Good evening, and would you join
me in the book of Malachi tonight? Malachi chapter three, last book
of the Old Testament. And as we move through this book,
we just keep running into good stuff. Last week, we spoke for
a few minutes on that verse six. For I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. What a wonderful
blessing it is from Almighty God that he does not change. And he's never changed. He's
not changing and he never will change. He is uncreated. That's hard sometimes for us
to grasp that there is a being that is uncreated. Uncreated
and a creator. So that's him and he changes
not. From eternity, as the old preacher said, old eternity.
He has had a purpose and a plan, and he's carrying it out, and
we're the witnesses of it. And if you wonder what it was,
look back. We can't tell what it is in the
future, but look back and you know exactly the purpose and
plan of God. Well, here in the book of Malachi
chapter 3, we go on to verse 7, and we find here that description
is given to us about the natural fallen man. Even from the days
of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances. Now
he's writing to and he's writing to Judah, and
he's writing to Benjamin. And these are the favored ones
of God. These are favored nation folks. And we find that as God did all
of those wonderful things before them, not one heart was changed
as a result of it. No one's heart was changed because
of a miracle. No one's heart was changed because
of a raising someone from the dead. No heart was ever changed. God is the only one that can
change the heart. And that is done in the new birth.
And we call it in the book of Ezekiel, I'll give you a new
heart. And we thank God for it. They've
gone away and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return
unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we
return? What are you talking about? We're
already there. We've arrived, is what they're
saying. We've already made it. We're
the children of Abraham. We have the temple. We have the
sacrifices. And we have here that Malachi
is bringing up to them their responsibilities to God. He's
a preacher of righteousness. He's a preacher of the gospel.
And I was reminded the other day that I wonder how many times
this man had to run for his life when he started preaching the
gospel to a bunch of folks that said that they already believed
it. We're already okay. We're already Jews. We're already
in Jerusalem. We're already at the temple.
offering the sacrifices, and yet their heart is not right
with God. So he would stand up and declare
the gospel to them, he'd declare the God of heaven. And I'm sure
that there were times that he feared for his life in the presence
of those religious folks. Very seldom is this next verse
read, except when a budget is not being made. And a preacher's
gotta preach a message on this subject. Will a man, verse eight,
will a man rob God? Now that's quite a question.
Will a man rob God? But ye say wherein have we robbed
thee? And the answer is in tithes and offerings. Every time I ever heard that
passage of scripture preached before I heard the gospel, it
was always about we're running behind on the finances, and we
need to give more. And that's the farthest thing
from that passage of scripture. The words from the New Testament
on giving, and I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this subject
because we got a lot of other things to say, but in the New
Testament, Would you keep your finger right here and would you
go over to the book of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians
chapter 9. The words from the New Testament. I've known a lot of people that
said they tithe and they let people know about it. That's not. Grace speaking. Here in the book of 1st or 2nd
Corinthians chapter 9, and we find in verse 7, 2nd Corinthians
chapter 9 and verse 7, it says, every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity. It's not law. It's not legal. It's not legalism. It's not what
we have often heard. It is for God loveth a cheerful
giver. I've heard discussions over whether
the tithes was on the gross or the net. You could hear everything
when it comes to that subject. But that's not the subject that
we find here in the book of Malachi. The subject as we find it here
in the book of 2 Corinthians, God loveth a cheerful giver,
not out of necessity. Now there was true when we find
the children of Israel leaving Egypt. There was a whole bunch
of folks in Egypt that gave them a whole gob of gold and silver
and bronze to get rid of them. and to pay them off. And if someone
feels that way, and they walk by the box back there, and I
hate to do this, but I'm going to, the Lord's gonna use it for
his glory. But God's people, and I remember
Brother Henry saying, some preacher came to talk to him, he says,
I just can't get my people to give. And Henry's answer was,
when they save, they will. There won't be a problem then.
When they're saved, they will. It's not, well, I got to figure
out how much I made and then I got to take this and do this.
God loveth a cheerful giver. Every man according as he purposes
in his heart. What do we find in the New Testament
about tithe and tithes? The longest statement we find
in the New Testament about that is a passage of scripture in
the book of Hebrews, where Abraham came back from defeating the
kings. And he met with the king of Salem,
king of peace, Melchizedek. Would you turn back with me to
the book of Hebrews now, Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. In Hebrews chapter 7, we find
this great blessed scripture about Melchizedek, king of Salem,
priest of the most high God. Now you can read about anything
you want to about this person. Some feel that he was a picture
and a type and a shadow of Christ. Some people feel that he was
the Christ before he was incarnate. Whatever it matters, he is the
king of Salem and a priest of the most high God. Hebrews chapter
7 verse 1, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings
and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of
all. Now that's the tithe. First being
by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that king of Salem,
which is king of peace. My goodness. king of righteousness,
king of Salem, king of peace. We're talking about a very, very
important person. And Abraham gave a tenth of the
spoils, 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 consider, notice
this, now consider how great This man was. Now that's the subject. Consider
how great this man was. Unto whom even the patriarch,
remember this is written to the Hebrews, the patriarch Abraham
gave a tenth of the spoils the exaltation of the Son of God. Just remember how great a man
this man was. The patriarch, your patriarch,
the one you trace your line back to, the one you say, the children
of Abraham, I am the child of Abraham. What did Abraham do
to the Most High God? He humbly bowed in his presence. And he gave him a tenth of the
spoils, it says. And verily, they are of the sons
of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have a commandment
to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is,
of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.
But he whose descent is not counted from them receiveth tithes of
Abraham, and blessed him that had promises. And without all
contradiction, the less is blessed, the better. And here men that
die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom is
the witness that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. What a blessed statement
about imputation. Abraham paid his debt. Abraham
paid his tithes. The priests didn't tithe, they
received them. How come? Because they paid tithes
in Abraham when he gave tithes unto Melchizedek. Now, when it
gets to tithing in the New Testament, there are a few verses of scripture
that we want to read because every time this word is used
with regard to natural man, it's used by Pharisees. Turn with
me to the book of Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23. This last
Christmas I had a man tell me that he didn't give Christmas
presents to his family because he's going to save his money
and send it to a missionary. Why did he tell me that? What's it my business to know?
I should never have to hear that. He's already told me more about
his self-righteousness than he could have ever explained on
his own. Here in the book of Matthew chapter 23 and verse
23, the Lord Jesus says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought
ye to have done, and not leave the other undone. It was more
important to them to count seeds. Nine for me, one for God. Nine
for me, one for God. Can you imagine the job they
had? Nine buckets of seed for me,
one bucket for God. He said, you hypocrites, you
will go through this extremity and you've missed the weightier
matters, and that is the grace of God. In the book of Luke chapter
11, Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 11 is almost the
same incident, but we bring up a few more things here in Luke
chapter 11 and verse 42. Luke chapter 11 and verse 42. But woe unto you Pharisees, for
you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs. I haven't had anybody come to
me and say they're tithing their bales of hay. They're tithing their celery.
They're tithing their dandelions. They'll tell me what they're
doing, and that's no one's business. And pass over judgment and the
love of God. These ought ye to have done,
and not leave the other undone. What does God require? God loveth
a cheerful giver. Those who have been given to
will give and they'll not have to be driven. They will volunteer
to do it. And it's up to between them and
God what they do. We have an office in our church
that is, I just have to be thankful for. Because in some churches,
when I was teaching, I had a teacher who was also the treasurer of
the church and he came to me with stuff I should have never
heard. I quit doing that job because
I know that person, he's real rich and he's just miserly when
it comes to giving to the church. I shouldn't have heard that kind
of stuff. That's not my business and it's not his business to
share it. So anyway, the Lord's words. Let's go to Luke 18. Luke 18
and verse 10. Luke 18 and verse 10, two men
went up into the temple to pray, and one a Pharisee and the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men
are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this publican. I fast
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Most of the conversation in the
New Testament about tithing comes from the mouths of Pharisees. They're proud of it. This guy's
proud of it. How many people are standing
around him? He's an honorable man. I got to see what he's going
to say. Then we know what the publican standing far off would
not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven, but smote upon his
breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." Who did Christ die for? Sinners. That's it, sinners. Then another place over here
in the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 6. The Sermon on the
Mount, the Lord summed up a whole lot that has to do with religiosity. And here in the book of Matthew
chapter 6 and verse 3, but when thou doest alms, when you give,
when you give, I am so thankful that we saw fit to put a box
at the back of the building and let it be taken care of. Nobody
knows. It's enjoyable when someone says,
you didn't take an offering. No, we didn't. Well, where can
I give? There's a box right over there.
Here in the book of Matthew chapter six and verse three, it says,
but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth. Now, why do we give? Not for reward. If we're gonna
do that, we're just building our righteousness. And that's
not gonna work with God. Why do we give? Because we love
God. God loves a cheerful giver. And he owns it all to begin with.
You know what? He could be taken that quick,
every bit of it. We could be broke tomorrow without
land, without possessions. We could be that way tomorrow.
He owns everything. And all we're doing is giving
back some of what he's given us. It all belongs to him anyway.
So he loves a cheerful giver. He loves people who love him. Now, what is the significance
of the words of Malachi to Judah? Will a man rob God? He has been called to tell these
folks, honor God, not with broken sacrifices, dishonoring God. Not with broken promises, dishonoring
God. Not with broken honor, dishonoring
God. All these things pointed to the
heart that was not right with God. If we have to tell what
we're doing for God, our heart is not right with God. If we
have to brag on our giving, our heart is not right with God. God says, don't let your left
hand know what your right hand is doing. And when you pray,
enter into your closet. And when you fast, don't let
anybody know about it. That's enough. He's telling us
it's not in religion, it is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, robbery
means, in that passage of scripture, how does someone rob God? Now,
robbery means taking either by fraud or violence that which
belongs to another and appropriating it to his own use. Taking either by fraud or violence
that which belongs to another. Malachi brings up to these people,
you have robbed God. You've robbed him and a person
that robs God, robs God to his face. Most robbery takes place
in the darkness or in sleuthness or away from the people or try
to be away from the people so they don't see their face. Nobody
can get in the position that they can get behind God. He is
everywhere. So they're robbing him to the
face. Robbing God is a real bold act
because God is everywhere and cannot be hoodwinked. So to rob
God is a bold act. And it is an act that is committed
by ungrateful wretches. Robbing God is done by ungrateful
wretches. Now if it wasn't for the forbearance
of God, we'd all. Thank God that he didn't treat
us in our sin like we deserved. Knowing full well that in time,
the gospel would come and we would be regenerated. In his
forbearance, he passed over a bunch of trash that we were performing. We were robbing God. To rob God
is to say, have I done many wonderful things, have I, have we not done
many wonderful, the I and the we get in the way of true worship. Have I or we not done many wonderful
things in thy name? That's robbing God. What is it that we have? It's
of grace. It's all of grace and none of
righteousness on our part. So when God shares with us about
those whole host of folks that are on the left-hand side, and
have we not done many wonderful things in thy name? And the answer,
the response will be, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity,
for I never knew you. To rob God is to support anyone
or anything that gives glory to man in salvation or our daily
walk. If we believe that we have progressive
sanctification, we are robbing God every moment of our life. Because our sanctification is
not ours, it's his that's given to us. He's the one that promotes
godliness in us. We don't have the capabilities
of doing it. So the moment we say we've moved
up the ladder, we've robbed God of his glory. Because really,
we find that the Apostle Paul shares with us Oh, wretched man
that I am. If we think for a moment that
we got better, we've robbed God of his glory. Because we, Paul,
closer he got to glory, he said, I'm the chiefest of sinners.
Chiefest of sinners, what does that make? God the chiefest of
saviors. He saves the chiefest of sinners.
To rob God is to give anyone or anything that declares that
a person is saved by free will. To support someone who believes
in free will is robbing God. That is the most callous robbery
of God that we could have, is to support, to give, or to make
compliments about. I started to listen to a message
the other day that was on Sermonati. I found there's a whole bunch
of trash on there. There are 1,872,000 sermons on there. I
started to listen to one. I thought the title sounded pretty
good. Before I know it, I am there supporting Billy Graham's
son and his free will ministry. This guy is lauding him. I shut
it off. I don't have time to listen to
that trash. You don't either. We hardly have
time to read the scriptures a little bit every day and maybe hear
one good message every day. So we don't have to listen to
that, but that is robbing God of his glory. There's only one
person that ever had free will on this earth and look where
it got us. That was Adam. He was a free moral agent and
he took us into sin. And we don't have that anymore.
We are not free moral agents. We have the capability of making
choices in light of our condition. And our condition is bleak. Now,
we may be wise enough to choose a good career. We may be wise
enough to choose a good way from here to New York. We may be wise
enough to do many things, engineering feats. But when it comes to spiritual
things, we can't even look over the edge of the cup. We have
to be given the grace to do that. Robbing God is a serious crime
against the Holy God. Robbing God is supporting someone
or something that disagrees with. All of salvation is of the Lord. Now, I've heard preachers say,
well, salvation's of the Lord, but we have to, no, no, no, no.
Back up, back up, back up, back up. Salvation is of the Lord. If we have to add something to
it, we're robbing glory from God. Will a man rob God? Yes, they do it every day and
boldly they do it. And thank God that his forbearance
allowed us to live so that we could hear the gospel and find
out I was wrong. God was merciful to me. Robbing
God is to support. Keeping the law for righteousness
sake, that's robbing God. God's grace is what we enjoy. And keeping the law has nothing
to do with it. There's only one that could, only one that did.
And it is because of his righteousness and his imputed righteousness
to us that we have anything at all. We can't keep the law. If we are going to, it must be. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year, all the days of our life. And if we miss one
point, we've lost all. If we've offended it in one point,
I didn't tie it this Sunday. I'm sorry, you've lost it. It only takes one bad link in
a chain. To destroy the whole load. And
so it is. Grace is so important. Mercy
is so important. God's righteousness is so important.
We have nothing without it. Robbing God is disagreeing with
God about anything. I don't agree with, you just
robbed God of his glory. Because God is God and beside
him there is none else. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name, Psalms 29 and verse 2. Give unto the Lord
the glory due unto his name. I don't agree with that passage
of scripture. I'm sorry, it's still there.
And you've just identified yourself as a god robber, heinous crime. It will not go unpunished. Thank God the punishment for
the elect for that crime fell on Christ. He dealt with the
God robbery, our callousness towards him, all that we had
that was against God. Robbing God is being able to
fellowship with a local body that loves the gospel and not. Robbing God is being able to
fellowship with a local body that loves the gospel and not
doing it. Robbing God is not following
what you know is right about the scriptures. That's robbing
God. robbing God of his glory, his
honor, his praise, robbing God of his position, his sovereignty,
robbing God of his holiness, robbing God of his word, robbing
God. Will a man rob God? Absolutely. We've done it. Thank God for
grace. And there are probably times
that between now and the end of our life, we'll do some robbing
of God, of his glory. We'll say things that we, my,
how could I have even said that? How could I have even said that? How could I have even thought
that? How could I have even done that? How could I do that? Thank
God for grace and for mercy. Will a man rob God? Every day. But we thank God for his forbearance
that he, Knowing full ahead, not depending on what we're doing,
not depending upon our position, not depending upon how we're
saying it, not depending upon what verse of scripture, not
depending on those things. But by his grace and mercy brought
us to the point where we could hear the gospel and he could
save us by his grace and give us the new birth. And we could
say, right now I'm a God lover. I love God. And the spirit that lies within
me loves him with every moment of every day. The Holy Spirit
that indwells the church and every member of it loves God
with every fiber, every moment of the day. Nothing passes by
that there's not a love for God issued from that on our behalf. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter one. Long time ago when we were going
through this passage of scripture of Isaiah chapter one, it stuck
right there in verse three. Isaiah brings up something very
unpopular with Israel. I wonder how many times he had
to go hide from someone throwing tomatoes at him, or indignations. But here he says, The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider. They don't consider that they're
robbing me, robbing me every breath, bragging on their righteousness
and not bragging on the righteousness of Christ. bragging on their
giving, bragging on this, bragging on that, making themselves as
the most important, just like that Pharisee down there many
years later saying, I just thank God I'm not like other men. I
tithe my mint and my cumin, my celery seed, I tithe. And then verse nine of the same
chapter, hallmark verse of scripture. Except the Lord of hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant. I like that except. Except the
Lord of hosts had left a very small remnant. We should have
been as Sodom. What happened to Sodom? utterly destroyed, one man taken
out who was just and righteous. His two daughters got to go out
with him. His wife left, but she never really left. Her heart
was back there, and she's turned to a pillar of salt when she
looks back. And we should have been like Gomorrah, except the
Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should
have been as Sodom and we should have been like Gomorrah. So as
the prophet Malachi brings up here in the book of Malachi,
a verse of scripture that is so often taken out of context
and made to apply to economics. Malachi is bringing up, you've
robbed God. You've robbed God with your gifts.
They're broken gifts. You've robbed God with your service.
It's terrible service. You've robbed God with your lips.
It's terrible lips. You're lying to the folks. You're
not sharing the good news. You're not sharing the gospel.
You're not teaching Christ's blood and righteousness. You're
not teaching Christ and him crucified. You've gone astray. You've gone
out of the way. You're doing things so contrary,
and you're only doing it to fulfill your own interest in this. Will
a man rob God? Absolutely. And then he said,
how did you do that? By not tithing. Well, that is
really not giving honor to God. What did Abraham do? He honored
Melchizedek, king of Salem. When it comes to giving, true
giving, that God's people have the privilege of doing, God loves
a cheerful giver. It has a purpose in your heart.
It's not for other people to know, it's for you to know. And
God loves a cheerful giver, not by constraint, not by legalism. I've heard my own dad say, oh
rats, I gotta tithe. It's like people saying, oh rats,
it's Sunday, I gotta go to church. Oh rats, I gotta tithe. One time
he and I got into an argument because I said, do you tithe
your beef? Because he's talking about tithing. No, I don't do
that. I only tithe what I get at the
mill. Even tithers don't do it. They
fuss and argue about what part it is. Well, when it comes to
cheerful giving, there's no arguing about it. This is what I can
give. I'm giving it out of a cheerful
heart. I love God. I want his work to continue on.
And that's what I give. And it's not for anybody else
to know about. But when it comes to robbing
God, it's quite evident. I guess the quickest way to find,
who saved you? Well, God saved me, but I gotta
keep it up. You just robbed God terribly
right there. Just terribly robbed God. Who
saved you? Well, grace, but I gotta have
works in it. That's terrible robbery, terrible
robbery. Salvation is of the Lord, and
a robber of God will argue with God's word, not just let it settle
and live. Now we can say, I don't understand
it, but to rob God is to say, I don't believe it.