The 14th chapter of Deuteronomy. You and I have been studying,
the last week we studied, on the clean and the unclean beast.
The creatures we were, the children of Israel could eat and the creatures
they couldn't eat. The fishes in the sea and the
creeping things. I think Darlene is going to start
trying to She brought a little cookbook tonight. Dave said he's going to bite
me over for dinner. I'd rather he wouldn't. But that's what we've been studying,
all the clean creatures and the unclean creatures. And we want
to finish that up tonight in verse 21, and then we'll go on. It says here in verse 21, Deuteronomy
chapter 14. You shall not eat of anything
that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it unto the stranger
that is in thy gate, that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell
it unto an alien, for thou art an unholy people unto the Lord
thy God. Thou shalt not seethe, or boil,
or cook a kid in his mother's milk. Now, when we think someone
left your life weekend on our study, and I don't know, I think
sort of tongue-in-cheek thing, but they said we are what we
eat. We were talking about eating these creeping things and buzzards
and things, and they said we are what we eat. And in a sense,
that's true, isn't it? Whatever we partake of, we become one with. They become
one with us. And the Scripture teaches in
a spiritual realm some amazing things that you and I are partakers
of. The Scripture says we're partakers of a divine nature. Now that's amazing. Partakers
of the divine nature. That we're partakers of the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Ghost. We're partakers of Christ, of
that bread, His broken body. We eat that body by faith. We drink that blood by faith.
And we become one with Him. We're partakers of this. And
the Scriptures also says that He has become partakers of us. He's partaker of our humanity.
Now, that's amazing, isn't it? The eternal Son of God is partakers
with us in our humanity. And you know, here's the amazing
thing, and Brother Larry mentioned this to me the other night, how
could the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, be conceived in the
womb of a fallen woman? and not be fallen himself. That's
amazing, isn't it? But the Scripture says the children,
being partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part
of the same. He took every part of our humanity
except the sinful part. He didn't take that part, did
he? No. But I tell you, he took our infirmities, He could hunger
just like you hunger. He could thirst. He could grow
weary. And in some miraculous way, the Scripture says He was
tempted in all points, yet without sin. So, we're partakers of the
divine nature. We're partakers of Christ. He's
partakers with us. And that's where we're going
to start this evening and look in verse 21, just for a minute.
And it teaches us here a vital spiritual lesson. In the parallel
passages to this, we learn two things about this. First of all,
he tells us here in verse 21 that they weren't to partake
of anything that died of itself. And there's a spiritual lesson
in that, isn't there? If something dies of natural
causes, maybe old age, they were out hunting in the woods or along
the roadside and they found a no cow that had died, they weren't
allowed to eat it. It had died of itself, of natural
causes. And there's a spiritual lesson
in that. When you and I partake of life, we're partakers of the
divine life. We don't want a life that can
die, do we? You want to have a life in you
that will live maybe 20 years or 30 years or 70 years and then
die? You want to partake of a life
like that? Everybody here tonight that's serious about being saved,
and I trust you are, I trust you face this reality of eternity
in your own hearts and your thoughts and you say, I don't want to
miss salvation. Whatever I miss, I don't want
to miss life eternal. I don't want to miss heaven.
I want to be with God the Father, with Jesus Christ, with the Holy
Spirit. I want to be with angels and
saints for all eternity. You're serious about this. You
are dead serious about being saved. How would you feel if you thought
that you could have life today and there was a point in time
that you would lose that life, that that life would die. Don't
that concern you? Doesn't that just shake your
soul? I used to believe that. And there
was always this, oh, anxiety in my soul because I always thought
at a point in time I may die. This life that's within me, it
may die. until I come to see in the Scriptures
that this is the life of God's Son. I give unto them, what? Eternal
life. And they shall never perish.
And what is that life? It's Him, isn't it? This is the
record that God hath given to us, eternal life, And this life
is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. That life can never die. Isn't that wonderful? And it
chills us. It shakes our souls. It disturbs
us to think that we'd be partakers of a life that could die. And think of this. Think of the
graces of faith and hope What if we had a faith? What if you had a faith that would die? I mean, you believe
for 20 years, you believe for 30 years or 40 years, but for
some reason or another, the faith just dies. Don't we see people
like that? I worked with a man years ago
at Rogers where I worked, And I was laid off for a couple of
years and hadn't seen him. And I come back. And he come
up to me and he looked so solemn. And he said, Are you still on
the way? And he had this solemn look about
him. I said, Yes, why do you ask? He said, Boy, so many. So
many. So many. I don't want a temporary
faith. Do you? The Bible talks about this living
faith. A living faith. It's a lively
faith, isn't it? And God has begun this work in
you. Faith, if it be saving faith,
is a work of God. What shall we do that we might
work the work of God? This is the work of God that
you might believe on Him whom He hath sent. Faith has Jesus
Christ for its author and finisher. And it will never die until it
ends inside. If we've got a faith that dies,
we ought to throw it away now. Throw it away now. Get this one
that will never die. Don't be partakers of a faith
that will die. What about hope? We want a hope
that will never die until it's realized. That's what we want,
isn't it? Until it's realized. We want
a faith that will never die until it ends in sight. And we want
a hope that will never die until it's realized. Until we awake
in His likeness. And the Bible says God hath given
you a good hope through grace. And Peter says He's begotten
you again into a what? A living hope. A living hope. I love, well, I'll quote it in
a minute. Let's go on to this one. Let's
go on to this one. Christ is the object of our hope.
Will our object die? Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Will he die? And the grace of hope, which
is given to us by the Holy Spirit. That's a hope we want. Secondly,
and in this parallel passage, and I'll read it to you so you
won't have to turn over, because I've got several scriptures I
want you to turn to. But in the parallel passage to
verse 21, it's found in Leviticus 17 and verse 15, and here's what
it says. It adds one more aspect to this
dying of natural causes, a food they weren't to eat of. That
which dieth of itself ye shall not eat of, or that which was
torn with beasts. If it was overcome, if they had
a steer, and they were out looking for it, and this lion had attacked
it, and overcame it, and killed it, and was standing there going
to eat it himself, and you ran off the lion, but the steer was
dead, you couldn't eat it. You weren't to partake of that.
Drag him off to the side, bury him, or you could sell him to
an alien. That's sort of odd, ain't it? Sort of odd. But you couldn't
eat him yourself. He wouldn't fit for you to eat.
Because you're holy, you see. You're God's children. Now what
does that teach us? Well, almost the same thing.
We don't want a life that dies of itself. We don't want a faith
that can die, or a hope that can die, and we don't want a
life We don't want a faith and we don't want a hope that can
be overcome and can be killed. Do we? There's times when we thought
for sure. There's times you thought for sure the enemy was going
to destroy your faith. But he didn't, did he? Why? This is a clean animal. This
is a clean creature, this faith is. The Lord Jesus said it like this,
Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you. And
you're not strong enough to withstand him in yourself. You're not smart
enough. As a matter of fact, you're so presumptuous and stupid.
If I leave it up to you, then he's going to consume you. He's
going to devour you. And brothers and sisters, you
and I are not smart enough to overcome this world. We're not
wise enough, we're not strong enough, and we're not faithful
enough. But the faith that's been given to us to believe,
the hope that's been given to us that we'll someday realize,
the life that's been given to us in Christ, the world, sin,
and Satan cannot stalk it, overcome it, and kill it. That can't do
it. You can't do it. And that's the
kind of life you want, you see. Listen to what the Lord Jesus
said, and I love this passage, and it shows the hope we have
in our life and the faith. He told Martha, He said, I am
the resurrection. That's our hope in it. I am the
resurrection. Because I live, you shall live
also. That's our hope. And you ain't
going to destroy that hope until you destroy the object of it.
I am the resurrection. He that believeth in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And listen to this. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. And listen to this. Let me ask you this question.
Three little words he sums that verse up with. Believeth thou
this? Believeth? Thou this? Is He your
hope of resurrection? Is He your life? Do you believe
in Him? Believest thou this? Now let's go on in verse 22,
but we'll have to hurry. I don't want to keep you too
long. Here in verse 22, look at this.
The next few verses is concerning tithing. Man, they tithe everything. They tithed the seed in the field,
the crops that they gathered in, their money. They tithed
everything. Somebody said it all totaled
somewhere around 20% of their tithe, but they did so many different
things with them. But what's this about? Look in
verse 22. Thou shalt truly tithe all the
increase of thy seed that the field bringeth forth year by
year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place
which he hath chose to place his name there, the tithe of
thy corn, of thy wine, of thy oil, the firstlings of thy herd,
and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord
thy God always." Now, what are these tithes about? Tithe your
increase. Here mainly verse 22 had to do
with the seed of the field, but he went on to talk about the
first ones of their herds and their corn and their oil. What's
this about? The Lord was going to bring the
children of Israel into this fruitful country, the land of
Canaan. And He had told them over and
over and over again, even in this book, that I'm going to
bless you when you come into this land. You're going to increase in your
crops, in your children, in everything you do. I'm going to bless you
and increase you." Well, these tithes, paying these tithes,
bringing these tithes of the increase that the Lord had given
them was them saying that God had faithfully fulfilled what
He's promised. They went out to their wheat
fields. And they had increased. Their crops had increased. They
looked at their fruit trees and they were bent over with fruit.
Grapes that they had to carry two men on a stick had to carry
one cluster. The Lord had so blessed them.
And what they did by bringing these tithes was saying and acknowledging,
God has fulfilled His promise to bless us. That's the first
thing we find. about these tithes. It was no
problem for them to give 15 or 20 percent since the whole was
of the Lord. The Lord owned it all. Here they
were in the desert. They had nothing. They lived
off manna and drunk water out of a rock for 40 years. Same
shoes and same clothes. Now they are going into the land
of milk and honey. Their barns are going to burst.
They could have more than their hearts could desire. Do you think
that these people would have any problems given 15 or 20 percent? They knew this. We were slaves
down in Egypt. We wandered in a wasteland, desert. Everything that we now possess,
all these blessings, God has given them to us. And to show
and acknowledge our appreciation, our reverence for Him, acknowledge
His gifts, we return everything that He tells us to return. All
the tithes. I want you to hold that. Put
a marker in there. And I want you to turn over to familiar
Scripture. 1 Chronicles. Over to your right. 1 Chronicles
chapter 29. First Chronicles chapter 29,
here's where David was getting ready to build the temple. And
he got the word out that they were going to take up collections
of all kinds of brass and iron, all different metals and woods
and stone. They were going to collect all
of this and put it in storehouses. And he got the word out, when
I'm dead, my son Solomon is going to rise up and build this magnificent
temple of the Lord. And they began to collect all
of this material to build the temple until they got so much
they had to quit. And here's what David said about
all they're given. Look what he said in verse 14.
But who am I, and what is my people? that we should be able
to offer so willingly after this sort. For all things come of
thee, and of thine own have we given thee." We ain't given a
thing, but what you've given us. And what we give you is a
small, small portion of what you've already given us. You
know, brothers and sisters, everything we have is His. Yes. Our health
He gives to us. Our ability to gain He gives
to us. If we have a job, if we have
a retirement, if we have a check coming in, whatever we have,
it's His, isn't it? And what little we give back,
we say with David, Lord, it's all yours anyway. It all belongs
to You. But it's not just a matter of
giving back. That wasn't so much what amazed David, that amazed
him. But here in verse 14, notice
how he said this. And who am I and what is my people
that we should be able to offer so willingly? So willingly. Sometimes I want
to tell people. Sometimes I have told people.
And I remind myself of this. When I get stingy and I have
to force myself toward it, I remind myself of this, Bruce, if you
don't give willingly, you might as well keep it. And when you
see in your heart this wonderful grace that God has put there,
that you can give willingly, isn't that a blessing? And sometimes
the Lord tries His people. He tried the children of Israel
on this very thing. He increased them to see if they
would continue to give. And the more He increased them
to see if more they would give. He tries us that way. He tries
you that way. He gives to you to see if you're
diligent in giving. He knows it, but He's going to
try you to make you know it. Oh, a willing heart. Paul said, if there be first
a willing mind, it's exacted. It's accepted. That woman that brought that,
what was it, one mite? Was it just one little mite?
These fellows bringing their bags of money, and casting it
in, had the bugles going before them playing, and people said,
man, look at the money they're giving. And here come this woman,
had one little penny, and the Lord Jesus says, she
has given more than all you fellows together. She gave of all she
had, but she gave it willingly, didn't she? David said, Lord, here's what
amazes me. Here comes these fellows, they've got a lot, but man, they've
given a lot. And they gave it willingly. They
gave it willingly. Look in verse 16 and verse 17
of this chapter. Look what he says here in verse
16. 29, same chapter, 1 Cor. 29. Look in verse 16. I told you the Lord tried us.
Look here. O Lord our God, all of this store have we prepared
to build Thee in house for Thine holy name. It cometh of Thine
hand, and is all Thine. And I know also, my God, that
Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in of it. He tries the heart. And it's
been said, and I know it's just become a cliché, but you can't
out-give God. You just can't out-give God.
Spurred old Bunyan wrote a little poem, said, there was a man,
some say was mad. The more he gave, the more he
had. You can't out-give the Lord, can you? And He tries your heart. He tries your heart in that very
thing. It's amazing to me when the Lord
will say to an old stingy sinner, and make a generous man out of
it. Willingly. Gladly. And he says here in verse 22.
Look in verse 22. And they did eat and drank before
the Lord all that day with great gladness. Willingly. And now gladly. They gave gladly. Now, turn over with me to a couple
of passages of Scripture. Turn over in the New Testament
to 2 Corinthians, I think it's chapter 6. I don't have it here wrote down
correctly, but I think it's chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. How do we give? They had set
rules for their giving. And he said that you were truly
tied. Nobody kept a record for it. It had to be done by themselves,
and they had to do it truly, honestly, sincerely. How do you
and I give? Somebody said 10 or 20 percent
is a good place to start. That's a good place to start.
But how do we give? How does the Scripture tell us
how to give? Paul said, when we give in the public worship,
He said, you give as the Lord has prospered you. So see, that's what you determine
isn't it? You have to determine that. I
don't want to see your records. That's none of my business. I
don't want to see your, what is it, W2's? I don't want to see
those. What's any of my business? As
the Lord has prospered you, then you give. You give that way.
And here in 2 Corinthians, look in chapter 6, I thought it was 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. Well, I think it's 9. I'm not only turning my numbers
around, but now I'm turning them upside down. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 9, look here in verse 7. Look in verse 6. I'm sorry. 2
Corinthians 9. Look in verse 6. But this I say,
He which soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly. And he which soweth abundantly
shall reap also boundefully. He which soweth boundefully shall
reap boundefully. Now listen. Let me stop right
here and say this before I read any further. We have saw these
guys, and listened to these guys, these Pentecostal guys, and these
charismatic guys, and these mega-church fellows begging for money, and
we've listened to them talk about sowing your seed faith until
it's almost spoiled to us on these blessed Scriptures like
this. They've taken these Scriptures and they've twisted them, and
they say, you send us in a hundred dollars, and you'll probably
reap a thousand dollars. That's what they make a play
on poor widows. They rob widows' houses for that.
And they got that right here. That's where they got that. But
they twisted it, you see. And a lot of them to their own
destruction. But that's Scripture. So boundefully, as God has prospered
you, you give that way. You give boundefully and you'll
prosper. That's what He said. I'm almost
embarrassed to say that in the day in which we live. But that's
Scripture, isn't it? That's Scripture. That's a promise.
Look in verse 7. Every man according as he has
purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of
necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. It's evident that God
loves him because he's a cheerful giver. If God didn't love him,
he probably wouldn't be a cheerful giver, would he? God don't love him because he's
a cheerful giver. God don't love us because of
anything in us. It's all in Him. But you see
a man that has a cheerful heart when he gives, he's loved with
God. He's loved with God. And look
in verse 8, And God is able to make all grace abound towards
you, that you always have in all sufficiency, in all things
you may abound in every good work. As it is written, He has
dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor, His righteousness
remaineth forever. Now He that ministers seed to
the sower, both ministers bread for your food, and multiplyeth
your seed sown, and he increases the fruit of your righteousness,
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes
through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this
service, your giving, here's what your giving does, it not
only supplieth the wants, the need of the saints, But it aboundeth
also by many thanksgivings unto God, while by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection
unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution
unto them and to all men. And by their prayer for you,
which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you,
thanks be unto God for this unspeakable gift. what a gift it is, brothers
and sisters, to give, to give willingly, to give gladly, to
give carefully. It shows that we believe earnestly
that what the Lord has given us is actually a gift from God. And I have no problem giving
a portion back as I purpose in my heart to give a portion back. And you know something else it
shows us? It shows us that we fear the Lord. But now what he said, turn back
now to our text and we'll read that and go on right quickly
for just a few minutes and we'll quit. Back over to Deuteronomy
chapter 14. And look what he says here in
verse 23 again. And thou shalt eat before the
Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his
name there, the tithe of your corn, thy wine, and thine oil,
and the first ones of thy herd and of thy flocks, that thou
mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always." There is something
about giving back that shows there is a grace of fear in your
heart. Reverence to the Lord. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with tremor. And here in verse 23 he mentions
that place again, doesn't he? To the place which he shall choose
to put his name there. Remember what that place was?
Somebody tell me the name of that place. Where was he going
to put his name? When they got over there to the
land of Jerusalem. That was Jerusalem. That's the
place. that He chose to put His name there, that's the place
where they built the temple, that was the center of the worship
for the entire nation. This is where they were to come
to, this is where they were to bring their tithes to, this is
where they were to gather and worship. This was the center
of it all here in Jerusalem. But notice how the Lord accommodates
them. Look here in verse 24 and verse 25. Notice how the Lord
accommodates them. His commandments aren't grievous. We just don't serve the Lord
and it becomes unbearable. He doesn't ask us to do things
in His service or worship that we can't do, that He won't give
us grace to do, that's grievous to us. He told them they're going
to bring all their tithes up here to Jerusalem. But notice
how now He accommodates them. Look in verse 24. If the way
be too long for thee, so that they are not able to carry it,
or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God
shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God
hath blessed thee, then thou shalt turn it into money, and
bind up the money in thy hand, and shalt go unto the place which
the Lord thy God shall choose." See how he accommodated them. He says, you can't carry all
that shots of corn and all your wheat and all your grapes. Turn
it into money. Then take it up there to Jerusalem
and then buy whatever you need up there to give or whatever. Now why do you think a Jew would
not want to drop everything? Get his crop together, figure
out how much that he was going to tithe and sell it and turn
it into money and head out up to Jerusalem. Can you think of
any reason any Jew would want to stay home when everybody else
was going up to worship? Let me tell you probably two
or three. And I say this by experience because I'm just preaching a
lot of times what I've experienced. What would keep a Jew from going
up to Jerusalem and giving back a portion to what the Lord had
given him? and worshiping in this center.
What would cause it? Laziness? Laziness? Backsliding heart? A backslidden heart? Boy, that
would keep you from it, wouldn't it? Yeah, unbelief. No reason
but excuses. What if you saw a fellow that
started making excuses that, I just can't make it this time?
And besides, the crop, boy, you know, we've got some more crops
here we've got to get in. We've got a couple of cows that's
down. You know, when we backslide in
our hearts, when we become spiritually lazy and we start looking for
an excuse, we'll find one. I found that in myself so many
times. when I began to think, I just
don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. And
my whole problem was just laziness, spiritual laziness. And you know
what? An excuse presented itself not to do it. Has that ever happened
to you? You'll find an excuse. If you
don't want to come where Christ is worshipped, if you don't want to come and
give, and commune with the Lord's people, you will find a reason.
That excuse will present itself. I've been there. I know what
I'm talking about. And I'll bet you anything I'll be there again.
Laziness. Laziness. Backslidden heart.
What about stinginess? What about just plain old stinginess?
Can you see a man's crop coming in? I mean, he gathered them.
His barns were busted. And he takes off up to Jerusalem
with a little old bushel of corn. Can you imagine that? I remember
the little freeway Baptist church I was raised in, and I look back
on it now and it almost horrifies me. And they'd post on the board,
you know how they have the board up front, and they'd post how
many were there and how much they gave. And I still see some
of those figures. $3.68. Now, I know they didn't make
much money back then. I realize that, but $3.68? What is that? Is that the way
the Lord taught? The Lord must have been storming
them to death. You wonder how they drove the
church. Stinginess. Stinginess. Could it be that? You know our life about this,
but it happens, don't it? I'd give more but my wife. What
I'd give my wife. She don't like it. I'd give more but my husband.
He just won't let me. Well, whatever reason it is,
I bet it goes right back to this. God loveth a cheerful, A cheerful giving. Gathering with the Lord's people
and giving and worship and serving the Lord is not a burden. It's a privilege. It's a privilege. We don't always do it because
we feel like it, do we? I do things that I don't feel
like doing. Francis was telling me, he heard
Brother Donny Bell say, just a few nights ago, preaching a
message. His wife's dying. Been dying for two years with
cancer. I spent just a few days with him a few weeks ago. And
he made a statement in his message. If I was here because I felt
like it, I'd close my Bible and go home. Was that what he said? But we don't always do what we
do because we feel like it. We do it because we find it written
in God's Word. It probably wasn't too
easy to gather all their crops up, sell it, turn it into money,
and go all the way up to Jerusalem. And the wicked king, Jeroboam,
he took advantage of their situation. And he comes to rule and he says,
here's what's going to happen if they keep going up there to
Jerusalem. They're going to leave me. They're going to leave me. They're going to put me out of
my office. So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to set an idol down in Bethel in the south. And I'm
going to go up to Dan in the north and set another idol. And
I'm going to say to the children of Israel, it's just too inconvenient
for you to have to go all the way to Jerusalem. Go down to
Bethel or go up to Dan. And that's what a lot of them
did. A lot of them did that. But I tell you, those who loved
the Lord, those who delighted together there at Jerusalem and
worshiped the Lord, they looked with abhorrence upon it. They
said, there's one place, one place God has designated, and
it's a sin to go anyplace else to worship. It's a sin to go
up there without tithing what the Lord tells us to do. So they
did that because the Word of God told them to do it. There's three things that motivates
us to symbol ourselves in worship and commune and edify one another. Three things that motivates us
to do that. One, the instinct of a divine
nature. The instinct of a divine nature. What in the world are you doing
here tonight? With all the worldly things that
you could be involved in and doing, what are you doing here?
Because inside you, down deep in your celestial clay, is a
divine nature. And when it comes time to worship,
you know what that desire is? I want to hear the Word. I want
to gather with the Lord's people and commune. It's there, ain't it? It's there. You see these people, and they
never gather with the Lord's people. I'm not talking about
us missing a worship on occasion. Every one of us. I miss on occasion
myself. I'm not talking about that. But
I'm talking about when it's time to gather. When the harvest has
been brought in, and they hear the trumpet sound, they said,
let's go up to the house of the Lord. And some fellow said, I
just don't have a desire to go. Bud, you've got problems. You've
got a problem. Divine nature led us here to
worship. Number two, the leadings of the
Holy Ghost. If you have the Spirit of God
in your heart, He's going to prompt you to go and worship
the Lord. And boy, if you stay home just
because you want to stay home or some worldly thing is going
on and you just want to stay home, He'll prompt you to do
something then, too, and it's be repent. Those whom the Lord
loves, He chastens and scorneth just every son whom He receives.
And thirdly, the teachings of the Holy Scripture. They motivate
us to come here to worship. Forsake not the assembling of
yourself together. And one man said this, and I'll
close with this. He said, our gathering together
is divine. It's divine. Think of it that
way. are gathering together here on
this little street, in this little room, with these few people,
is divine. The center around which we gather
is divine, for we gather in the name of Jesus Christ, and He
is divine. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. The power by which
we gather together is divine because we've gathered together
in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the authority by which we
gather is divine because we come here by the authority of the
Holy Word of God. And boy, what a blessing it was. You read the remainder of this
chapter down in verse 28. Look in verse 28 and verse 29.
Look at this scene. What a beautiful thing Christianity
is. What a beautiful thing it is. Look at this scene at verse
28. At the end of three years, you
shall bring forth all the tithes of thine increase the same year,
and you shall lay it up within your gates. And the Levite, that
was the preacher, because he hath no partner at herds with
thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow which
are within thy gates shall come and they shall eat and be satisfied
that the Lord thy God may bless thee and all the work of thy
hands which thou doest." Boy, what a gathering it was. They
laid beside themselves all of this tithe and all their corn
and all their grapes and they had abundance and they went out
and got the widows. and went out and got the strangers,
and went out and got the orphans, went out and got the poor preachers,
and they said, come and let's have a feast. And there they
sat, feasting and singing and rejoicing before the Lord. And
that's what we're doing when we gather, is it not? I'm going to stop there because
I'm going to look next week at verse 26. I'm going to tackle
a subject next week. Wine and strong drink.