All right, so leave your Bibles open there in Malachi 3.
So I won't be going through Genesis 31 for the morning service,
but I will go through that in the afternoon service.
I wanted to just continue our series on the rightly dividing series.
And if you look at the end of Malachi chapter 3, look at verse number 18,
the last verse there, Malachi 3, 13, it says, then shall ye return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God
and him that serveth him not.
These sound like very important words to me.
You know, discerning between those that serve God and those that do not serve him, okay.
Now, if you understand the context of Malachi 3, this is why, you know,
going through the rightly dividing series, I lead up, build upon the things that we've looked
at in the past, specifically on the Wednesdays when we're going through this.
And I was going through the different books of the Bible and explain how the book
of Malachi really has to do with the second temple.
You know, the second temple, Judah have been, have come back out of Babylonian captivity.
They've gone back to Jerusalem, rebuilt the city, the walls, the temple,
and then we've got about 100 years afterwards,
we see that the nation of Israel is in a bad state again.
What was God saying throughout this whole chapter as we're reading Malachi 3?
God was saying, you're leaving things out.
In fact, he says, you're robbing me.
He says, how are you robbing me?
Have a look at it there again in verse number, verse number 8.
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me, and ye say wherein have ye robbed thee in tithes and offerings.
You see, the Old Testament Israelites there after the completion of the second temple, right?
I mean, this is the, this is toward the end of the Bible, the Old Testament.
You know, the next thing, the next big story we get is Jesus Christ coming in the book
of Matthew, you know, some 400 years later.
But God makes it very clear, look, you've robbed me
because you're not giving your offerings and you're not giving your tithes to the storehouse.
You're not giving that to the temple.
And so the title of the sermon today, what I want to rightly divide today,
the title is Tithes, Offerings, and First Fruits.
Tithes, Offerings, and First Fruits.
We see, again, right at the end there in verse number 18, then shall ye return in discern
between the righteous and the wicked.
When we're trying to rightly divide the word of truth,
we want to discern what is right and what is wrong.
And when it comes to the, the teaching of tithing, I'm going to primarily focus
on tithing, there are a lot of different opinions out there.
A lot of different opinions out there and I want to try to give you
as biblical of a position as I can.
Now, when it comes to preaching about finances, this is the sermons
that every pastor does not like to preach on, okay?
Because there's always somebody in the church that thinks, oh,
he's preaching about money because he wants more money.
You know, no, no, you know, we've got to preach about money because it's in the Bible, okay?
And if it's our job to preach everything that's in the Bible and, you know,
the topic of giving, the topic of tithing, offerings, all these kinds of things,
we need to cover what the Bible says.
Otherwise, I'm doing you at this service by ignoring these topics, right?
Now, I'm not preaching this because we have a problem with money.
We don't.
As a church, even though we're a smaller church, we've been doing super well.
But what I want is for you to know what God says about this topic
and I do not want you robbing God, okay?
I do not want you robbing God because then you're not discerning between good and evil.
You're not discerning between right and wrong.
You're not serving the Lord the way you ought to be serving him.
If you are robbing God.
Now, the title was Tides, Offerings, and First Fruits, okay?
And I believe in order to get the right teaching on tithing,
we need to also understand what offerings are and what the first fruits are in the Bible.
Because sometimes people mix all these things together, rightly divided.
We've got to divide these things and explain what the differences are.
Please go to Leviticus chapter 27.
Leviticus chapter 27.
And I'm going to first start off by explaining these three concepts in the Bible,
the tithes, the offerings, and the first fruits.
Now, why am I covering these topics?
Because in the Old Testament days, you know, when God had the Old Testament covenant
with the nation of Israel, these were the three major ways
in which the Israelites would come and provide needs for the tribe of, you know,
the Levitical priesthood, for the tribe of Levi.
Remember that the Levites did not inherit land.
You know, they did not have land where they could grow their own crops.
They lived on land.
They lived on other land that belonged to other people.
But the way God would provide for the Levites was through the tithes,
the offerings, and the first fruits.
So Leviticus chapter 27 verse 32.
Look at this.
Leviticus 27 verse 32.
It says here, and concerning the tithes of the herd or of the flock,
even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
The reason I wanted to read this is because it gives us the definition of the tithe.
When people talk about tithing, what does it mean?
It says there, given of what you have, right?
And then it says the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
The tithe means a tenth.
It means 10%.
What God is asking the Israelites is that you would give 10% of your produce,
whether that's animals, whether that's wheat or fruits, and give that to the temple.
And essentially, the tithe became a tax to the Old Testament nation of Israel.
Now, when it comes to tithing, this is not the first time we see tithing, okay?
We see tithing, in fact, if you want to go to Genesis 14, you can do that.
Genesis 14 verse 20.
Genesis 14 verse 20, we see Abraham, the very first time we see the tithe given,
we see Abraham tithing to Melchizedek, the king of Salem.
In Genesis 14, 20, it says, and blessed be the most high God,
which have delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all.
Now, the book of Genesis does not contain the Old Testament covenant
between the nation of Israel and God, okay?
The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
It's the foundational book of all things.
It's the foundational book of the Old Testament covenant.
It's the foundational book of the New Testament covenant, okay?
And so, when we see tithing taking place here as an example, as a picture,
then you can understand, because some people say, well, tithing is not applicable
because we're not living in Old Testament days.
But we see tithing done even before the Old Testament covenant came
into practice with Moses and the Israelites, okay?
So, I just wanted to show you that, that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek.
Now, if you guys can please go to Numbers 18.
Numbers 18, and I said to you that the tithe is given 10%, given 10%.
This is important for us to use the right language.
I've heard people say things like, and maybe I've used this language,
maybe I've said this incorrectly, you know, I'm not going to tithe 10% today.
I'm going to tithe 20% today.
I mean, if you want to give 20%, you can give 20%, but that's not a tithe, okay?
Or I'm not going to tithe 10%, I'm going to tithe 5%.
Well, you're not tithing, okay?
Because tithing by definition is 10%.
You can't say I'm going to give 10% of my 20%.
What does that mean?
You know, I'm going to give 10% of my 5%.
You know, no, no, tithe means the 10th.
The tithe means 10%.
Now, of course, you can give whatever you want, you can give 10%.
You can give above that if you want, but I just want to take the definition
of what the tithe is, and that is 10%.
What was the purpose of the tithe in Numbers 18 verse 20?
Numbers 18 verse 20, it says here,
And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shall have no inheritance in their land,
neither shall there have any part among them.
I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance.
There it is, I've given them all the tenth in Israel.
The tithe, for their service, which they serve,
even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
So those that would serve in the tabernacle in the temple,
they would have their needs provided when the Israelites came and gave their tenth,
gave their tithe.
That's the purpose behind it.
That's the purpose behind it, okay?
It's not so the Levites don't have to work and do nothing with their lives
and they just get provided for another.
They were serving in the temple, and not all of them served as priests.
Many of the Levites served as singers.
Many of them, I'm sure, were cleaning on the cleaning roster
and taking care of their needs.
You know, there was a lot of different tasks required to keep up the tabernacle,
especially the temple, and the people that would serve in the temple were the Levites.
Okay?
Only the Levites that were children of Aaron could serve as priests and high priests
and those kinds of things, okay?
So that's the tithe.
That's the very basic principle of the tithe.
Now let's talk about offerings.
What are offerings?
I'm speaking specifically of Old Testament offerings, okay?
And sometimes we paint this in the wrong way in the New Testament.
We say, and again, I use this language because every church I know uses this language.
They'll say, you know, when you give financially,
they'll say, you know, give up your tithes and your offerings, okay?
But I think if we look at the Bible and you see the term offering,
it's not really related to any kind of financial money, okay?
It's actually got to do with sacrifice.
And that can be financial, of course, but it's beyond that.
It's beyond that.
And if you look at, you know, so offerings are separate from tithing.
It's a totally different system that God put into place.
And again, we see offering done very early on in the Bible.
I'll just quickly read to you from Genesis 4-3.
It says, in the process of time it came to pass,
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fount thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering,
but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect
and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell.
So we know this story very early on in the book of Genesis.
Both Cain and Abel as two brothers giving an offering to the Lord.
One gave the fruits of his hands, the other gave of the shed blood of a lamb, okay?
Which pictured, of course, the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
And that's why God had respect unto the offering of Abel,
not of an offering of works, okay?
And then, like again, this is in the book of Genesis.
You know, the book of beginnings.
But then, just like in the Old Testament times,
Old Testament covenant that God puts with the nation of Israel,
God creates a systemized way of giving an offering, okay?
And there are many kinds of offerings.
You know, I'll just read some fruit to you.
You know, you've got the burnt offering.
You've got the meat offering.
And the meat offering wasn't meat as we term meat, as flesh.
The meat offering would be given of wheat and flour.
Okay, wheat and flour.
Of course, the Bible uses the word meat many times in reference to just food.
You know, even if it's vegetation.
Even if you're eating a vegetarian diet.
The Bible would call that meat, okay?
Meats that you're eating.
There was the peace offering.
There was a sin offering.
There was a trespass offering.
And so, these offerings were, again,
later on, we understand that this would be a picture of Jesus Christ and his offering, of course.
And many of these offerings would be burnt up.
But then many of these offerings, again, the children of the Levites,
the Levitical priesthood and those of that tribe would take of this offering.
And that would be their food.
That would be what would get them through.
That would be the provision of their needs as well, okay?
So this was another way that God would provide our needs for the tribe of Levi.
And the last thing that I've got here is the first fruits.
The first fruits.
Now, again, the first fruits many times is tied in with an offering,
tied in with tithing, even, sometimes by preachers.
But it's actually its own thing, the first fruits.
And so, I read to you how Abel gave of his offering.
Remember that?
He gave the lamb.
But, in fact, not only did he do that, in verse number 42,
and Abel, he also brought of the first lings of his flock and all the fat thereof.
So when Abel gave his offering, he actually gave of his first fruits.
The very first, you know, profit that he got from his sheep, from his cattle,
the very first births is what he brought to the Lord and offered.
That was his first fruits, okay?
And he offered that as an offering, okay?
But, again, when it comes to God creating a covenant with Israel,
God again systemized a way to give of the first fruits.
And the most popular way that he did this was through the feast of the first fruits.
The feast of the first fruits, which in the New Testament,
we know as the celebration of Pentecost, okay?
Pentecost is the first fruits.
Please go to Leviticus chapter 23.
Leviticus chapter 23, verse 9.
I just want to show you this.
Leviticus chapter 23, verse 9.
Leviticus chapter 23, verse 9 reads,
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
When ye be come into the land which I give unto you,
and shall reap the harvester of, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the first fruits
of your harvest unto the priest.
Of course, the priest was serving there in the tabernacle, okay?
And then, again, I told you, then they have the feast,
the celebration of the first fruits.
And they would come and bring, the whole nation of Israel,
would come and bring the first produce,
the first cattle, the first, you know, fruits, the first harvest of the wheat.
They would bring that to the temple.
And again, that would be the way the priest and the Levites
would sustain themselves by the giving of these things.
So I hope that kind of gives you a better picture.
There were three major ways where God would provide for the needs of the priest
and the Levites through the worship through the tabernacle
or the temple that would come later on.
And that's important to understand because when you were giving of your first fruits,
there wasn't an amount that you would give.
Like with a tithe, you would give 10%, right?
But with your first fruits, you just give your first fruits.
You don't know whether that first fruits would be 10% by the end of your harvest.
You don't know if that first fruits would be 5% or 2% or 1%.
You have no idea.
You just give of your first fruits.
It's important to separate this from tithing, okay?
And the offerings, even though sometimes they are interchangeable,
is because I've heard preachers teach on tithing
and use the principle of the first fruits to talk about tithing, okay?
And this is where I think some people get into a mess.
And this is where some people, by hearing that,
will then think tithing has been done away with.
And I'll go through that in a moment, okay?
So when it comes to tithing, I want to focus on tithing.
I wanted to focus on tithing today because I do believe
that is the way by which the house of God, the local New Testament church,
is to be provided for in these days, okay?
When I look at tithing, there are four major positions that I'm aware of.
Maybe you know of others. I don't know.
But there are four major positions that I've seen, I've heard, people that I know.
Number one is that it is mandatory.
Tithing, given 10% of your increase, is mandatory in the New Testament.
And if you don't tithe, you'll be cursed by God.
The second position, and I'll tell you this is the position that I hold,
is that it is mandatory in the New Testament,
but if you don't do it, you won't be cursed by God, okay?
The third position that I know of is that it's not mandatory in the New Testament,
but you should be given 10% anyway, okay?
Now, when it comes to these three positions that I've read so far,
throughout my Christian life, I've held to one of these three positions
at different points in life, as I've heard different preaching,
as I've read different parts of the Bible.
You know, I've always been one of these three things.
I've always had different ideas of the tithe,
but that didn't stop me from tithing,
because I believed that was the right thing to do all those times, okay?
And again, I hold now the second position, which is it is mandatory,
but if you don't do it, you won't be cursed.
The fourth position is that it is not mandatory in the New Testament,
and what you give is just completely up to you.
You know, you can give 100%, you can give 1%, you can give whatever you want.
You can give 0%, if that's really what you want, okay?
It's completely up to you, and it's not mandatory.
And you know, I believe that's just a complete misrepresentation
of what we'll have a look at.
And I want to cover all these things,
but primarily, I want to teach on the second one.
Mandatory in the New Testament, but if you don't, you won't be cursed by God, okay?
Now, you'll have to go back to my teaching,
when I went through the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament,
for you to understand why I do not believe New Testament believers.
I think this is very clear in the Bible, in fact,
that we cannot be cursed by God, okay?
We cannot be cursed by God.
Because we enter the New Covenant not based on our own obedience,
we enter the New Covenant based on the obedience of Jesus Christ.
And we cannot be cursed by God, because Christ became the curse for us,
when he hung upon the tree.
The Bible says he became our curse.
And so our obedience at the cursing of the New Covenant
depends on what Jesus Christ has done for us.
And if you're saved, you've believed on Jesus Christ,
you've received the blessing and that curse has been removed away from you,
because Christ already paid for that.
Under the Old Testament, yes, you know, Christ had not yet come on the scene
as that sacrifice to bring in the New Covenant,
but in the Old Testament, yes.
And in fact, when we saw Malachi free,
we saw those that robbed God would be cursed by God,
because under the Old Testament, if you obeyed God, you'd be blessed.
And if you disobeyed God, the nation, in fact, would be cursed by God.
We'd be cursed by God.
And so we need to understand the differences of the covenants
that we're in today.
But just because I say you won't be cursed by God,
it doesn't mean that God just lets you do whatever you want.
Just because you disobey and you're in the old man
and you do whatever you want, God will chastise you.
Very clear in the Bible.
God will chastise you.
But the thing that you always need to bring to remembrance
is that chastisement is not a curse.
Chastisement is a blessing.
It's a great thing to be chastised by God,
because he says he does it for our profit.
He wants us to do well once we're chastised.
When I chastise my children, I want to do it for their profit.
I'm not doing it to curse them.
I don't want to destroy them.
I don't want to cast them out of the house.
I chastise them as a blessing so they can learn from their mistakes
and they can profit in the future as they grow up.
So when I say you're not going to be cursed by God,
please don't misunderstand.
I'm not saying you can't be chastised,
but chastisement is a blessing.
Now, I don't know, were you guys in Leviticus 27?
If you, I think you are.
If not, just go back there.
Leviticus chapter 27.
Let's just very quickly explain the tithe.
The tithe.
Leviticus chapter 27 verse 30, please.
Leviticus chapter 27 verse 30.
One thing I just want to bring to your attention here.
It says,
And all the tithe of the land,
whether of the seed of the land,
or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's.
It is holy unto the Lord.
One thing you need to understand when we start talking about the tithe,
God says here, it is the Lord's.
It belongs to him.
10% of your increase.
Now, I know you're not farmers.
I know you don't grow sheep,
but 10% of the increase that you have been given actually belongs to God.
It's God's.
All right?
And so the purpose behind it is to give it to God.
If you're holding on to it, you're holding back that which belongs to God.
And that's why God says you're robbing me when you're not doing that.
You're robbing me.
Look at verse number 32.
It's not just the produce of the land.
Verse number 32, it says,
And concerning the tithe of the herd and of the flock,
even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
So the Israelites were to give of the produce of their land.
Remember God gave them land.
God gave them, you know, a land flowing of milk and honey.
You know, it's a very productive place.
A place where they could raise their cattle
and of their work of the labor of their hands,
they would bring a tenth of all of it.
A tenth of all of it.
A tenth of their increase.
Okay?
Now, one thing that you see developed throughout the Bible,
and this is why I taught in Genesis 28.
We went through Genesis 28 already.
If you want to get a better picture of what I'm about to explain,
please go back and listen to that sermon.
Those that say tithing is not for today,
they'll say it's been done away in the Old Testament
because we no longer have the tabernacle and the temple.
And the tithe was for the tabernacle and the temple.
And I believe, yes, it was for that purpose.
But they say it's been done away with now
because we no longer have that tabernacle and that temple.
But here's the thing.
The tithe wasn't just for the tabernacle and temple,
which were temporary.
The tithe was for the house of God.
And yes, the tabernacle and temple did fit those descriptions
when God was using that at that time in the Old Testament days.
But the Lord had a house as well prior to the Old Testament covenant.
And that house was set up with Jacob back in Genesis 28.
If you remember, Jacob, he had a dream of God,
and Jacob saw a ladder of these angels descending and ascending,
and Jacob's overwhelmed.
He raises up a pillar.
He says this is the house of God.
He anoints it with oil.
And he makes a vow to God and says to God,
look, if you just provide my needs, you give me clothing,
I can get back to my land, I'm looked after,
I'm going to give you my tithe, he says.
That's the vow that he makes.
And he makes it to the house of God.
And so one thing you need to understand
is that in the book of Genesis,
we see the tithe being given to the house of God.
And yes, that was then the tabernacle.
That was then the temple.
And yes, those things have been done away with.
But in the New Testament, it's the local church.
It's the body of Christ.
That's the temple of God.
Sorry, that is the house of God.
That is the house of God.
And so just because the temple and tabernacle
have been done away with,
the house of God has not been done away with.
Okay?
The house of God has not been done away with.
And that's the greater picture.
That's the overall arc is the house of God,
not the temple and the tabernacle which were temporary things.
Now, if you guys please go to,
if you guys go to Hebrews chapter nine, please.
Hebrews chapter nine.
And while you're turning there,
I'm going to read to you just quickly
from 1 Timothy chapter three verse 15,
which says,
But if I tarry along,
that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth.
Again, just confirming that the New Testament church,
there is called the house of God,
which is the church of the living God,
the church of the living God.
And again, the idea there is that God's presence is here
when we gather in the name of Jesus Christ.
Praise God, this is his house.
So should we just do where we've tied in?
No, the house of God still exists.
Okay?
And we learned that principle very early
in the book of Genesis.
And again, if you want that detail,
please go back and listen to my preaching
on the Genesis 28 sermon,
because I don't want to rehash all that again.
But you guys are in Hebrews chapter nine verse eight.
And so I just believe by looking at these passages,
by seeing the tithe,
by seeing the house of God,
it makes perfect sense, right?
That it continues.
And what we see in the New Testament
is that when things are changed,
God tells us what has been changed.
When things have been fulfilled,
God tells us when things have been fulfilled.
It's not up to you and me to decide,
oh man, maybe this has been fulfilled in the Old Testament.
Maybe this has been done away with.
What does the New Testament tell us
it's been done away with?
If it has, praise God, it's been done away with.
It's been fulfilled in Christ.
If it hasn't, then it continues, right?
It's not just up to our opinions and up to our feelings
to decide whether the tithe is still relevant today.
But those that are against tithing
will look at this passage here
in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 8.
Let's read it.
It says,
the Holy Ghost this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.
So we're talking about the Old Testament days
with the tabernacle here, right?
Verse number 9,
which was a figure for the time then present
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect
as pertaining to the conscience.
So they say, see, they would bring their gifts,
they would bring their sacrifices here to the tabernacle.
Verse number 9,
which was a figure of the time then present.
See, then present.
So we don't do that anymore, they say.
Verse number 10,
which stood only in meats and drinks
in diverse washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation.
What is the time of reformation?
Verse number 11,
but Christ being come
and high priests of good things to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle
not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building.
So those that are against tithing
will take this idea here
where it says,
things that have been done away with,
what is it?
The meats, the drinks, diverse washing,
the carnal ordinances
until the time of reformation.
And they'll lump in tithing
with the carnal ordinances.
As they say, tithing is part of the carnal ordinances,
that's been done away with
now that Christ has appeared.
But brethren,
and this is what I really keep drumming home
in the men's leadership class, right?
We want to base the things that we believe,
the things that we teach,
the things that we practice
on clear scripture.
On scripture that's black and white.
Otherwise, it's just your opinion.
You know, it's just a hypothetical.
And maybe you're right by some of those things.
But we don't know
unless the Bible specifically states something.
Let me ask you something.
Tithing was a big deal in the Old Testament.
It was a huge deal.
Would it have been so hard for God
to just put it in here?
You know, which stood only in meats and drinks,
diverse watchings, tithing and carnal ordinances.
You know, if God was doing away with tithing,
would it have been that hard for God
to just put that in there for us
as a black and white?
Is tithing part of the carnal ordinances?
Is that what's been done away with in Christ?
You know, Christ is the one
that came and fulfilled these things
that are listed for us here
in Hebrews chapter 9.
And if you guys go to Hebrews chapter 10,
have a look at this.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1.
I want you to think about this, brethren.
I want you to really give this a lot of thought.
Okay, has God done away with tithing?
We know he's done away with some things.
We just read that.
Okay, what are the things
that have been done away with?
What are the things that have been fulfilled?
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1.
Have a look at this.
For the law having a shadow
of good things to come.
That's like a figure, a shadow, a type.
That's the terminology that we use.
Of good things to come
and not the very image of the things
can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year
continually make the comers
there unto perfect.
Okay, look at verse number.
Go drop down to verse number 8.
Verse number 8.
So we see the sacrifices,
the offerings that were given there.
They could never make you perfect.
Those sacrifices could never save you.
Salvation has always been by Jesus Christ,
by faith in him.
Verse number 8.
Verse number 8, same chapter.
Above when he said,
sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin.
These are different types of offerings.
Thou wouldest not,
neither has pleasure therein
which are offered by the law.
Then said he,
lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first
that he may establish the second.
What's he taken away?
We just read about the offerings, right?
Verse number 10.
By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.
Praise God.
We have something black and white, don't we?
We have something that was a shadow,
something that was likened unto Christ
and that was the offerings,
that was the burnt offerings,
the sacrifices of the animals.
That's been done away with
from the old covenant.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ is the offering today.
Once for all.
Praise God once for all.
He sacrificed himself once.
You need to believe in Christ once.
Once you believe in Jesus Christ,
that once you're safe for all eternity.
Your sins were paid for,
your past,
your present,
your future sins have been paid for.
That one time Jesus Christ was on the cross.
Praise God.
This is why we can never lose our salvation
because all our sins have been paid for
by the offering of Jesus Christ.
So we have a clear passage there, don't we?
We can see something's been done away with.
We can see something has been fulfilled in Christ.
That's the offering.
Remember the title of the sermon today?
Tides.
Offerings.
First fruits.
Let's talk about the first fruits.
Go to, if you guys can go to
1 Corinthians 15 verse 22.
1 Corinthians verse 15, chapter 15.
1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 22.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 22.
This is about the resurrection.
For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order,
Christ the first fruits.
Afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
Do we see the first fruits?
Being fulfilled in somebody.
We do, don't we?
We see the first fruits there.
Being fulfilled in the Old Testament.
The first fruits represented what?
The resurrection.
It represented the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The offering represented his death.
The first fruits represented his resurrection.
So then we can see that and go,
well, hold on.
The first fruits in the Bible there,
that was a shadow of things to come as well.
It points it.
It's one of these carnal ordinances
that pointed us to Christ.
It's been done away with.
Praise God.
I'll just read to you from James 1 18 also.
It says of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth that we,
brethren, we should be a kind of first fruits
of his creatures.
You know, we're also considered
the first fruits of God.
When you've believed on God,
you've been saved.
He counts you as his first fruits
that comes from the harvest.
Praise God for that.
And so we see how the New Testament
uses these words,
uses the things that we should be familiar with
from the Old Testament
and shows us how these were pictures,
how they've been fulfilled.
The offering has been fulfilled in Christ.
The first fruits is the resurrection,
but also just our general salvation, right?
Which we received by the death bearing
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So those things have definitely been done away with
because we have scripture.
It's scripture that tells us these things, right?
How it's been fulfilled.
But brethren, let me ask you this question.
How was the tithing fulfilled?
Think about that.
It's very easy to know how the offerings
and the first fruits were fulfilled in Christ.
If we're doing away,
if God has done away with tithing,
how has that been fulfilled in Christ?
Think about it.
Can you think of any New Testament passages
that tell us how Christ is the tithe
or something along those lines?
Say, no, I can't.
Well, there isn't.
There isn't any verses like that.
So what should we conclude?
Has it been fulfilled?
Has it been ended?
No.
God's very clear about what has been fulfilled, right?
God's not going to leave us hanging about tithing
if it's been fulfilled.
In what way?
I mean, even if you were to try to come up with a way
how Jesus Christ has fulfilled the tithe,
how in the world, how would you do that?
You know, I guess if you're a Calvinist,
you would say, well, maybe Jesus died
for 10% of people, right?
Only 10% of people get, you know, did Jesus die
for the other 90% can be damned to hell.
Maybe that's the way some, I don't know,
I'm just making it up, right?
I mean, what else?
I guess those that believe in a workspace gospel.
Well, Jesus Christ did 10% of our salvation.
He opened the door so we can be saved,
but you've got to do the other 90%.
You know, you got to keep up the works.
You got to be obedient to God to be saved.
How would you apply the tithe in Christ fulfilling that?
You know why you can't think of it?
And maybe if you thought about it,
you can tell me later.
But the reason you can't,
and the reason why you can't think of any passages
is because it's not been fulfilled.
It's because it still continues.
The house of God still exists.
This is the way which the New Testament church
needs to be provided for, you know,
by the giving of your tithe, okay?
So the tithe was not a shadow of anything
to do with Jesus Christ.
It is the way by which we are to provide
to the local church or to the house of God, all right?
Now, those that are against tithe
will put it this way.
They'll say, well, the New Testament
never tells us to tithe.
You know, it's never repeated that we need to tithe.
And that's such a faulty logic, right?
Because the New Testament never tells us
that we should not commit rape either.
Does that mean it's fine to rape someone now
because the New Testament never told us again?
That's just stupidity, okay?
If God has already told us what to do
and what not to do,
then those things remain
unless he specifically tells us
there's been a change, all right?
There's been a change.
Listen, with my children,
Liliana here, right?
She's, how old are you, Lily?
I can't remember, five?
All right, she's five years old.
She's not allowed to make me a tea or coffee
because it's hot water.
I don't want her to make a mistake.
She's still young.
She could burn herself, right?
Do I have to keep telling her the same command?
Don't go into the kitchen.
Don't boil water.
Once I've told her, that's the rule
until she becomes Isabel's age
and I change the rule
and I say, Isabel, can you make me a tea, right?
Because now you're older.
The rule has changed.
Something has been changed, right?
You've got an older, you know,
in the Bible, the New Testament has come into place.
Something has changed
but God will tell us what's been changed
and what hasn't been changed is still ongoing.
The tithe has not been fulfilled.
The tithe has not been changed.
Keep giving your tithe
because I don't want you robbing God.
It's not about my income.
It's not.
You know, I don't need it, guys.
I want you to be right with God.
I want you to be able to discern
between what is right and wrong
and I know tithing can be difficult
when you haven't gotten a practice of doing it, all right?
Please go to Hebrews chapter 7 now.
Hebrews chapter 7 verse 4.
Very quickly, I already spoke to you about
Abraham giving his tithe to Melchizedek, right?
When Hebrews chapter 7,
it kind of repeats the same story
but I want you to pay attention to the words here.
Hebrews chapter 7 verse 4.
So what did he give of?
The tenth of the spoils, right?
The spoils, if you may remember the story,
he went to war, he delivered his nephew Lot
from some wicked kings
and when he won,
he took the spoils of the losers, right?
He took that and of that spoil of his increase
because of the warfare,
he gave a tenth of that to Melchizedek.
We don't, you know, it could have been cattle.
It could have, I'm sure it could have been gold and silver.
It could have been several things,
things that are valuable.
He gave that to Melchizedek, right?
It's all about how great this man was, Melchizedek,
that even Abraham would tie to him.
Verse number 5.
In the time of Moses,
What the Bible is saying here
is that the priesthood of Melchizedek
is greater than the priesthood of the Levites, okay?
And the Levites receive a tenth
and they say, well, the Levites,
even the Levites gave a tenth to Melchizedek
because they were in the loins of Abraham
at the point in time.
So if you were just going to make a decision,
if you were going to like,
one of these two priesthoods I'm going to tie to,
the priesthood of the Levites,
which you should have if you were part of the nation of Israel
or to the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek,
which one would be the greater one
that you should be giving ties to?
Obviously the order of Melchizedek, right?
Because even the Levites gave a tenth through Abraham.
Let's keep going.
Drop down to verse number nine.
So I know this is symbolic,
but even the Levites who received tithes,
paid tithes, which is what I just said,
through Abraham,
when Abraham gave his tithes to Melchizedek.
Okay, let's go to Hebrews chapter five, please.
Just two chapters back,
Hebrews chapter five, verse five.
And I know you know this already,
but just to close it off,
of course, you know, in the time of Abraham,
yes, he had the priest Melchizedek here
whom he gave tithes to,
but we also have the priesthood of Melchizedek
available today in Hebrews five, five.
It says,
so also Christ glorified not himself
to be made an high priest,
but he that said unto him,
thou art my son,
to they have I begotten thee,
as he saith also in another place,
thou art a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.
So we're living now in a time
when Christ has been resurrected from the dead,
he's been the first begotten from the dead,
he's been given the priesthood of Melchizedek.
He's our great high priest today.
And even Abraham gave his tithes to Melchizedek.
Melchizedek, the order of Melchizedek
is here today, guys.
And I know Abraham did not give it
to the house of God,
but he gave it to the minister,
he gave it to the priest, right?
And of course, I've taught that Melchizedek
is a type, is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.
And you might say,
but how do I give it to Jesus?
Again, not only is the church called the house of God,
but the church is called the body of Christ.
When you come to the body of Christ,
when you come to the house of God
and you give your tithe,
you are giving it to Jesus Christ.
It is his body on this earth
that he's left us with, okay?
Our church is so important.
Any church that believes in Jesus Christ,
any church that belongs to Jesus Christ
is so important because they are the body of Christ.
You say, I don't want to give to church,
I want to give to Jesus.
You give to Jesus by giving to the church, okay?
How do I serve Jesus?
By serving the brethren, okay?
This is where you serve Jesus Christ
in the local New Testament church,
the house of God.
Please go back to Malachi 3,
Malachi 3 verse 7.
I wanted to preach this sermon first in the morning
while you're still fresh
because there's a lot of Bible verses, right?
And so this is why I preach this today
rather than for the afternoon service.
But Malachi 3 verse 7.
Let's read it again.
Malachi 3 verse 7.
I've heard it said that, you know,
tithing has been done away with
because I don't see any rich Christians walking around.
You know, saved believers.
You know, it's not like we've got these mansions
and all these investment property.
Some brethren do, but most of us, we don't, right?
We're not like abundantly wealthy
and we don't know what to do with our money kind of position.
But look at Malachi 3 verse 7.
Even from the days of your fathers,
ye have gone away from mine ordinances
and have not kept them.
Return unto me and I will return unto you,
save the Lord of hosts.
But ye said, wherein shall we return?
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and earthenings.
Ye are cursed with a curse,
for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
So what's the instruction that God then gives
to the nation of Israel?
He says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse
that there may be meat in mine house
and prove me now herewith, save the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
and there shall not be room enough to receive it.
See, this is a two-fold process.
It's not just to make sure
the needs are provided for in the house of God,
but God wants to bless you abundantly by doing this.
This is the advantage of you giving your tithe.
When you say, I just can't afford to tithe,
honestly, you can't afford not to tithe
because you're missing out on the abundant blessings
that God has for your life.
Let's keep going, verse number 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 in the field,
save the Lord of hosts,
and all nations shall call you blessed,
for ye shall be a delight for some land,
save the Lord of hosts.
And so what I've heard is, well, here,
say God is promising that he'll pull them out a blessing,
they'll have great produce,
they'll have great wealth on the land,
people will look at their land and say,
look how wealthy you are, look how blessed you are,
and it's like, well, why can't I see
all these wealthy Christians,
all these Christians that are tithing to church,
why aren't they all abundantly rich?
Why aren't they swimming in their mansions of silver
or of gold dollars or whatever, you know?
Why isn't that going on?
And when someone makes that argument,
you can see what's in their heart,
you can actually see the condition of their heart.
Because the blessings of God are not,
they can be financial,
but they're not just financial, okay?
The blessings of God,
I'm going to read to you just a beautiful passage
of scripture in Matthew 5,
you don't need to turn there,
I'll just read it quickly.
Matthew 5 verse 3, the words of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5 verse 3, he says,
blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You know, you've entered the kingdom of heaven
when you were saved,
and you are going to in the millennial kingdom
when Christ comes and the new heaven,
you are part of that kingdom.
That is a blessing.
Oh, but I'd rather my money,
I'd rather the kingdom of God.
That's the blessing.
Verse 4, blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
How else can God bless you?
By comforting you when you're mourning,
when you have sorrow, when you have grief,
God steps in and comforts you.
That's a blessing.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
You know, God's going to give us this earth
for that thousand years
to rule and reign with Christ.
You remain meek,
He's going to bless you
with that position of authority and power
with Jesus Christ those thousand years.
That's a blessing.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
You seeking after righteousness,
you're going to be able to live righteously,
knowing the difference between right and wrong.
That's a blessing, Jesus says.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
When God has given you mercy,
that's a blessing.
I would rather the mercy of God
for my mistakes than $100,000 in my bank account.
I'd rather the mercy of God in my life.
I know if I don't have His mercy,
that money will be worthless.
It'll just be destroyed.
The devourer will just take it and destroy it.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Knowing God more intimately,
knowing His word more,
knowing Jesus Christ is a blessing.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God.
Wow, the children of God, peacemakers.
That's a blessing.
Verse number 10.
Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you
and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you,
falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted are they the prophets
which were before you.
Your reward's in heaven, brethren.
That's a blessing.
And you know what Jesus Christ had said?
He says the rewards in heaven
will be a hundredfold.
A hundredfold.
Let me get my maths right here.
You can either get a blessing of $10,000 on this earth,
$10,000, but if you got $10,000 a hundredfold in heaven,
if God puts it in heaven for you
instead of on this earth,
what's that gonna work out to be?
10,000 times 100?
Is it a million dollars?
A million dollars.
Would you rather $10,000 on this earth
that will perish
or a million dollars in heaven
which will never perish?
Which of those would you prefer?
That's a blessing
that we can have our finances,
our riches in heaven,
our treasures up there,
times a hundred.
I mean, those that say,
well, where are the rich Christians?
What's wrong with you?
Carnal-minded.
Thinking of temporary things
rather than understanding the blessings of God.
You know, God also says
in the book of Psalms many times
that his blessing will come upon you
and he'll protect you from harm,
protect you from evil.
Children are called a blessing from the Lord.
You know?
Just because you're not rich after you're tired
doesn't mean God's not blessed you.
If you sat down and wrote down
every blessing that God has given you,
I think you'd be overwhelmed.
I think you'd be super overwhelmed
for what God has provided in your life.
It's not about your bank account.
It's about living a productive,
a fruitful, happy, successful, joyful life.
You know, blessings can be financial
but it's more than that.
Beyond that, God wants,
you know, God's greater than money.
Money is just a tool.
It shouldn't be what defines you in life.
So, it's just a stupid argument to say,
well, where are the rich Christians?
That's, you know, how's tithing working?
It's just a ridiculous argument.
Now, what's also weird about this,
if you guys are in Malachi 3,
look at verse number 6.
Just before God tells him about the tithes,
what does he say there in Malachi 3 verse 6?
For I am the Lord, I change not.
Oh, that's all been changed.
The verse before just says I don't change.
I love the Bible because it answers every foolish,
every foolish, you know, argument.
You know, now we know he's changed on the offering.
Well, it hasn't really changed
because the offering's been fulfilled in Christ.
But if the tithe has not been fulfilled,
God hasn't changed how he sees that.
I change not, he says.
Now, please go to 2 Corinthians chapter 9.
2 Corinthians chapter 9.
Those that teach against tithing will say,
well, you see, God's given us a brand new way
to tithe or to give in the New Testament.
Just a totally different way than the Old Testament ways.
And I'm glad that as a church,
we've gone through 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians,
because what I'm about to tell you,
you know this is true, okay?
But 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7.
And I say, see, this is now the right way
to give in the New Testament,
to give to your local church instead of tithing.
2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,
so let him give, not grudgingly, nor of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Now, I believe that verse 100%, okay?
But they'll say, see, God's not saying to give 10%.
He's saying just give whatever you purpose.
If you purpose 2%, then that's what you should give.
If you purpose 15%, that's what you should give.
Whatever you decide in your heart, right?
And they'll say, see, it says don't give grudgingly.
See, it shouldn't cause you to feel negative feelings
about that, you know, hold a grudge.
What they're saying is, if you tithe,
you're doing it grudgingly.
Because when they tithe, those that preach against it,
when they tithe, they did it grudgingly.
And they think everybody else is doing it grudgingly, right?
And they'll say, or of necessity.
So it's not something that should be forced, right?
They'll say, see, the tithing was a tax, as it were.
That was something that was mandatory that you had to give.
And here it says, or of necessity,
shouldn't be something that you're forced to do.
For God loves a cheerful giver, they'll say.
See, it's not about tithing, it's about giving cheerfully.
Brethren, every time I've tithed,
ever since I've learned the doctrine,
when I was about 22 or something, till today,
I've always tithed cheerfully.
I've always tithed without holding a grudge.
I've purposed in my heart to give the tithe.
If we wanted to use this for the purpose of tithing,
we can tie all those things in, all right?
But they'll say, this is the new way to provide for the church these days.
Brethren, is this verse even about providing for the local church?
Those of you that were here for 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians,
is this even about that?
But you know, you know they use this, don't they?
This is the new way that God provides for the church.
No, it wasn't about the local church.
Look at verse number 1, 2 Corinthians 9, verse 1.
It is superfluous of me to write to you.
This money that they're talking about in this chapter
is a provision for the saints.
It is not a provision for the local New Testament church.
Okay?
Now, what was this about?
You need to go back to 1 Corinthians.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, very quickly.
1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 1.
You may recall, we spend a lot of time going through 2 Corinthians, right?
Paul went to the Corinthian church and said,
hey, where's that money?
You made a promise to give to saints.
We'll go through it soon.
Where is it?
Make sure you complete the offering.
Make sure you complete this giving, this donation,
to give to the saints.
This is not about the local church.
These are about saints located in a totally different place.
We read about it here in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 1.
Now, concerning the collection for the saints.
For the saints, not the collection of the saints.
When you tithe, you know, it's of the saints,
it's of the believers, but this is something for the saints.
As I have given order to the churches of Galatia,
even so do ye, upon the first day of the week,
let every one of you lay by him in store,
as God have prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come,
and when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters,
then will I send to bring your liberality,
that's your donation, unto Jerusalem.
So this giving that Paul is teaching about
is not about giving to the local church.
It's about giving to the saints, where?
In Jerusalem.
Say, what's that about?
If you want, you can go to Acts 11, Acts 11, verse 27.
Acts 11, verse 27.
The Bible says,
And in these days came prophets from, where?
From Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Why is that important?
Because it's the Antioch church that sent Paul on his missionary journey.
So we have these prophets, these preachers coming from Jerusalem.
Verse 28,
And there stood up one of them named Agabus,
and signified by the Spirit,
that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world.
That's a great famine, great, you know, famine.
Which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, every man according to his ability,
determined to send relief unto the brethren which were in Judea,
which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
And Saul is, of course, Paul.
This is what's happening, brethren.
Here, this is what it's teaching.
There were brethren in Judea, in Jerusalem, in great need.
Great famine.
And so they send these preachers from Jerusalem to tell them what's going on.
And these churches, they commit,
hey, let's send a relief, let's send a donation,
let's send some help to these brethren in Judea.
It's not even about their local church.
But those that are against tithing will take those passages, won't they?
And say, see, there's a new way of giving to the local church.
It's like they haven't read the whole book.
It's like they haven't read the whole chapter to work out what this is about.
It's not even about giving to the local church.
So if that's not about giving to the local church,
and I think I've proved that right,
then what is the way to give to the local church?
What is the way to give to the house of God?
I'm glad you asked that question.
Let's have a look at this.
Please go to 1 Corinthians now.
1 Corinthians 9, 9.
And I really want you to think about this.
1 Corinthians 9, 9.
For it is written in the law of Moses,
Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.
Doth God take care of oxen?
You know, God gave a commandment in the Old Testament
that if you're using an ox to plow the ground, let the ox eat, all right?
He should be worthy of his labor.
If he's hungry, let the ox eat.
Don't muzzle the ox, okay, to get maximum profit.
Hey, the worker deserves what he's worked for.
Verse number 10.
Or save he it all together for your sakes, for our sake, sorry, for our sakes.
For our sakes, no doubt this is written,
that he that ploweth should plow in hope,
and that he that fresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
If we have sown unto you spiritual things,
is it a great thing that we should reap your carnal things?
What's this about?
Preachers, people that are preaching spiritual things.
They should reap the carnal things, okay?
How, how?
Let's keep going, verse number 12.
If others be partakers of this power over you,
and not we rather, nevertheless we have not used this power,
but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
Verse number 13 is the key, and 14.
Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things
live of the things of the temple,
and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
What's he referring to there?
Old testament practices, right?
Those that would be in the temple, that would wait,
it says wait, it's not like they're just hanging around waiting for food.
They're like waiters, they're serving people in the temple, okay?
They would be partakers of the altar.
How would the Old Testament Israelites bring things to the altar?
Their tithes, their offerings, their first fruits, right?
That's how they partook of the altar in those days.
But hasn't the offering been done away with?
It's been fulfilled in Christ.
Hasn't the first fruits been fulfilled in Christ?
Absolutely.
So what's left brethren?
Let's keep going, verse number 14.
Even so, even so in like manner in the same way,
even so have the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
You see, those that are employed by the church,
those that are serving the churches, of course in an official capacity,
in the same way this person should be provided for,
the same way the Old Testament Levites were provided for
when they waited at the altar, okay, and the temple.
The same way, even so the Bible says.
What's left?
Oh, the offering's been fulfilled, yes.
The first roots have been fulfilled, yes.
Tithing's been done away with.
I guess there's nothing left to provide them then.
No, there's obviously something left to provide those that are working in the church.
What's left, brethren?
The tithe.
Common sense.
The tithe is what is left, okay?
If we're using an Old Testament example here,
even so in the like manner, they were provided by the tithes, weren't they?
Those that work for this church will be provided for by the tithe as well, okay?
I'm not saying you need to give above and beyond.
I'm not saying you need to give an offering and all these kinds of things,
but one thing that is required from you when it comes to the house of God
is to give your tithe, to give your 10%.
And look, we have done what we read there in 2 Corinthians about giving a gift.
There was a time we took up a special offering
for a brother in the United States that was going through major hardships.
We did an offering here.
We did a collection, I should say.
We did a collection down in Sydney and we sent that money off,
but none of that had anything to do with the running of this church.
Even if I was behind on paying bills here,
I would not have taken that money and put it in here
because that wasn't the purpose for it.
The purpose of it was to provide relief to brethren that needed it, okay?
Please go to Luke chapter 6 verse 38.
Luke chapter 6 verse 38.
How do we tithe?
I'm going to be very quick on this one.
How do we tithe?
Very quick.
It's very difficult to understand tithing, I guess, in today's age
because we constantly have money coming out
and constantly money coming in, don't we?
We go to work, we pay tax,
and then sometime in the year we get a tax return to us
when we do the paperwork.
And then for me, we have a family, a larger family,
I get family tax benefits by the government, okay?
And what that family tax benefit is supposed to represent
is that because I've got a large family and because I pay taxes,
well, I don't have any income, but taxes of every other expense,
your groceries, you're paying GST, fuel tax,
you're paying all these different taxes
that you're probably not even aware of as you go about life.
And so the government says, well, you've got a large family,
so we're going to give you a bit of a tax break,
and that tax break gets given back to me.
And so what I'm trying to say is,
and there are other families in the church that have this family tax benefit as well,
what I'm trying to say is there's this constant coming in and going out, okay?
And how do we tithe?
And I'm going to tell you how I tithe.
Hopefully, it might give you some answers.
And let me just start off by saying, if you own a business,
you own a business, right?
Let's say you invest $10,000 to start this business up.
You know, your tools, whatever, your website, whatever you need,
you can put that into the business.
That's 10,000 that you've put in, okay?
Then your business starts, hopefully, turning a profit,
you start making that money back, right?
And then with any business, you should be putting some income for yourself first, right?
Something that you can live by.
Praise God for that.
Well, that money that you set aside for you to live by,
I believe you should tithe on that amount.
You should tithe on that amount.
Now, there might be other money that comes in because of the business,
but many times, if you want to grow your business,
you take that wealth, that extra,
and you just put it back into the business, don't you?
You put it back into the business, you put it back into the business.
I personally would not tithe on the entire profit.
I would only tithe on what I actually end up paying myself if I was running the business.
Because if I take the extra and I put that back into the business,
there'll be a greater profit in the future.
There'll be, you know, greater success in the future.
Then maybe in the future, you better pay yourself a little bit more.
And what you pay yourself, once again, that's what you should tithe.
Now, let's say you sell your business.
You invested $10,000 of your business.
Let's say you sell it for $30,000 at the end of it all.
You sell it for $30,000.
Well, now you've actually made a profit for yourself, haven't you?
You put in $10,000, now you sold it for $30,000, you've made $20,000.
I believe you should tithe on that $20,000.
You give that $2,000, okay?
So it's not everything that you make,
but everything that actually comes in to you, okay?
That's your increase.
That's what you should be tithing on.
When it comes to me, when I was working my full-time job,
you know, people say, do I tithe on my gross,
or do I tithe on my net after I pay my taxes?
Well, I mean, what's more important to you?
The house of God, or the government?
What actually did come into you in the first place?
That's what you should be tithing on.
You know, your gross amounts.
Oh, but the government takes 20, 30, 40% of my income.
Listen, the Lord will bless you, all right?
The Lord's not looking to rob you.
The Lord's looking to bless you by making sure you don't rob him.
And one thing that I always made sure is that when I was kind of confused,
should I do this or do that?
I always just, this is something that I learned from my very first IFB pastor.
He said, just, whenever it comes to any commands of God,
and you're not sure, you go, just err on the side of caution.
Just make sure on the side of caution, that's where your error is toward.
Because you don't want to err on the side of danger,
where you're not doing what God has asked of you,
and always err on the side of caution.
Well, I would say that, err on the side of caution.
If you end up giving more than your 10% that God expected,
he's going to bless you anyway.
He sees your heart.
He sees you're trying to do what is right, rather than just,
oh man, what is that point exactly that I need to give?
So what would happen is, I would get my gross.
I'd pay, and you know, I'd tithe my gross.
And then, as my family grew, we got our family tax benefit, all right?
So the government's giving me some money back, right?
And then I would say, well, the family tax benefit is less than my tax.
So if I were to cancel those things out, I'm actually giving more than 10%.
So I just kept giving off my gross.
But you know, as we had more kids, guess what?
The family tax benefits started going up, right?
The tax returns started coming back.
And what would happen is, I would look at my pay as you earn tax,
and now, that became less than what was coming in
as a return from the government, all right?
So I just said, all right, I'm going to make a change now.
I'm going to tithe on my net, of my income,
and because I'm getting more tax that's coming in than what was going out,
I'm now going to tithe also on my family tax benefit.
Because now, I'm making sure that I'm always tithing more.
I'm erring on the side of caution.
That's how I've done things.
If I get a financial gift,
some people have given me financial gifts from time to time,
I tithe on that financial gift.
If my kids get financial gifts, I instruct them to tithe on financial gifts, you know?
If they get pocket money, they tithe on their pocket money.
I'm trying to get my kids to learn this very early on,
because when I first started to tithe, it hurt me a lot.
It was very hard to do it, because it was something that I wasn't used to.
Now, I just do it like that, just like whatever.
It's in. It goes to the Lord's work.
Praise God for that, okay?
So I'm just trying to think what else.
I was going to say something else there, but I lost it.
But anyway, guys, I hope this has given you some clarity on tithing,
offering and first fruits,
the differences that we see there in the Old Testament,
and why tithing is still applicable today in the New Testament.
Let's finish up with Luke 6 38.
Luke 6 38.
This is a promise of God, and he says here,
Give and it shall be given unto you.
Good measure, pressed down and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your bosom.
But with the same measure that ye meet withal,
it shall be measured to you again.
Jesus here makes it very clear that what we give to God,
it will be given back to us.
And it won't be just be given back to us.
It'll be shaken together, pressed down, running over.
God's going to give us the maximum blessing that he can give us.
And again, if your heart is just on money,
you're not going to see yourself get super rich.
But if you understand the value of God's blessings in your life,
that he can come through different channels in different ways,
how God has probably protected you,
God may have even preserved your life, you know,
blessing you, protecting you from harm,
then you'll truly understand and enjoy the blessings that come from God.
There was one more thing that I wanted to say about this.
Rightly dividing series.
This is why I've been going through the teachings of the old man
and the new man as well.
Several things that we need to understand.
When you tithe, when you give your 10%,
you're doing that in the new man.
That's a work of the new man.
Just as much as going soloing is a work of new man.
Just as much as praying and reading your Bible and studying
God's word is a work of the new man.
So is the tithe.
And when you don't tithe, God makes it very clear you're robbing God.
The new man would not rob God.
That's the flesh.
That's the old man seeking to rob God and trying to find corners
or ways that, you know, you could provide for yourself.
But you know what?
Tithing, what's great about tithing is it really exercises your faith.
You take that 10% and say, Lord, I know I could use this,
but I'm going to give it to your work, I'm going to give it to your house,
and I'm going to hold to the promise that I'm going to receive those blessings from you, Lord.
I'm going to receive those blessings.
Lord, this is tough for me.
God knows you give it to him.
Like we said there in Luke 6 38, he's going to give it back to you.
He's going to make sure your needs are met.
So let's pray.