All right. We're there in Isaiah 39. Look at verse number 6.
Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
Total for the sermon tonight is, nothing shall be left. Nothing shall be left.
You know, this is King Hezekiah, who's one of my favourite characters in the Bible.
I like him so much because he has such a great love for the Lord.
And he does many righteous acts and he's very, he's very courageous to stand up against the false religions of the day.
And yet what I love about Hezekiah at the same time is that you see him fail again and again and again.
And make very, just very basic mistakes in his Christian life.
And he's always like, you know, succeeding, then he's failing, succeeding, then he's failing.
And the last few chapters we've been looking at the history of his life and how he was afraid because the king of Assyria had come and besieged Jerusalem.
And then God came through and performed a wonderful miracle and delivered them with the hand of an angel and destroyed the armies of Assyria.
And what led up to that, I'm not sure if you know the history, what led up to that was that he was fearful of the king of Assyria.
King Hezekiah went as far as asking the king of Assyria, look, what's going to appease you?
What's going to cause you to leave us alone?
And the king of Assyria had asked for a lot of wealth, a lot of gold and silver.
And so there was insufficient gold and silver in the land of Judah.
So they went to the house of the Lord, the temple, and they started taking the gold and the precious things from the house of the Lord, the temple, and gave it over to the king of Assyria.
So there we have a failing of King Hezekiah.
But then God performs a wonderful miracle.
Again, like I said, an angel coming through this supernatural event.
And then we also saw last fortnight was when King Hezekiah was sick and he was near death.
And God had said, look, sort out your family.
You're going to pass away.
And King Hezekiah was upset about it.
He prayed unto the Lord.
The Lord gives him another 15 years of life.
Not only that, there was a special sign.
The sign went backwards.
And so there was another supernatural event that took place.
And then King Hezekiah once again on fire for the Lord.
And what we see here in Isaiah 39 is once again, King Hezekiah makes a pretty bad mistake in his life.
So let's read about it here.
In Isaiah 39, verse number 1, it says,
At that time, Merodach of Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah.
For he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered.
That's the story, right?
Where he was sick, he was close to death, and God promised him 15 more years.
So this information, this news about his recovery reaches the king of Babylon.
Now at this time, Babylon is not the most powerful nation or empire on the earth.
It's still the Assyrians.
And so the king of Babylon reaches out to Hezekiah.
And look, it's a nice gesture to send letters.
These letters have been sent by the hands of ambassadors.
And it's a nice exchange between kings.
That he's been recognized for his recovery.
Now, if you were king Hezekiah and you knew you were about to die
and God gives you this miracle, gives you 15 more years in life,
what are you going to rejoice in when the king of Babylon sends ambassadors?
Like, what do you think is going to be on your heart to talk about or to praise?
You would think it's the Lord God Almighty, right?
You'd think, yeah, look, thank you, king of Babylon, for sending these presents.
Thank you for your friendship, king of Babylon.
But I want you to know, I want the ambassadors to go back and let you know
the reason for my miraculous recovery is because of the God of Israel.
Okay, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
And he deserves all glory and praise and honor.
And so if there's anyone we ought to rejoice in for my recovery, it's the Lord God.
Like, that would be the correct approach that king Hezekiah should have committed to.
But instead, what does he do?
Look at verse number 2.
And Hezekiah was glad of them and showed them the house of his precious things.
The silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointments
and all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures.
There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
So they can't bring in gifts from king of Babylon.
And he's like, all right, this is awesome.
How do I impress these ambassadors?
Come and check out my palace.
Come and check out my mansion.
Come and check out my valuable items, my gold and silver.
Look at my riches. Look at my wealth.
Look at my prosperity.
Look how blessed I am and look at the great abundance that I've developed in my life.
He's messing up.
King Hezekiah, once again, I mean, he's trying to rub shoulders with the ungodly people there.
And just trying to demonstrate.
It's the pride. It's the ego.
And go back and tell the king of Babylon how wealthy I am.
What a bad mistake because we know in history it's the Babylonians that come in and invade Judah.
They take all the spoil of the land and how did it begin?
By king Hezekiah going, hey, look how much spoil we have.
Look at all our riches.
And then I guess the ambassador's going to go back to the king of Babylon.
He's like, man, king Hezekiah, he's wealthy.
There's a lot of riches in the land of Judah.
And that would stir envy in the heart of king of Babylon.
And eventually be like, let's go and take that for ourselves.
I mean, this is the approach that king Hezekiah has.
It says at the end of verse number 2, there was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
Everything of value he showed them.
You know, he opened up the vaults and opened up the treasure boxes and every little thing of items.
The armoury, I guess the expensive swords and weapons of warfare that he had lined up.
Like all his wonderful possessions.
He's glorying in that in the Lord.
Sorry, glorying in that toward the king of Babylon, I should say.
Now, we're in Isaiah 39.
As you know, as we're going through chapter by chapter, through the books of Isaiah,
we've also been looking at the corresponding book of the Bible.
So what is, this one's an easy one, should be, what is the 39th book of the Old Testament?
Malachi.
The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi.
So let's go to Malachi. Keep your finger there in Isaiah 39.
Let's go to Malachi. Malachi chapter number 4.
Malachi chapter number 4, please. Malachi chapter 4.
So where do we begin? We begin with the story of King Hezekiah, full of pride.
Look at me, look at my wealth, look at my possessions, trying to impress the king of Babylon.
And you know what, there was a saying that I grew up, I think it's still a common saying,
but it's, you know, like even in Australia, when you go to work a job or you try to make a living
and you try to live under a roof and you try to have certain possessions,
the idea is don't keep up with the Joneses. Do you know what I mean by that?
Like don't look at your neighbour and see what they have because what happens is
your desire for what your neighbour has will grow.
And when you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, you're never going to be content in life
because you're going to look at what you have and there's always, and I'll tell you the truth,
there is always someone that has more than you do. That's always the case.
And then you want to try to keep up with other people rather than being content with what God has given us.
And this is pride when we look at people's possessions, their house, their bank account, their families,
their situation, their cars, and we're like, man, that must be nice if I could have just a bit of that.
That, of course, is covetousness.
And in Malachi chapter 4, verse number 1, God is speaking of the wicked here.
It says, For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven,
and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble.
And the day that cometh shall burn them up, save the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them, neither root nor branch.
See, Malachi 4 speaks of the people that are proud, and God is going to bring them down.
They shall be stubble, the people that do wickedly.
Now, in Malachi 4, this is speaking about the great day of the Lord.
This is speaking of the wrath of the Lord.
We know that, of course, in the end times, after the great tribulation and after God raptures the believers into heaven,
that the Lord God begins to pour out His wrath.
And on that very day that He begins to pour out His wrath, it is known as the day of the Lord.
But did you know, you probably know this if you look at the special book of Jeremiah,
that there was a day of the Lord also in the Old Testament.
And that day of the Lord occurred when Babylon came in and took over and destroyed Jerusalem.
When they burned down the entire city, they burned down the house of the Lord.
And quite literally, the city of Jerusalem became stubble.
And once again, we see in this chapter what it is that's going to lead to that.
It's the pride of King Hezekiah.
Look at my riches!
And God is saying, you're going to be brought down low.
It's all going to become like stubble.
It's all going to be burnt down.
And so what took place with Jerusalem in the Old Testament,
when they were taken away into captivity by the Babylonians,
known as the day of the Lord in the Old Testament,
it also carries a double fulfillment of the most greater and significant day of the Lord
in the end times when God pours out His wrath in the form of the seven trumpets and the seven vials.
You might want to keep a finger in Malachi because we are going to turn back to it one more time.
But come back with me to Isaiah 39.
Isaiah 39.
Nothing shall be left is the title for the sermon tonight.
Nothing shall be left.
Verse number three.
Isaiah 39, verse number three.
As we keep going through this chapter, you'll notice that it's actually of course God who sent
Isaiah the prophet to Hezekiah.
And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.
Then said he, What have they seen in thine house?
And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen.
There is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.
At least he's being honest with Isaiah.
Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah,
Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
So you can see the Lord God had put a word in the heart of Isaiah to come and speak this to Hezekiah.
Verse number six.
Behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day
shall be carried to Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
So because you boasted of your riches,
because you showed the ungodly all the wealth and possessions of the land of Israel and the land of Judah,
you're going to be left with nothing.
It's all going to be taken away.
Whatever Babylon laid their eyes on, they're going to take it away and it's all going to be taken into captivity by Babylon.
So this begins the judgment of God to the nation of Judah through the hands of the Babylonian empire.
It starts with King Hezekiah.
He's like one of the best kings that Judah actually had.
And like I said, he's one of my favorite characters because I love the great things he does for the Lord,
but I also love his failings because it just shows me his weaknesses as a man.
Because I'm sure there are times in your life that you can identify,
man, yeah, that was a bit of my ego at the time.
That was a bit of my pride.
You know, instead of glorifying the Lord, I glorified himself.
Instead of rejoicing in the Lord's blessing, I made it all about me.
And so we need to be careful that if we take this prideful attitude with what God has blessed us with
and we praise man rather than God, that very well God's judgment in your life might be that nothing shall be left.
That God, just as much as he blessed you with your bank account and your work and your possessions,
just like that, God can take it away in one swift movement in his judgments.
Instead of rejoicing in your riches, instead of rejoicing in your abilities, rejoice in what God has given you.
Make sure it's always the Lord God that you point to for the blessings that he's given you in his life.
So these things will be carried into Babylon.
And I want you to remember, we know that there's a passage in the Bible that says,
you know, naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return hither.
Okay, we can't take any of our possessions to heaven.
When you were born in this world, you didn't even have clothes.
You didn't have a dollar in your bank account.
And you know what? Your body's going to rot in the grave.
Those clothing, whatever clothing you get buried in, it's going to rot away in the grave.
You know, you're not going to have any money in your bank account that you can take to heaven.
And so in reality, brethren, we need to also remember that whatever we're blessed with on this earth,
there'll be nothing left.
We're not going to be able to take those earthly possessions and those earthly riches with us to heaven.
And so we need to be thoughtful about what God has given us.
Now obviously, when we look at an example like King Hezekiah,
we can't turn around and say there's something wrong with being wealthy.
Or there's something wrong with being rich.
King Hezekiah, of course, is the richest man in Judah.
You know, he's the king.
You know, we see his gold and silver and his possessions, his spices, whatever that is, right?
A precious ointment. He's got all these valuable items that God has blessed him with.
But once again, you might take the attitude and pat yourself on the back,
look what I've achieved.
Or you take the attitude of showing others, showing off what you've accomplished in life.
That tells me your heart is in the wrong place.
You see, it's not riches and it's not money that's wicked in of itself.
You know, it's the love of money.
It's the love of riches.
It's the love of money that is the root of all evil.
And so you need to obviously find the right balance between having your heart in the right place.
And we all need to have a job.
You know, it speaks primarily to men here, to be able to get out there and work a job and provide for our needs.
And if the Lord blesses us with a wife and children, we need to be able to provide for our families as well.
We need to actually go to work and earn income to make sure we're able to take care of the people that God has put under our authority.
But we need to get the right balance.
So I want to read a few passages now.
Can you come with me to Proverbs 23?
Come with me to Proverbs 23.
Proverbs 23 and verse number 4.
Look, I personally believe that finances is a very important topic of our lives.
There is not a single day.
I don't think there's a single day that there isn't some type of transaction that occurs in my bank account.
Either money coming in or money going out.
Okay, whether it's the groceries, whether it's paying some bill.
You know, whether it's reimbursing my kids for something or my kids reimbursing me for something.
Okay, pretty much there's always something going in, there's always something going out.
And for the average person, you might work five or six days per week.
Why are you working five or six days per week?
To earn a paycheck, right?
To take care of your financial needs.
Like, I believe finances and wealth and money are important topics that we need to talk about and deal with.
But we need to do it in a biblical, godly manner.
And so we have Proverbs 23 and verse number 4.
And I want to show you how you can misinterpret these verses.
Proverbs 23 verse number 4 says,
Labor not to be rich, cease from thine own wisdom.
So what is the wisdom of man? To labor to be rich.
The Bible's saying, labor not to be rich, cease from thine own wisdom.
And look at verse number 5.
Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
The Lord's saying, why are you setting your eyes on riches?
It flies away.
It's almost like no matter how much you earn, there's going to be an expenditure that's going to take all that wealth away from you.
Okay?
So you don't want to set your heart on laboring to be rich.
So here's one extreme.
Alright, then I'm making a vow of poverty.
I'm just not going to labor.
The Bible says, don't labor to be rich.
So I'll just quit my job and I'll just serve the Lord God full time in some type of ministry.
Is that what it's saying?
No, because we know we have other passages in the Bible that make it so clear that men, we all do.
In fact, one of the Ten Commandments, right?
To honor the Sabbath day.
It doesn't just say honor the Sabbath day.
It says, six days, shout thou labor.
Okay, that is one of the Ten Commandments.
You know, six days, shout thou labor.
But then this passage says, labor not to be rich.
So what's the answer, Pastor Kevin?
What's the right balance?
Well, the right balance is when we go to work, alright?
It's not to, how wealthy can I become?
How many dollars can I have in the bank account?
That's not where your heart ought to be.
You know, when you go to work and you need to earn a paycheck, this is where your heart needs to be.
Alright, Lord, I'm going to work.
I'm going to earn a paycheck.
If there's overtime, I'll try to do some overtime.
If I can work on a Saturday, six days, like you say in your word, I'll try to do that.
And Lord, you know, if I have to go get a second job to provide for my family and my needs, I'm willing to do that.
But for what purpose?
I'm laboring, Lord, to take care of my family.
I'm laboring, Lord, to put a roof over my family's head.
Lord, I'm laboring to ensure that we've got a plate of food on the table every day, the daily bread that you provide for us, Lord.
Lord, I'm laboring because your commandment says that I should.
Lord, I'm laboring because you made me a man, and as a man, Lord, my satisfaction in life is when I'm able to be productive.
And I can walk away from a hard day's job and feel accomplished.
It's something you created in the nature of man.
Lord, I'm going to work so I can give my tithe to the local house of the Lord and be a blessing to your ministry, into your kingdom.
You see, you're still labor, you're still getting a paycheck, but you're doing it for the right reasons.
Your heart is not on how wealthy and how rich can I become.
Rather, Lord, I'm going to labor to ensure the responsibilities that I have under my authority are being taken care of.
Lord, I'm going to treat this wealth as a blessing and an honor and a gift from you,
and I'll utilize this being a good steward of God and making sure that I'm taking care of the situation you find myself in.
You've put myself in.
That's the right approach.
And so, let's say you're working a job and someone says, hey, here's a promotion.
You know, we want to put you in a new position and it's going to pay, you know, $50 more a week, whatever it is.
I don't know, whatever it is.
And you're like, ah, no, the Bible says labor not to be rich. I'll just stay where I am.
But what if you find yourself coming like $50 short the week, like, you know, struggling to make ends meet?
This might be God's answer for you, you know, to make sure that you're taking care of the things that God's put you over.
See, labor not to be rich. Labor not to be wealthy.
Like King Hezekiah got to a point where he's like, well, I'll just show it off.
I want to show the king of Babylon how wealthy I am.
And God says, well, your judgment's coming and it's all going to be taken away.
Nothing shall be left.
Babylon's going to carry it all away one day and the land of Judah and your children are going to be left with nothing.
Can you come with me to another passage?
Matthew chapter 6, verse number 19.
And Matthew 6, 19 comes to the heart of the matter, really, at the end of the day.
Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 19.
Matthew 6, 19.
It says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.
This is why you should not put your heart on earthly possessions.
They're all going to go away, one way or another.
Either some bill will find its way to take your money away, some thief's going to come in and break your windows and steal something out of your house or out of your car or something.
It's going to rust and corrupt the earthly possessions you may want to see that will last forever.
Look, don't lay up treasures on the earth.
Instead, verse number 20.
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
See, that's the issue.
That's the right balance.
You're going to ask yourself, where is my heart?
Now, God's done amazing things for King Hezekiah.
I mean, at this point in time when the ambassadors of Babylon come, like I said, Hezekiah's heart should be to just glorify God.
And be like, yeah, man, the Lord's given me 15 more years.
And without showing off, and look, you know, he's allowed me to continue being a king over Judah.
And he's given us riches and wonderful things and, you know, a great blessing so we can be, you know, that we can honor him.
You know, be a blessed nation in the name of our Lord.
Where was his heart, though?
His heart was in his treasures.
Look at what I've accumulated.
Showing it off.
Look what I've achieved, everybody.
Heart's in the wrong place.
And so, I don't know, you could have two wealthy people in Australia, two wealthy saved people.
One's heart is to the Lord and says, praise you, Lord, for the wealth that I have.
You know, help me find a righteous cause to use my wealth.
And the other saved man would be like, look what I've achieved.
What a wonderful man I am.
Look what I've accomplished in life.
Look how rich I am.
I want to rub it in the noses of other people around me so they can see how wealthy I am.
They both are the same riches.
It's not the riches in and of themselves that's the problem.
It's the heart condition of man.
One says, Lord, you've blessed me.
How can I continue serving you in your kingdom?
How can I lay up these treasures that you've given me on the earth to be transported to heaven?
You know, the treasures in heaven.
How can I utilize what you've given me?
And the other says, no, I just want to consume it in my lusts.
So it's not the riches themselves that's the problem.
It's the heart of the one who has the riches.
That's the situation.
That's really the heart of the matter, if I can put it that way, right?
We need to make sure that our hearts are in the right place.
It says in verse number 22, the light of the body is the eye.
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.
The body, it's not just the heart but it's your eyes.
Okay, if you're, the light of your body is your eye because it's true.
In order for you to see, light has to enter your eye and hit the back of the retina.
And that's how we see.
And so if we see with clarity, our heart is in heaven
and how do I use my possessions and my riches on this earth
to further the kingdom of God and to take care of the needs that I'm responsible for?
Then your eye is single, you're full of light.
You see clearly your situation and the wealth that God has given you.
Your eye might be evil, that's when your heart is in the wrong place.
Instead of your eyes being on eternal things, your eyes are just on temporal things.
I'm not satisfied with my house, I want my house near the beach.
I'm not satisfied with my car, I need the greater, the faster car, whatever it is.
I'm not just a car, what about a yacht as well so I can sail on Sydney Harbour
and be seen of my friends and I'll take some selfies on Facebook and post it on everybody
so they can see how wealthy I am.
You see that man's eye is evil, it's harmed.
It's got cataracts, it's turning blind, it's not seen with clarity.
I'll just read verse number 23 again.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is indeed be darkness, how great is that darkness.
So when our eyes are on lustful things, earthly things, carnal things,
treasures on earth, the Bible says our whole body will be in darkness.
And this is important because when we are in fellowship with the Lord God,
when we're walking with God, the Bible tells us that God is light
and in him there is no darkness at all.
And if we're full of darkness and God is only light, how can we serve him?
We can't serve the Lord. How can we love him properly?
We can't love him properly.
That's why it continues in verse number 24.
You can't serve God and riches.
It's so sad because I'm sure there are Christians across Australia
that are serving riches, chasing riches, chasing wealth, chasing possessions.
And God tells me that no man can serve two masters
for either he will hate the one and love the other.
You know, if you love riches, if you love wealth, if you love greed,
the Bible tells me you hate the Lord.
That's what it says.
You can't serve two mothers, you love one and you hate the other.
It's one or the other, brethren.
And so again, some Christians make the mistake,
therefore I'm not going to earn a dollar then.
It's like, it's your heart. The dollar's not the problem.
That piece of gold is not the problem.
Your spices, that's not the problem.
Your fragrances, whatever, your possessions, that's not the problem.
The problem is your heart and your eye.
Get that right and everything else will be sorted out.
See, God blesses men in the Bible.
And look, this is going to sound like the prosperity gospel,
but it's not meant to be in any way, shape or form.
But the Lord blesses so many believers in the Bible with great riches.
People like Abraham, very wealthy.
Joseph, King Hezekiah, wealthy men.
All the great kings, King David, very wealthy men.
Job was a very wealthy man in the Bible.
But God blesses these men, especially when they've got the right heart,
the right heart condition.
But we also know that an abundance of wealth can also corrupt your eyes,
can cause cataracts and lose sight on the things that the Lord wants.
So I think, you know, speaking of money and all these things,
I think it's important. It's an important doctrine.
It's something we need to talk about because, again,
we're transacting all the time, constantly.
You know, just going to the groceries, just buying lunch or something like that, right?
Buying tools for the job, you know, paying some bill,
buying some dog food on the way home or whatever it is that you need to do,
buying milk and bread on the way home, whatever you're...
We're constantly transacting.
There's nothing wrong with that. We need the finances.
But we need to make sure that the reason we labor
is to take care of the things that God's put under our responsibilities.
You know, husbands are to love their wives.
Husbands are to provide for their wives and take care of their needs
and to take care of their children.
That means you've got to go to get a job and you earn a paycheck
and this paycheck is not wicked.
You know, you say,
Lord, this paycheck is to take care of these beautiful people that you've given me.
That's your heart in the right place.
Because God's given you those people for a reason.
God's made us as men to labor and be productive.
I tell you now, if you just quit your job and be lazy,
you're going to lose a lot of satisfaction in life.
You're going to become very depressed.
You're going to be very critical of everybody else.
You're going to become very anal.
You're going to be sluggard.
You're going to be slothful because you're achieving nothing.
Men, you know, God's put it in us to achieve, to produce.
That gives us joy, satisfaction.
And especially when we do so,
to take care of the people that God's put us to take responsibility for.
Can we come to Malachi again?
Malachi chapter 3.
We were looking at Isaiah 39 and of course Malachi is the 39th book of the Bible.
Malachi chapter 3.
And I'm going to talk about tithing.
Not that there's a problem with tithing in this church.
And it's just that way in Isaiah 39 and we're looking at riches
and then the Malachi is the 39th book of the Bible.
And when the Lord speaks about, you know, wealth and things like that,
well, he's got tithes here.
And I'm always very uncomfortable to preach on tithing
because I never want the wrong impression to come through.
Like, I never want someone to think,
oh, there's my pastor preaching on tithing again.
He must be desperate for money, blah, blah, blah.
You know, I've heard all those things before.
But look what God promises us here in Malachi 3, verse number 8.
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and offerings.
So, Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament.
Alright?
And Malachi is written at a time when the Jews returned back to Jerusalem
and they rebuilt the city and they rebuilt the temple
and they'll rejoice in the Lord and they'll go back offering the sacrifices
and they'll go back doing the offerings, right?
I mean, everything's going super well at the very beginning
when they come back out of Babylon.
But then the book of Malachi is roughly, I don't know, 80 to 100 years later.
If you know this book, the Lord is just rebuking the Jews all over again.
They're back to their old ways.
They're back to, yeah, they're doing the offerings
but they're bringing like the worst, instead of bringing the best lambs,
instead of bringing the best sacrifice, they're bringing the worst.
They're just going through the motions.
Their heart is not in it anymore.
And the Lord says, man, you've robbed me and you've robbed me in tithes and offerings.
You're not doing things in the right manner.
Now let me quickly say that offerings have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Christ is the ultimate offering of the Lord, okay?
Another thing that they often brought were the first fruits.
So if the new, you know, let's say the spring season began
and the very first crops that grew, the Israelites would take those very first crops
or the very first lambs or, you know, whatever, your cattle,
the first reproduction of your cattle, they would bring that to the house of the Lord
and they would offer that up as the first fruits as well, okay?
And then they kept the rest that came throughout the season.
But also they offer their tithes and tithes represents 10%.
So they'll take all of their produce, all of their cattle
and everything that they've increased in, they'll take 10% of whatever it was
and they'll take that to the house of the Lord.
Now the offering, like I said, has been fulfilled in Christ.
Here's our offering.
The first fruits have been fulfilled.
Christ is the first fruits.
But the tithe, you'll never read it in the New Testament
that it's been fulfilled in any symbolic form.
Also the New Testament never says that tithing has stopped.
In fact, the Bible tells us that just like the priests of the Old Testament,
those that worked in the ministry ought to take care of the needs from the house of the Lord.
But the only thing that is left is the tithe.
Whether it's the offerings, the tithes and the first fruits,
the only thing that is left that carries through from the Old Testament to the New Testament is the tithe.
So when we look at Malachi 3.8, in light of the New Testament times,
then we might say that we may have robbed the Lord, not in the offerings,
because that was a picturing of Christ, but potentially in our tithing.
Tithe actually means 10%.
So this is what God says in verse number 9.
Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
God says, I'm going to curse all of Israel, all of Judah, because you refuse to tithe.
But then he gives them a chance to get things right. Verse number 10.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.
Hey, what is the house of the Lord in the New Testament? The church.
You know, we're to take our increase, you know, and give it to the Lord.
And then God says this, and prove me now herewith, like test it out,
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.
God says, if you bring your tithe to the house of the Lord,
he goes, I'm going to make sure you're blessed so abundantly that you can't even contain it.
Too many blessings coming from the Lord.
Pastor, do you preach on tithing so you can take care of your family needs?
Well, that's one way that I do it, but really I want you to be blessed.
I really want you to be blessed above measure.
You know, when I first heard this doctrine, I think I was 20, 21, I think I was,
and I was like, how am I going to tithe?
I think I gave you the story. I was trying to save up to get married,
and we had saved up $5,000.
We had $5,000, my wife and I, we put our money together and our bank account,
and I've never heard of tithing. I've never heard of it.
You know, I knew we gave it to the church, but I feel it's just like five bucks, you know.
I never really thought about what it meant to give to the house of the Lord.
And then finally my pastor preaches on it, and I'm like, wow, the tithe.
So what do I do, Lord? I'm not tithed.
I can't really go back and remember how much I earned,
and not that I earned that much really at that point,
but I just thought, okay, Lord, I'll start now.
I've got five grand in the bank account.
Even though we worked so hard for this to get married,
we're going to take 10% of that, $500, and I'm going to give that to the house of the Lord.
And then from this day forward, whatever we earn, Lord, 10% is yours.
I want to be blessed by you.
You say, Pastor, have you been blessed above measure?
Now, is your bank account above measure? No.
Who cares? That's not a blessing. Who cares?
I'm not laboring for riches.
Twelve kids, above measure.
I've had to upgrade cars.
Now I can't fit my kids in another car.
Now I need a van.
It can't fit. It's too much.
Too many above measure.
And my wife was told she couldn't have any kids before we got married.
I said, medically, you can't have any kids.
So what fixed her womb?
The tithe.
The Lord, of course.
The Lord fixed her.
And I heard a pastor once say,
I don't believe tithing works because if tithing worked, where are all the rich Christians?
Where are all the wealthy Christians?
It's like, is that how you measure blessings?
For the size of your bank account?
Like, man, most pastors only pastor one church.
It's above measure. I get to pastor two churches.
Maybe three, shortly.
Above measure.
I get to serve the Lord in two states.
Above measure.
More than I ever wanted. More than I ever thought possible.
So you've got to serve the Lord. You say, what did you do, Pastor? Just tithe.
And, Lord, you take care of it.
And, yeah, there are times that the finances get tough.
Of course, teenagers, how much they eat, the grocery bills and all this stuff.
We've got a family size that's three or four times bigger than the average family in Australia.
That means our bills are going to be three to four times more expensive.
That means the wear and tear of the house is going to be three or four times faster than the average house.
That means getting ready to go somewhere is going to take us three to four times longer than the average person.
Everything's a bit harder, but the blessings are so much greater.
So I say this not because Pastor Kevin's after money for the church.
There's a real blessing.
The Lord says, prove me.
And I'm not saying that your 10% is suddenly going to become a million dollars in your bank account,
but the Lord can bless you in so many other ways that you just can't understand.
So why rob the Lord?
Just give him his 10%. It's his.
He's entrusted you.
He's given you a paycheck. The Lord's entrusted you with your paycheck.
And the Lord said, can you hold on to that 10% that belongs to me and give it to the house of the Lord?
And I'll bless you without measure, abundantly.
So why just hand it over to the Lord?
You know, when I started it was hard.
I told you, saving up for my marriage, and now I've got to give 10%.
Well, that's 10%.
But then when you start doing it, you're like, no, that's the Lord's.
It's to the house of the Lord, and Lord, you take care of it.
It's yours anyway, Lord.
I don't even need to know how it gets spent. It's yours.
As long as the house of the Lord has what he needs to do the ministry that he requires,
then that's in your hands, Lord.
Look at verse 11. And not only a blessing, verse 11.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.
Neither shall your vine cast a fruit before the time of the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed.
For you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
All nations shall call you blessed.
The Lord will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
Some people think the devourer is Satan.
I don't think the devourer is necessarily Satan.
I believe the devourer is like the laws of entropy.
Like everything breaks down.
The reason we all have jobs is because something breaks down and you need to fix it or maintain it.
Because that's just the law of the world.
And so just like you drive a car, at some point you need to get it serviced.
You need to get it repaired.
Something's going to happen. Things break down.
And so many times, not only do we spend money on new things, but we spend a lot of money on fixing old things.
And that's the one way that your finances can fly away.
And the Lord says, well if you're tired, make sure the devourer doesn't destroy all your items straight away.
So your fridge is going to last longer.
Your car is going to last longer.
Like that. Your petrol in your tank is going to last longer somehow.
You're going to do spreadsheets and you're going to look at your finances and go, man we haven't got this much left for the month.
And then you get to the end of the month and you've got so much more and you go, how did that happen?
Because the devourer did not take it.
So it's not just the blessings that come, but even the wear and tear will be less in your life than what the common man is.
This is a promise of the Lord.
So give your tithe.
Give it to the house of the Lord and I'm telling you, you're going to be blessed abundantly above measure.
And start measuring it by your dollars in the bank account and start measuring it by the people and the influencers and the friendships.
And the riches that come from God's word that you get to learn from and be edified with.
Measure it in other ways and you'll find that the Lord has blessed you in such abundance.
To me, just living in Australia is such a blessing.
I know it's still tough. The cost of living is going up.
But it's still harder in other places in the world.
And God has blessed us in such an abundant nation, abundant country.
And if you don't like Sydney, come to the sunny coast.
It's even more blessings up there on the sunny coast.
Can you come with me to 1 Timothy 6?
1 Timothy 6.
1 Timothy 6 and verse 17.
Now, the book of Timothy is known as one of the apostolic epistles, right?
The Apostle Paul is telling Pastor Timothy how to teach and run his church.
Alright?
And this is one of the instructions that Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6.17.
Charge them that are rich in this world.
So Timothy, there are some people in your church that are rich in this world.
Okay?
They've got the big bank account.
So this is what you've got to teach these people in your church.
That they be not high-minded like King Hezekiah became.
Look at my things, guys. Look how wealthy I am.
Don't be high-minded.
Don't be lifted up with pride.
Nor trust in uncertain riches.
Don't trust in your possessions.
But in the living God.
So usually when you're very wealthy, you start to trust in your riches.
I feel secure.
You know, I've got this much to take care of my needs and, you know,
I've got this many investment properties over here and I've got this blah, blah.
And again, is anything wrong with that?
No, but your heart can quickly go to those things and trust in those things
rather than trust in the Lord who gave you those things.
Their heart, once again, is in the wrong place.
Their heart is in their riches, not in the Lord God.
So it says here, and he tells us,
Nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God.
Look at this.
Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
So Timothy, tell the rich people in your church,
wealthy people with big bank accounts,
that it's the Lord that gave them that to enjoy it.
So instead of rejoicing in themselves and their abilities,
rejoice in the Lord that gave those riches.
Rejoice in Him.
Verse number 18.
That they do good.
So do good with the riches.
That they may be rich in good works,
ready to distribute,
ready to be generous with what God has given you.
That's what it's saying there.
Willing to communicate.
So if a brother or sister in the Lord has a need,
you know, yes, I'm willing to come alongside
and help you in this hard time that you're going through, brother so and so.
And then verse number 19.
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come,
that they may lay hold on eternal life.
So we know that you're saved, you have eternal life,
but we know that one day the Lord's going to reward us in heaven
for the works that we've done.
You know how very wealthy people can earn rewards in heaven?
What do we see here?
Will the Lord bless me abundantly with my finances on the earth?
I'm going to see how I can be a blessing.
I'm going to give my tithe to the house of the Lord.
I'm ready to distribute. I'm ready to be generous.
I'm ready to pay for the next missions trip to Fiji, Pastor Kevin,
and I'll take care of it, whatever it is.
You know, Pastor Kevin, is there a brother or sister,
is there a family in church that's suffering financially
because they're going through some hardship?
You know, I'm ready to help out where I can.
And when you do that and you're generous and you help
and you pay for this and you pay for that,
that gets translated.
You're laying up hold into eternal life.
You're treasures in heaven.
And you did that with the riches that God has given you on this earth.
So once again, there's nothing wrong with the riches in and of themselves.
It's your heart.
Are you trusting in the riches or are you trusting in the Lord?
So I don't know. I don't know everyone's financial position.
I don't even want to know.
So if this is you, if you have plenty of riches,
then don't be high-minded.
Don't trust in uncertain riches.
And be ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
Lay up your treasures in heaven.
Utilize what God has given you to be a blessing to others
and to the work for his kingdom.
So come back with me to Isaiah, please, Isaiah 39.
Isaiah 39 and verse number 7.
Man, King Hezekiah really messed up.
But then I just look at his life and go, man,
but there's been times that my heart's not been in the right place.
And so I can't be angry at King Hezekiah.
I'm thankful the Lord has these messages in the Bible
to remind us about the weaknesses of man.
And one thing we should definitely walk away from with this is,
even if the Lord blesses me with riches, I'm not going to show it off.
I'm preaching to an ungodly world
so I can rub shoulders with other rich men of this ungodly world.
Forget it. Who cares?
Just praise the Lord for anything you get in life.
Maybe one day, you know, the Lord,
maybe grandparents will pass away or parents pass away.
They leave you with some big inheritance.
You know what you do at that time you receive that big inheritance?
Say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for your gifts.
And Lord, how do I use this for your kingdom?
How do I use this for your purpose?
How do I use this to make sure my heart is in the right place?
And Lord, I'm not going to boast of my riches.
I'm not going to boast of my wealth.
You know, how can you utilize me, Lord,
to be ready to distribute and be a blessing to others?
So King Hezekiah messes up, and verse number seven,
not only will everything be taken away,
all the riches to Babylon, verse number seven it says,
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee,
which thou shalt beget, shall they take away.
And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Man, so Hezekiah, even your own children in your lineage,
they're going to be taken away into Babylon,
and they're going to become eunuchs.
Now, I mean, I can't...
Some people say eunuchs can just be a servant,
but I think the most common understanding of eunuch
is a man who gets castrated.
And if you say, what does that mean?
Look it up yourself.
It makes me weak to describe it.
I mean, that's quite a...
Well, man, that's like a medical procedure done on a man.
And this is, again, part of the judgment
that God put down on King Hezekiah.
Now, this would not play out in King Hezekiah's life.
This would play down a few generations later, okay?
But they'd become eunuchs.
Now, very quickly, keep your finger there,
because we're not finished.
Actually, let's read verse number eight quickly.
I'll just get that one out of the way.
Verse number eight.
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah,
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
Now, it's not saying like, okay, this is such good news.
Obviously, it's not good news.
It's like, King Hezekiah's a godly man.
He's like, yeah, this is right.
I deserve to be punished like this.
Our nation deserves to be judged like this,
because we are prideful.
You know, we don't seem to learn our lessons.
Even when God has done miraculous things in our lives,
we still mess up.
Because it's good.
It's right.
God's judgment is right, is what he's saying.
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
He said, moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.
So, King Hezekiah really knows that God's given him the extra 15 years of life.
And, you know, the captivity is not going to take place during his reign, you know,
because he was one of the good kings in the land of Judah during these times.
But he understands that in generations to pass,
this judgment is going to fall upon the nation.
All right.
So, you know, after King Hezekiah, essentially,
almost all the kings after King Hezekiah are just wicked kings,
except for Josiah.
Josiah is the only one.
But really, after Hezekiah, the nation just goes on a downward spiral.
And what's also interesting, because this is chapter 39,
the 39th book of Malachi, it's the same thing.
It's like after Malachi, the nation just continues going on a downward spiral.
So, we have 400 years of silence until Christ comes on the scene with John the Baptist.
Sort of follows the same logic.
But very quickly, let's go to Daniel chapter 1.
Daniel chapter 1.
Daniel chapter 1 and verse number 1.
So, I'm going to say something that's going to be very unpopular, okay,
because it's always unpopular.
And I am so sick of COVID.
I'm sorry.
I have to bring it up again.
It's just because, like, that's the closest thing that we've gone through
that relates to these passages of Scripture, okay.
But, you know, when we went through that whole period of time,
very stressful, very frustrating, you know, losing our liberties, losing our freedoms.
You can't travel more than five kilometres per hour.
Praise God, I'm a pastor.
I was an essential worker.
I could travel.
As long as I had something from the church that says I'm travelling to visit Brother Stone.
So, I could do that.
So, it was all right for me.
But still, I understand the frustrations and you lose your liberties and your freedoms.
And then what happened?
What's the next thing?
Then they wanted to force a medical procedure on you.
And one of the arguments was,
Pastor, surely we've got to fight all this.
But, you know, the judgment of God on Judah was that they're going to lose all their freedoms
and they're going to suffer a medical procedure worse than a vaccination.
Castration.
Like, it's the same thing.
There's nothing new under the sun.
And you know what?
Those that resisted, those that fought against this foreign power takeover,
they're the ones that got slaughtered and destroyed.
And the ones that surrendered, it went well for them.
And so, we want to be like Daniel and his three friends, don't we?
They're really great examples.
And in Daniel chapter 1, verse number 1, it says,
And the third year of the reign of Jehoiachim, king of Judah,
came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiachim, king of Judah, into his hand,
with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinah,
to the house of his God.
And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God.
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs,
that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, look at this,
of the king's seed, and of the prince's.
So we saw this with the judgment that came on Hezekiah.
Your seed, your descendants, are going to become eunuchs.
So, he's gone to the prince of the eunuchs, the one that's in charge of all the eunuchs,
and says, look, I'm bringing you some of these men.
Verse number 4,
Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom,
and cunning in knowledge and understanding science,
and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace,
and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat,
and of the wine which he drank,
so nourishing them three years, and at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
Among these were the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names,
gave unto Daniel the name of Belshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach,
and to Mishael of Meshach, and to Azariah of Abednego.
So, I won't keep reading, but I wanted to show you this is the outcome
of the judgment that God brought upon the land of Judah.
Daniel and his three friends, taken captive, lost all their liberties,
all of it, we lost some, some.
They lost it all.
They were taken away from their families, taken to a foreign land.
If I had to choose between castration and an injection,
I'd take, give me the injection.
They had to do the castration.
Eunuchs made eunuchs.
And they surrendered.
And things went well for them in the land of Babylon.
Things went well for them even after all their liberties were stripped away from them.
So, I say that because number one, it's unpopular.
We don't like to hear that part. I don't like to hear it either.
But I've got to show you what the Bible teaches here.
Honestly, without bias, if I had a bias, I would say,
let's rise up and fight the wicked people of this land because they are wicked people.
And I did fight. I just did it a different way.
Just got on my knees, bowed my head, and said, Lord, take him out.
Vengeance is yours. You will repay.
Lord, I will leave it in your hands.
And I want to be like Daniel and his three friends.
If that means my liberties get taken away, if a forced medical,
I didn't get the forced medical procedure, but if it becomes forced,
then Lord, I guess you're just going to have to take care of my physical needs.
It's up to you, Lord. I'm not taking this body to heaven anyway.
Just like my riches, I'm not taking this physical body.
I'll get a new resurrected body someday, which is the one that matters.
But brethren, title for the sermon was, Nothing Shall Be Left.
Not even this physical body.
So if you're like Daniel and his three friends, you get castrated.
I mean, I feel sorry for you, but don't worry.
God's going to give you a new resurrected body one day.
You're going to rule and reign with Christ.
We're going to rule over this earth with righteous judgment,
the righteous word of God, and it's going to be beautiful and peaceful from that day forward.
So let this be a lesson.
And make sure your heart is in the right place.
That's the main thing.
Make sure your heart is toward the Lord.
Make sure you're not trusting in your riches.
Make sure you're trusting in the Lord.
I know I've shared this many times, but I want to remind you,
in case you feel a bit poor, and if you feel like you're strong to pay your bills,
I just want to remind you, as an Australian,
you are still in the top 1% of the richest people of the entire world.
You really are.
You just have to get out there and look at the rest of the world and realize it to be true.
And so we shouldn't whine.
We should be very content with what God has given us.
And just thank the Lord.
Thank you, Lord, that I'm Australian.
Thank you, Lord.
I mean, I don't necessarily agree with a false minimum wage,
but if you're on minimum wage, you're still doing heaps better than most people of this world.
You can thank the Lord for that.
And say to the Lord,
Lord, how can I utilize the riches and the wealth and the abundance that you've given me in Australia
to further your kingdom and your work
and to take care of the people that you've put me over?
All right, brave ones.