Good evening and welcome to our
study in the book of Malachi tonight, Malachi chapter three.
If you'd turn there with me, I'd like to read three verses
out of the third chapter of the book of Malachi. We started this
passage of scripture on our last Wednesday evening, but we'd like
to continue. And we'd like to read tonight
Malachi chapter three, verse eight, nine, and 10. Malachi
chapter 3 verses 8 9 and 10 will a man rob God Yet ye have robbed
me, but ye say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings
Ye are cursed with a curse For you have robbed me even this
whole nation bringing all the tithes into the storehouse that
there may be meat in my house and Prove me now herewith, saith
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. Well, last week we looked at
that verse 8, and we looked at this from the context of a spiritual
application and saw that if we don't honor God from a spiritual
standpoint, we're truly robbing him. If we don't honor his character
and attributes, we are truly robbing him. And in this passage
here tonight, in verse 10 in particular, I was just thinking,
how could this verse be written about physical tithing, giving
a tenth of your income, when these Jews that were given this
message were tithing down to the celery seed. I think there
again is a spiritual importance to this passage of scripture.
This passage must be looked at from a spiritual view. Souls
of the truly awakened, regenerated believers bring in revenues of
praise to the bountiful giver of all. When God's Christ is
our Christ and the Lord's Holy One is our Holy One, that's when
we can give spiritual praise to God. That quote is from Robert
Hawker. Believers certainly will not
neglect the privilege to support the ministry, to take care of
the lights, to take care of the heat, to take care of the garbage
collection, to take care to send money to missionaries to support
the pastor. These are all the physical. But
I hope you do not walk into the building and think the lights,
the heat, the garbage collection, the missionaries, the pastor
are the most important thing that goes on here. The preaching
of Christ Paul mentioned we preach Christ and Him crucified. True
giving is an honor to God, even as Abraham gave to Melchizedek,
because Melchizedek was so great. Would you turn with me to the
book of Hebrews? Hebrews chapter 7. In Hebrews chapter 7, the first
four verses, We read this last week, but I wanted to read it
again because it is so important to us and to the proper teaching
about this passage of scripture in the book of Malachi. Abraham
gave to Melchizedek because Melchizedek was so great. In Hebrews chapter
7 verse 1, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings, and blessed him. to whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after
that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth
a priest continually. Now notice verse four with me.
Now consider how great this man was. how great this man was, unto
whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
He could not add to the wealth of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was
king of righteousness, king of Salem, and king of peace. But
Abraham honored Melchizedek by giving him the tenth. We consider
the honor that Melchizedek received from Abraham. Abraham realized
that Melchizedek was much greater than he. And he was very great
in the eyes of all Jews. He was very great in the eyes
of the people of the land where he lived. But Abraham Captain
of his host to defeat those Kings came and honored someone much
greater than he was we we are blessed when God gives us a giving
heart to honor God with it if you'll turn with me to the book
of 2nd Corinthians 2nd Corinthians and there in chapter 9 2nd Corinthians
chapter 9 in verse 7 and We read this last week, but it's so important. We are blessed when God gives
us a giving heart. That's something that comes by
regeneration. And we're not giving to get back. We're not giving because we expect
to trade. We're giving because God has
given a giving and a cheerful heart. 2nd Corinthians chapter
9 and verse 7 Every man according as he purposes in his heart so
let him give not grudgingly or of necessity For God loveth a
cheerful cheerful giver now. I think we could all admit by
nature. We are stingy We don't mind trading
if we can Get come out ahead If I give to God, he must make
good on my investment and give back more. That's generally the
view that natural man has. I'm going to trade with God.
Some preachers have got into real serious problems legally
because they said if you tithe, God will double, quadruple, give
you 10 times more. Didn't happen. They got sued.
The preacher lost. We are stingy by nature and we
expect something out of trade, but we don't have it coming that
way from the word of God. Most preachers preach if you
give 10 cents of every dollar, God will be responsible to open
the windows of heaven and bless you physically. Wrong. God owes us nothing. We as believers have the privilege
of doing the physical, but to neglect the spiritual is robbing
God to His face. We are to honor the Savior uppermost. In John chapter 4 and verse 24,
could we read that verse of scripture together? John chapter 4 verse
24. John chapter 4 and verse 24,
the scriptures share with us this. God is a spirit, and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. We cannot worship God and then
rob him of his glory. He does wonder 100% of the saving. If we do not honor and praise
him for his sovereignty, for his salvation, all of it, we
rob God. The only way we can worship him
is with that spirit that is given to us, the Holy Spirit. In John
chapter 12 and verse 32, John chapter 12, Verse 32, The Lord Jesus said, And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. Now you notice that I left out
the word men. That's in italics. That was added
by the translators. But he will draw all. Now we
know that all he draws is the elect. All he draws is the sheep.
All he draws is the lost sheep. That's his business. That's what
he promised to do. But it says there, and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth. Now to be lifted up is often
translated exalted in the New Testament. We cannot declare
only the Son of Man, but we must declare Him as the Son of God. He must be exalted above the
frame of this earth. as it says there, if I be lifted
up from the earth. Now, no doubt, as it goes on
to share with us, he's signifying by which way you die. He's going
to go to the cross. But from a spiritual standpoint,
these words are very important. We cannot keep the preaching
of Christ in a worldly atmosphere. It must be lifted up above that. He must be lifted up from the
earth. He is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth, not with flesh, not with effort,
not with works, but we must worship Him in our spirit, and that spirit
can only worship Him as we are regenerated. We can only declare
that he is the God-man, the Son of God, Son of Man, and Son of
God. He must be lifted up, exalted
from the earth. As he also said in the book of
John chapter 3, John chapter 3 verse 14, John chapter 3 and
verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now there's a thought about Him being lifted up to the cross,
but He also must be exalted. He must be exalted in His person.
He must be exalted in His character. He must be exalted in His attributes
and characteristics. He must be exalted in His salvation.
He must have the preeminence. And to bring Him down to our
level is to rob Him. To bring Him down to our level
is to rob Him of His glory. And we find that passage there
in the book of Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10, bring all the
honor, bring all the ties into the storehouse. bring them before
Almighty God. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
John tells us a little bit later in that John chapter 3, this
is so important. Verse 30 of John chapter 3, John
said, He must increase, but I must decrease. He must increase. Now, when we honor God, when
we honor Him with our praise, we recognize Him as the only
righteousness, we recognize Him as the only Savior, we recognize
Him as the only sanctification, we recognize Him as the only
hope, we recognize Him as the only rock, we recognize Him as
the only water, the only bread. When we recognize Him for who
He is, what did God say He would do? To honor God, to honor Christ,
to worship the Son, God said, I will open the windows of heaven. Now, I'm so thankful as we read
that, I will open the windows of heaven. Not this earth, but
the windows of heaven. If we think for a minute that
we have been blessed spiritually because we now have physical
wealth, we are sadly mistaken. The Lord Jesus shares with us
in the book of Luke, when he's talking to the rich and ruler,
Luke chapter 18. Let's just go over there for
a moment. Luke chapter 18. To have physical
wealth doesn't mean a thing. A lot of wealthy people, they're
not believers, they're anti-Christ. So many of them, the way they
talk, the way they act, the way they belittle Christ and Christianity,
and yet they're rich beyond any man's imagination. And here in
Luke chapter 18 and verse 24, the Lord said, and when Jesus
saw that he was sorrowful, said, how hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. For it is easier for
a camel to go through the needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. Many years ago, I was handed
a book, and in that book, it shared with me what a camel's
eye was. It was a special door in the
walls of Jerusalem that if you came past hours and the main
gate was closed, if you got your camel down on his knees and took
off the baggage, and you could wiggle him through. Wrong again,
because it goes on to say here, It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said,
who then can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men. He is sharing with us it is impossible. But when it's impossible with
men, The things that are impossible
with men are possible with God. So we're so thankful that part. It's not physical blessings that
signify to us that we have spiritual blessings. In fact, every time
anybody is saved, it is against their own riches, their own self-righteousness,
against their own plans and purposes of salvation. I realize this,
first of all, speaks of rich in our righteousness. every hindrance
we have on coming to God is overcome by God. But having riches doesn't
mean anything. It doesn't mean anything that
we have spiritual. The Lord said that I will open
the windows of heaven when you bring these offerings to me.
This ties into the storehouse when you bring praise and honor
and glory. You're not belittling him in
salvation saying, God's done all He can do. God has got His
hands tied. We have to depend upon our free
will or any of that stuff. When we come as God has us come
in His salvation and worship Him as the true and the living
God, the only Savior, the only Christ, we find out that as it's
written in James, excuse me, James chapter 1, James chapter
1 and verse 17, James chapter 1 verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. So spiritual blessings come from
above. They're not plowed up down here. They're not found in bank accounts.
They're not found in gold or silver. They're not found in
the things that we think are important. Every perfect gift,
every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. The true blessings come down
from God. Spiritual blessings of honoring
the Son with our worship, which only a regenerated person can
do, is many fold. pour you out a blessing that
there shall not be room enough to receive it. Spiritual blessings
poured out on his people. All that is written in scripture
will be that which is more precious, for it will be of God and not
self-discovery, which we like to brag about. Boy, to come up
with some thought. We're thankful that God reveals
his son and it's not us discovering him because we'd be bragging
about that. That no man should glory in his presence. The pastor
who brought me the gospel said everybody wants to be a theologian. They have some important thing
to say and they want to say it and most of them just cannot
sit down and listen to what the Bible has to say about Christ
is the important message. He is the riches. He is the praise. He is the one that Abraham honored. He's the one that all the apostles
honored. He's the one that John honored.
He's the one that Paul honored and praised. He's the one that
Philip honored and praised. He is that, and when we have
that, we are given so many blessings in Christ Jesus. The saints will
know some of the blessings contained in the passages of scripture
that we read as we open up the Word of God. There will be spiritual
blessings flowing out of the passages. There will be passages
that share the goodness of Christ. And so long, they've been nothing
more than historical accounts. But in those passages is the
purpose of Jesus Christ, the righteous. Turn with me, if you
would, as we look at this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
30. 1 Corinthians. chapter one verse thirty we've read this passage scripture
many times we've heard it preached on a number of times but this
is such a blessing when we see this work uh... but of him are
you in christ jesus who have god is made unto us now notice
these spiritual blessings these are the things that god sends
down from glory this is what the holy spirit bears witness
to as we read the word of god Everyone that has been born again
has the blessings of the Holy Spirit leading and directing
them concerning the Word of God. And we will say this right here,
the Holy Spirit does not lead people in different directions
with regard to what Christ and His message is. It is one message,
there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and on
this passage goes that we mentioned, and there's no other message. about it. The Holy Spirit does
not lead us contrary to any other passage of Scripture. This group
doesn't have that message, and another group has that message,
and this group has that message, but there's one The Church has
the message of God's free grace in Christ Jesus that was given
in the covenant of grace before the world began. Now as we read
this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, but of him are
ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. He is wisdom,
he gives his people wisdom, he gives his people the wisdom of
God, some understanding about scripture, not an understanding
of all scripture, but some understanding that this book is about God,
about his son, and about salvation. And he is the, and righteousness,
He is all our righteousness. We have none of our own. It must
be removed. God strips us of that, gives
us a heart to believe, and we understand that our righteousness
is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. These are sanctification. It does away with all of the
finery of progressive sanctification. All that does is promote self.
It promotes Phariseeism. We come to a conclusion that
we're getting better and better, and that's so different than
what we read about Paul or any of the other disciples or the
prophets of old. They realized that they were
not getting better, but they saw themselves as God sees them
more and more, but grace became that much more important. A man
not long ago asked me, how do you measure progress then if
it's not progressive sanctification? All I could answer him is, well,
we're going to find ourselves as Isaiah saw himself, or Peter
saw himself, or Paul saw himself, woe is me, for I am undone. These are the things that we'll
see. He is our sanctification, and we got that. We're learning
more about it. We're growing in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We got
all we're ever gonna get. We just discover how great that
is. You will not be able to contain it. It's what we find over there
in Malachi chapter three and verse 10. The blessings of God
are uncontainable. They're immeasurable. We can't
count them. We can't weigh them out. The
saints will know some of the blessings contained in Romans
chapter 8. Would you turn there with me?
Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And beginning
with verse 28, and the rest of that chapter, what a blessing
these verses are. And God allows us to have some
understanding, some spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. We know, and we know what blessed
thought it is to know these things. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. These things work out for the
benefit and the good of the church, every regenerated one. And God
has regenerated them. He's the only one that can. We
cannot be regenerated from the earth. It's in a dying form. We must be regenerated from above. We must be born again from above.
We must have the blessings from above, they must be from God
to us, and we can't raise them up. We can't plant candy corn
and come out with a crop. So he must do the work. Here
in Romans 8, verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he again is
addressing the fact that as he, he has done it, he foreknew,
he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of
a son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. goes on to tell us these things,
what shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? 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? What great windows of heaven
have been opened to us? What great windows of heaven. God said that. You honor me.
And that can only, we can only honor God after we've been regenerated. We have no ability before and
only after that. And we honor him. Oh, God be
merciful to me, a sinner, as the publican did. And Jesus Christ
said he went down to his house justified. The other guy did
not. He's bragging and he's tithing. bragging about what he's doing.
He's bragging about how much more valuable he is than other
people. I'm not like other folks, especially
this guy right over here. So he goes on to tell us here,
verse 32, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? My goodness. When we consider
how much we sin every day, and then to find out that God has
taken care of everyone, it's a pretty large window that God
has opened from heaven. Spiritual blessings. who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect, and it is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God. He has been recognized as the
successful Savior, the successful Redeemer, the successful A payment
for sin recognized so well that God has him back in his own right
hand, who also maketh intercession for us. Who can separate us from
the love of Christ? I've had preachers say, Jesus
has to make intercession for us all the time and speak up
for us to the Father. My goodness, he's making intercession
for us sitting at his right hand. He is sitting, successful Savior,
successful. He was successful in all that
he set out to do. He came to this earth to give
his life a ransom for many, and he's successful in it, and he's
sitting at the right hand of the Father. That makes intercession
for us. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. Who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
the tribulation going on in the world right now, is that going
to separate us? Or distress? We're in a pandemic
of anxiety. Shall distress separate us, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He
paid the price for our sin, he has successfully won us to himself
and he will lose none. And did you see that in verse
37? And all these things were more than conquerors through
him that loved us. And that's what we found over
there in the book of Malachi, chapter three and verse 10, where
it said there that the windows of heaven, you will not be able
to take it all. It's gonna be so much. Well,
when we have some spiritual blessings from Christ, we have some understanding
of the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36. Would you turn there? The
book of Ezekiel, we begin to read here, and it becomes such
a blessing to the saints to find out all that God did. And he
said, I will. I will. I will. Ezekiel chapter
36 and verse 23. And I will sanctify my great
name. How does he do that? By saving
his elect. By applying that salvation that Jesus Christ won at the
cross. By forgiving our sin. I will Sanctify my great name. I have a purpose and I'm Doing
it and it's being carried out and I'll be successful in it
which was profaned among the heathen Which ye have profaned
in the midst of them and the heathen shall know that I am
the Lord saith the Lord God when I shall be sanctified in you
before their eyes for I will take you from among the heathen
and what God does, to have a little bit of understanding what it
is to be taken out of our original condition and position in this
world. I'll take you from among the heathen and gather you out
of all countries, out of every nation, kindred, people, and
tongue, and we'll bring you into your own land. And our land is
the presence of Christ. I'll sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. What a blessing it is to
know that we've been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, washed
in the blood. All sin has been removed. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. and I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I'll give you a heart of flesh. Did you notice that every one
of these blessings is because of God? I will do this. What
a blessing it is to have the windows of heaven open to our
heart and to realize that these blessings are from Christ. These
blessings are God-performed. And ye shall dwell in the land
that I gave you to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and
I'll be your God." What land did God give to our fathers?
He gave to our father Adam the Garden of Eden, and he threw
it away. But I'm going to put you back
in there. I'm going to restore what was taken away. I will also
save you from your uncleanliness. I'll call for the corn and we'll
increase it and lay no famine upon you. We're going to have
blessings from the windows of heaven. opened up spiritual blessings,
God-granting blessings, and I'll multiply the fruit of the tree
and increase the field, and ye shall receive no more reproach
of famine among the heathen, then shall ye remember your own
evil ways. After God works a work of grace,
then we remember, and we never can put it away. And your doings
which are not good and shall loathe, how could the Lord love
a sinner like me? How could he die for a sinner
like me? I'll remember when I was born
again, these things, they come on us. Loathe yourselves in your
own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. And
that's why we cling to Christ so dearly because he is a great
savior and he saves great sinners. To know the I wills of God in
this passage are blessings from heaven. And to know the spiritual
blessings from heaven in Isaiah chapter 53. Do you remember what
the eunuch said when Philip came up to him and he said, do you
understand what you're reading? And the eunuch said, is this man, is this prophet,
is the prophet speaking of himself or some other man? People can
look at that and say, well, that prophet's speaking about that.
Well, we can come to that conclusion in our own muddled mind. But
when we're given the grace of God, when we're given Christ
in our salvation, we come to the conclusion that Philip did
when he began at the same place and preached unto him Jesus.
Isaiah chapter 53 to the Ethiopian eunuch as he's ready, he couldn't
understand it, but he did wonder whether this is speaking about
The prophet Isaiah, is that what he's gonna do? Do I look to him?
And that's how most people look at the Old Testament. They look
at it in the eyes of their blindness by nature, and they cannot see
the spiritual blessings, and they just overwhelm them with
the historical, and they come to the law, and they're overwhelmed
by it, and they start teaching the law, and saying this is what
you have to do to be saved, and those Pharisees followed the
apostles, and they followed Paul around, and they preached grace,
and they preached the gospel, And those fellas would come around
with their blindness and not seeing Christ in the Old Testament
and say, you know, this is fine, but you're gonna have to be circumcised
to be saved. That is done away with in Christ Jesus. Here in
the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, we read about this person and
that Ethiopian eunuch says, now is this, prophet speaking about
himself, or some other man? Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And that is so
plain. Isaiah, towards closing out, this great letter, this
great prophecy, this great message of grace to Israel. He's wondering,
who believes this? And then, to whom is the armor
of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant. And Isaiah understood that he's
speaking about the Christ. He's the one that is the tender
plant, the root out of dry ground. No form, no comeliness about
him. There's no natural attraction.
And that's why people, they would raise up stones to stone him,
they couldn't see anything in him. But his own disciples said,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. My goodness, to look at this
with spiritual eyes to see these things are about the Savior,
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse four, he borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we didn't think a thing about
it. He's just a good man doing a good deed. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
And the church says, amen. I know exactly what that's like.
I've been astray most of my life. The Lord found me, turned everyone
to his own way. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. All the lost sheep were laid,
the sins of them were laid on him. He was oppressed and he
was afflicted. My goodness, for the Son of God,
for God the Son to come down to this earth every day, he was
oppressed. He was afflicted. He was not
received by his own. His own received him not. And
yet he opened not his mouth. I do come to do my father's will. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. Behold, the Lamb of God was taken
away the sin of the world. As a sheep before shears is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth. No complaints made, he submitted
himself to the will of God, to the will of the covenant of grace.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall
declare his generation? Will he have any children? For
he is cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death, because he had no violence. Neither
was there deceit found in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. God Almighty, the Godhead, bruised
him. Put him to grief when he shall
make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. What a wonderful passage of scripture
when we can see it through the blessings of the windows of heaven,
when God comes and gives us the eyes to see the blessings of
the Old Testament. When the windows of heaven are
open, all the scriptures become new. They have no end of measurement. We are called to the riches of
the spiritual blessings in Christ, who is without measurement. Ephesians chapter 3. Let's just
go over there and see as the Apostle Paul was used to write
this wonderful letter to the Ephesians and in chapter 3 he
brings up this wonderful point. Chapter 3 and verse 17. Chapter
3 and verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints What is the breadth,
and the length, and the depth, and the heighth? And to know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled
with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the
church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. What are the breadth and the
length and the depth and the height of the spiritual blessings
that we have in Christ Jesus? So as our passage back in the
book of Malachi, we started there and we'll go back there. Malachi
chapter 3 and verse 10, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse.
Oh, can we just remember that God is pleased with a cheerful
giver. In fact, that's the only kind
He accepts and that's the only kind He makes. If we're not a
cheerful giver, He hasn't made us yet. cheerful giver. God makes
cheerful givers, and we're thankful for that. But we're thankful
as a cheerful giver to give thanks and praise and honor to the God
of the Bible. And it says, bring it into the
storehouse, bring it to the right place, bring it to where the
bread is, bring it to where the water is, bring it to Christ. Don't honor him out there in
some secluded place, but bring it to Christ that there may be
meat in my house. What a blessing it is to be fed
from the bread of heaven, the meat of heaven, and prove me
now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts. But I will not open
the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there
shall not be room enough to receive it. We can't comprehend the height
of it, but oh God, give us grace to. We can't comprehend the breadth
of it, but God, give us grace to. We can't comprehend the length
of it, but God, give us the grace to. We can't comprehend the depth
of it. We can't even do these things
about his love. It's so great, so almighty. About his death on the cross,
we can't comprehend what took place there, the breadth of it,
or the length of it, or the depth of it, or the height of it. But
it was enough to satisfy God. All these blessings are poured
out because of Christ's total satisfaction to the covenant
of grace, totally took care of all the sins of all his people
for all time, and that gives us a blessing. We are able to
look at that and say, I'm just going to stand here under the
window of heaven and get this blessing even though I cannot
comprehend it, I never will in this lifetime, and probably will
be instructed in eternity about the rich blessings of grace.
So there shall not be room enough to receive it. this life or the
life to come. But God has got it all there. And from time to time, he opens
up our understanding in the verses of scripture and reading something
about what someone said or read the scriptures and the Holy Spirit
opens it up to us. And we never come to the end.
We never come to the end. I remember reading about that.
I believe it's in the book of Ezekiel. He stepped out into
the water to his ankles, to his knees, to his waist. You just
never come to the end. It really is a blessing when
the Lord told His disciples to launch out into the deep. There's
no end to the depths. Every spiritual blessing goes
on and on beyond our comprehension. So may we bring the honor and
glory and praise unto God as we've been redeemed by Him and
regenerated by Him. He allows us to see these rich
blessings. And God help us. from ever robbing God and giving
any glory to man that belongs to Him. May we pray. Gracious Father, as we come at
this time, our hearts are burdened, our hearts are caused to look
around us and see the events taking place and we don't understand
them. It's been shared how great a
tragedy, virus that this is and how it's been moving throughout
the world and even to our own country and to our own state.
And we just pray, Lord, for our own well-being. We pray, Lord,
for our own thoughts of this, that we just look to you for
wisdom and guidance and trust you in all things, knowing that
you work with all things after the counsel of your own will
and that these things will fall out for the furtherance of the
gospel. Bless us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. We ask you to continue
to reveal unto us the blessings of Christ. We know they are so
great, so mighty, so lengthy, so breadthy, so depth, so height,
that will never come to the end, but continue to allow us to see
more and more, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's his name we pray, amen.