if you
don't have a willing heart, you're okay. Just stay back here. I
don't want you. A willing heart. Now, where did
they get a willing heart? How do people get a willing heart
to willingly serve the Lord? And not out of constraint. Not out of, I have to. How do they get that? God said
to the Old Testament saints, I will circumcise your heart.
New Testament, he brings up the same thing, he says, ye must
be born again. And when I give you the new birth,
I give you a willing heart to serve me. What did it say over
there in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8? It said there, I will be your
God and you shall be my people. I will put my law on your heart.
I will take care of all the problems that have been established since
the fall of Adam. Adam exercised his free will
and look what's happened since then. His free will never chose
God after that. His free will never wanted God
to be in his life after that. He ran, he hid, he covered himself
doing all the things that people do of their own free will. If
it hadn't been for God and his free will to save people from
their sins, there would be no one saved and there would be
no willing hearts. Here it says in Exodus chapter
35 and verse 21, same thing. And they came, everyone whose
heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing,
and they brought the Lord's offering. The Lord made them willing. In the day of his power, he made
them willing. And then in verse 29 of that
same chapter, it says this, and the children of Israel brought
a willing offering unto the Lord. Every man and woman whose heart
made them willing to bring for all manner of work and so forth
and so on. It goes, a willing heart. God
had worked with them just like he did with the saints at Corinth
or the saints at Ephesus, the saints in Galatia. He had given them the new birth
and as a result of that, they says, I have such a view of God
now, may I serve him gladly. with my whole heart, may I take
out the requirements that have been imposed in religion, and
may I look at him as one who has loved me with an everlasting
love, one that has called me out of darkness to his marvelous
light, one that has written my name down in the Lamb's Book
of Life before the foundation of the world, one who came and
gave himself for me. And now I have the wonderful
opportunity extended to me to have a willing heart towards
God. Psalm 40, verse 8, would you
turn there with me? Psalm 40 and verse 8. In Psalm
40 and verse 8, we read these words that are so wonderful about
God's activity. And it is God's activity. We
have to attribute it all to the Lord. Otherwise, we'd be like
that Pharisee. And we'll read about him in just
a moment. Psalm 40, verse 8, I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is written within
my heart. Now that could be a statement
about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but it's also a statement
written about every one of his believers, everyone that he saves.
I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. He didn't write the Ten Commandments.
He wrote, trust the Lord. Our righteousness, our sanctification
is not based upon what we do with the Ten Commandments. I
will say this, the Holy Spirit will never lead you contrary
to the Ten Commandments, but God is not going to measure us
by the Ten Commandments. He's going to measure us by His
Son, and His Son kept them completely. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Matthew. There's a few verses in the book
of Matthew and the Gospels I want to read that deal with the subject
of tithing. Matthew chapter 23, verse 23.
In Matthew chapter 23 and verse 23, Jesus is speaking about the scribes
and Pharisees and hypocrites. He says here, for they pay tithe
of mint. Eight times is this word tithe
used in the New Testament, and here's one of them. And it's
not in such a complimentary state, is it? Woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees and hypocrites. Now, if that's the measuring
stick that God has given to you about giving, Amen. I'm not going
to get involved there. I'm just saying the Bible teaches
us that we're going to love Him with a willing heart. All right. It goes on to say, I paid tithe
of mint and of anise and of cumin and have... Can you imagine what
it took for them to do that? to weigh out or count out or
do something with all of these agricultural crops that they
have made and they tie them all in that. And then it goes on
to say, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment and mercy and faith. These ought to be done and not
leave the other undone. In the book of Luke chapter 11,
would you turn there with me, Luke chapter 11. And in verse 42, Luke chapter
11 and verse 42, it says this, but woe unto you Pharisees, for
you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over
judgment and love of God. These ought ye to have done and
not leave the other undone. You've forgotten the weightier
matters. You forgot, well, they didn't have the good start. We
pray that they would have been like Saul of Tarsus, that the
Lord would give them a good start, to give them a beginning to love
God with all their heart. And then the rest of it just
falls into place. There's no need to worry about
it. God is going to work in his people to will and to do of his
good pleasure. In the book of Hebrews chapter
seven, we read about Abraham paying tithes. A wonderful part
about that whole thing is when Abraham paid tithes, he paid
the tithes for Levi. Can you imagine that someone
else would take care of our debt? It's pictured there. Abraham
paid tithes to Melchizedek, and we get reading here in the book
of Hebrews, it's also over in the Old Testament, that Levi
paid tithes in Abraham. Well, who took care of your debt?
who took care of my debt, that is the Lord. And what does he
do? He gives us a willing heart. He gives us a willing heart.
In the book of Matthew, chapter 6, we find a number of things
so mentioned there, and these are really, these are the predominantly
religious activities. Religion has this just down to
the core, and when we read in the book of Matthew, chapter
6, which is part of his great, his Sermon on the Mount, He covers
three things that are very highly religious. In chapter 6, verses
1 through 4, he says, don't let your left hand know what your
right hand's doing. You know, to the Pharisees, we
just read about that in the book of Luke this morning. They're
giving a little bit, but they, you know, it's several coins
as it rattles down to that brass thing down into the pot. Everybody
can hear that's what's going on. That's what they wanted.
Then it dropped in paper if they didn't want to hear something.
They wanted people to pay attention to what they were giving. They
wanted people to hear what they were giving. And here he says,
don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
And then if we drop down to verses six through eight, when he's
talking about praise, he says, don't pray as those guys do. Why do they do it? They want
to be heard. They want to be seen. He says, enter your closet.
I was with a man the other day and we were talking about this
and I said, my favorite closet is right at the steering wheel
when I'm driving. I get to converse with my savior
uninterrupted generally. Then in the last part, chapter
6 verses 16 through 18, talks about fasting and says, don't
you let anybody know that you're doing that. That's between you
and me. That word fasting most of the
time meant shut your mouths. Be quiet. Don't question God. In Acts chapter 20, verse 35,
we have these words. Acts chapter 20 and verse 35. I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed
to give than to receive. We heard read there in the book
of 2 Corinthians 9, every man according as he purposeth in
his heart. Not grudgingly, not reluctantly,
not out of grief or sadness. I remember a friend of my dad's
talking to me many years after my dad passed away, and he came
to work one time at the sawmill, and he was just down in the mouth.
And his friend says, what's going on, Howard? And he says, well,
we had to butcher another steer to feed the family, and I could
have sold it. That's grudgingly. Not grudgingly. And not out of
sadness or of necessity, imposed either by circumstances or law. It's not by necessity. But God
loveth a cheerful giver. Comes from the Greek word, that
word cheerful means, comes to us from the word we get hilarious.
A hilarious giver. You know, and keeping in mind,
don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. For the hardness of their heart,
he gave them divorce. And for the hardness of their
heart, he gave them the law of tithing. But to those he saved,
he said, do it with a willing heart. Do it of your own free will. He owns the cattle on a thousand
hills. Sometimes he just will slaughter
one. As Mike brought out, we don't
take an offering. Wastes a lot of good time. Haven't taken an
offering for 35 and I was talking to Mike this morning, it was
happened before I came here. The Lord takes care of that business
just like he takes care of salvation. He takes care of the business
of the business of this body. This is the second message I
brought on this subject in 35 years. Why? Because I ran into
it. It was right there. Now the Lord
willing, next week we'll go to chapter 19 and look at the red
heifer. Read chapter 19 of the book of
Numbers. Romans chapter 8, let's read
this before we close. Romans chapter 8, verse 32. He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? He shall freely give us all things. If he gave his son. Now that's
one thing about that salvation that God gives. We realize there's
some things become, we realize that everything we have belongs
to him to begin with anyway. It is just His. And if we are
touched to give part back, that's His. It's not out of necessity. It's not out of legalism. It's
not out of law. It's not, none of those things
apply in this subject. I read it in, and you can go
to the online, and there is a place that has come out with 52. How many Sundays in a year? 52.
52 pre-offering four to five minute
long talks already prepared for you. You know what? I'm thankful I don't have to
do that. I'm not going to do that. We don't have to do that. God loveth a cheerful giver.
He hath made us willing in the day of His power to love Him,
and He'll take care of the rest in us.