Right, Amen. If you look down at chapter 3 where we are there in verses 9 to 10, so we're
looking at Proverbs 3 and verses 9 to 10, which reads,
Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
The title of my sermon today is Why Do We Tithe? Why Do We Tithe? Let's go to the Lord
in a word of prayer before we continue. Father, thank you for your word and the many clear
instructions you give us in the Bible, the clear principles in the Bible. Help me to
just preach this one just accurately and clearly and boldly today. Help everyone to just listen
to it with an open heart and open ears, Lord. Fill me with your spirit, please. Just minimise
distractions and help everyone to be able to really pay attention to what your word
has got to say. So what is a tithe or tithing? It's paying a tithe, which means a tenth.
And the context here and what we're talking about is paying a tenth of our increase or
income to God via the local church. Now, on this subject, I've never devoted a whole sermon
to this before, and really I should have done. But I'll be honest, it's not a very comfortable
thing to be preaching. We've had a lot of issues at this church, obviously, from the
beginning, which maybe I felt like I needed preaching more than this particular truth
of the Bible. However, it does need preaching, and it has come up a few times in our Bible
studies over the last couple of years. We've studied, you know, the Book of First Corinthians,
Romans, and I've kind of touched on it here and there. But I have generally felt it's
something that our church members are pretty good about, that for me, I didn't feel it
was something that was kind of right. We need to really preach on tithing pretty early on
and a lot of people had come here from listening to other good, solid preaching and were just
pretty on board with this. And in case anyone is wondering, no, I wasn't crunching the numbers
this week and wondering how I'm going to afford my new tailored suits and stuff. That's not
the reason we're doing it. Our church, look, our church is healthy. We do everything within
our means at this church. Obviously, the more that the church will receive, the more we're
going to do as a church and the more we can put to the work of God. However, we don't
have any issues on that side of things because really, look, tithing is a personal thing
between a believer and God. Okay, and I'm going to show you that today. But for that
reason, it does need regular preaching. Now, it's something I thought about a little while
ago because a fairly newer Christian had asked me a question about it. And, you know, often
when someone's asked you and it's quite a kind of this, you know, obviously it's quite
a complex thing, especially because of all the attacks on it, that I couldn't really
point him to a sermon of mine. So usually I want to just point someone to a sermon of
the church, which is, you know, the church which they go to and they're involved with.
So instead I kind of ended up having a point to another sermon of a great pastor. I think
it was a pastor Jimenez sermon in the end. And I noticed in one of these sermons he'd
done on tithing that he said, right, they call it the fall, we call it autumn, I think
it was October, he said, so it's booked in for this, he preaches one every year. So there's
no, oh, it must be preaching because of this reason. No, once a year in October, he preaches
on tithing. And because it is a truth that ultimately affects you and your walk with
God, however uncomfortable it is preaching it, because in your mind you're thinking,
I bet there are people here that think they just want money because money is an awkward
thing, isn't it? And people kind of get uncomfortable about it and everything else. And this isn't
necessarily going to be the most fun sermon. However, I thought, well, maybe, and I'll
see how I feel on that and how I'm led, but maybe it's something we'll preach in January.
You know, you can't just copy them completely. So I thought maybe, OK, maybe in January we'll
preach, it's a new year, we'll preach a sermon on tithing. And it is a truth that people,
I believe, also probably need a bit of reassurance about as well, because there's a lot of attacks
about tithing out there, because when it comes to money, many people automatically get suspicious,
don't they? OK, and for good reason. OK, for good reason, there are false prophets all
over the place just ripping people off. OK, there are false prophets everywhere just trying
to take your money one way or another, trying to encourage you to give more and more and more,
because then you're going to get all these like, you're going to multiply your money if you give
them this money. And obviously there's all these false churches where the reason that, or half the
reason that they're there in the first place is because of tithing, is because the guy up there
is thinking, great. And some of these guys, I mean, it's ridiculous, isn't it, what ends up
going on in some of these big mega churches. And there is dishonesty everywhere in life, anywhere.
So it's very hard a lot of the time when you're listening to a sermon on money and things like
that straight away, because we're just so used to everyone trying to rip us off, aren't we?
Everyone's trying to rip you off left, right and centre in life, it seems,
every everywhere you go, just someone is just trying to rip you off. So automatically we get
suspicious about these things. And then sometimes, though, sadly, for some, it's actually the reason
that they get so put off by the topic, and it's because of their own maybe greed or covetousness
as well. So I want to I want to kind of hit all these points today. Now, there are both ends of
the scale, OK? You've got the clown megachurch thieves, OK? And there's a lot of them out there.
And these people just ripping people off, fleecing the flock, you know, encouraging more and more
and more with the reason that you're poor is because you're not giving us any more. You need
to give even more. You multiply your income by giving us money. And you've got these sorts of
guys. And then you've got you've got obviously in between this as well. You've got the kind of
lesser ones where, OK, there might not be a megachurch, everything's about money. Everything
is a new, oh, we need to raise more money, guys. Every other sermon's about money and cash. And,
you know, this fund and that fund and this fund. It's like, look, if your church can't afford it,
they can't afford it. You know, why are you constantly needing funds? And obviously we've
never, ever had to ask for anything here like that. But look, some maybe there's a good reason,
but it's a lot of the time is to rip people off. But I'm seeing a lot of the other end of the scale
now in this, too. And that's that's the the ones that are basically trying to knock any form of
tithing. And there's a lot of these people out there. And I've been seeing these. I think after
I think having looked for for trying to find a sermon, because obviously a lot of channels are
gone and stuff of trying to find a good sermon to send to a friend. I ended up then, you know,
the YouTube algorithms keep putting up all this. Why tithing isn't biblical? Why tithing this?
And if that's coming up for me, I'm sure other people have been exposed to this sort of thing
as well. And it could put a bit of doubt to your mind. That's the idea, isn't it? This sort of
thing. And of course, a lot of these guys, the vast majority are unsaved anyway, from what I
can tell, because I looked into a couple of these ones with the big views and then you try and look
at, OK, what do these people even believe? And and and and a lot of the time they're just heretics.
But but also they're you know, they're trying to often justify, well, it should just be a house
church, should just be six of us in a house. But what are any of them really doing in that house
church? Now, just just a disclaimer here. Looks, a lot of good churches started in houses. OK,
you start a church from scratch. You can't just suddenly take on a building and everything else.
However, when people just want to stay in a house for the rest of time, that to me seems a
bit strange. And often it's because there's nothing biblical about it. There's no ordained leadership
there. They just want to come sing Kumbaya together and pretend that they're doing the
things of God. There's no soul winning. There's no other things going on. OK, so what what what
they do, these guys, though, is is they try and discredit all tithing by lumping everyone in
together with the false prophet sort of thief. Yeah. And it made me think of Second Peter 2,
too. You know, Turner, which says of false prophets and many shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And there's a lot of that in with
false prophets where where there's different angles where that verse, I think, applies in
so many ways. And for some, it's just the way they behave, then just the way of truth is evil
spoken of. People are just thinking, you know, what sort of, you know, tithing must be wicked
because they look at all these wicked people doing it. But there's many ways that can apply
as well, where people who claim to be Christians are just such a bad testimony, you know, etc.
And they they do make the way of truth evil spoken of. But but, you know, these anti tithing,
we're just looking out for you and your wallet types. And it seems so genuine. They just really
care about you and your money. Really, they're just attacking. And although they're theoretically
attacking the false church, ultimately, they're they're also attacking the biblical church as
well. Okay. And what it is, it's just another attack on on the church. And it's a subtle one.
And it's they just group everyone in together. I watched one of these guys recently, okay.
And he, like I said, he's sitting in his home justifying, just meeting up and singing Kumbaya
and, you know, and that's about it. And look, that would be great if you actually did something
after you sung Kumbaya. Look, you want to meet up and sing Kumbaya together with a guitar and
you've actually got some ordained leadership there. The church has come from another church,
but it's starting in a house. Great. But what are you doing? What are you actually doing for God?
And obviously, often it's nothing. They're sitting there and the most they're doing for God is
drinking a cup of tea and, you know, and telling each other how spiritual they are. So,
okay. I also, by the way, with this as well. So it was something that I just feel like for a while
I'll be thinking I'm going to have to preach a sermon on this at some point and other things
I've just kind of felt and needed preaching. I also got I got an email from this guy a while
back. I mentioned it from up here before. And he emailed me and he said, he said he gave me the
name of some false prophet. Yeah. It was like a CV evangelist. I mean, and he said this person,
false prophet or not. And I was, you know, and whatever I said, I think he asked me,
he said false prophet or not. And I literally just clicked his name, went on it. It was so
ridiculous. You know, it's like teaching. It was teaching repent of your sins and talking in tongues.
Yeah. I was like false prophet. Okay. Straight away. It took like three seconds. Yeah. And I'm
not saying anyone here would have taken three seconds. So what was the point? But then he's
gone, yeah, I thought so, too, having seen him teaching about tithing. Yeah. And so this guy,
it's like, forget all, forget the repent of your sins. Forget the, you know, forget the tongue
speaking all that rubbish and all that nonsense gifts of the spirit, heresies and stuff. No, no,
no. Because he talked about tithing and said that people should tithe. Of course he did. He's a
false prophet. But however, that doesn't mean that tithing is wrong then, does it? Okay. So anyway,
that's his point. But for many, and then, and then this is what was funny is that he then quoted me
kind of part of, of Hebrew seven about Abraham and Levi and Levi basically not being born yet
and went, see, what on earth has that got to do with tithing? Or at least the passage is about
tithing, but what's that? How does that disprove tithing? We're going to go to there in a minute.
And anyway, I didn't even bother going down that route. I just ignored him. Yeah. But point being
that the, these guys, they, they, they get this mantra then, and then they're taking these
scriptures out of context going, see, see, it's completely unbiblical. And this guy that I watched,
he was just going to all these different, like he was quoting passages, but not actually saying the
passage going like it says in Deuteronomy here and Deuteronomy 16, like it says in Leviticus 27,
but he wasn't actually saying what it said there. So he said, what he's really just trying to do is,
is confuse the, the vast majority of his kind of, of his following who aren't ever going to open
their Bible and look at those passages because that'd be too complicated and just, oh, well,
well, he's proved it because he mentioned some, some different chapters that he didn't even read.
So this is what happens with this. So it becomes a hill to die on. It basically comes their gospel,
if you like. And, and, and what's the goal of this? What's the goal of this whole doctrine of
devils that there's no such thing as tithing, it's to harm the work of God. And that's what
it's all about. It's to harm the work of God. So before we get onto that, we're going to look at
the principle of tithing and why I believe that it's a way of life for a believer. Turn to Genesis
chapter eight. The first time that we see the word tithe used is in Genesis 14, but this isn't the
first offering given to God. As early as Genesis four, Cain and Abel bought offerings to God.
And, and as you turn to Genesis eight, I'll just read verse three and four of Genesis four. And
in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought to the first things of his flock and of the fact thereof
and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. And of course we see the picture of
the blood sacrifice here, but first application really is then bringing an offering to God,
isn't it? Okay. As early as Genesis chapter four, you know, the kind of second generation here,
they're bringing an offering to God. And in fact, Adam and Eve, at least they had a part of the
garden that was off limits, wasn't there? There was one part there was that, that, that tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, which was off limits to Adam and Eve. There was a bit that
basically was, well, you could say that was God's, you know, it wasn't for them. And, and in Genesis
eight, where you are in verse 18, Noah's parked up the ark, the earth has dried up verse 18 says,
and Noah went forth and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him, every beast, every
creepy thing, every foul and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth after their kinds went forth out
of the ark. And Noah, watch this, builded an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast
and of every clean foul and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Now, look, there could be
many reasons and other reasons for this, but bear in mind that of the clean beasts and fouls, they,
they went in in sevens. Okay. Those are the animals went in two by two is a bit incorrect. Okay. So
they went in in sevens of the unclean. It was in twos. I reckon he probably offered around about
10% there. That's how I see it. It was one in seven of the clean. And then there was twos of
all the unclean that he didn't offer. And was that eaten by priests? Did it go to the fatherless and
widows, the upkeep of the temple? Because again, this is the sort of arguments I've seen by these
people. No, there was none of that stuff yet. It went to the Lord because it was his. It was
literally just burned. It was cooked to the Lord on an altar.
What did he burn it on? An altar, an altar. Guess what an altar is for? Yeah. Burning things,
killing of burning things, sacrifices. Right. And remember that in a second,
did God say, what are you doing? You idiot did God talk out and go, what on earth are you doing now?
All those animals, one out of seven of all those clean beasts. And what, what are you doing?
Did he say you could have just done a, just a token one would have done, wouldn't it?
You could have just given a picture of maybe the blood sacrifice with one animal.
No, look at verse 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour. That means he liked it. And the Lord said
in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I've
done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter
and day and night shall not cease. Now you could argue that first offering had far reaching
consequences. I don't know, but that seems to be right on the back of that, doesn't it? He's going,
well, I'm never going, I'm never more, you know, never, never again going to do this.
John 4 to chapter 12, where Abram is told to leave Haran. He's told that in him shall all the
families of the earth be blessed. Chapter 12 in verse five says, and Abram took Sarai his wife
and Lot his brother's son and all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they
had gotten in Haran and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, into the land of Canaan
they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sychem, unto the plain of Mori,
and the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto thy seed
will I give this land, and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
What was the altar for? Well, for me, the first time we saw an altar in chapter eight,
it was for burning animals, yeah. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel
and pitched his tent having Bethel on the west and Hayi on the east, and there he builded an
altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Again, he's built an altar. Now you
could go on, it was, you know, it was like made it a religious place. Yeah, he's still building an
altar, isn't he? What are they for? Offerings, burnt sacrifices for me. Chapter 13, look at verse
one, and Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him into
the south, and Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys
from the south even to Bethel unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between
Bethel and Hayi, unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first, and there Abram
called him the name of the Lord. Now he's very rich, he goes back to the altar. What's the altar
for again? For burning, for me, offering sacrifice on the altar. What about the silver and gold? Well,
the silver and gold will have come, remember he was basically a cowboy, wasn't he? Okay, so he's
selling cattle and things. Well, he's already been, for me, I believe he's already been offering of
his cattle. And we're going to see in a minute, you know, a clear one of this, but for me that's
what's going on here. So he doesn't, obviously he doesn't then have to burn the silver and gold
because he's already theoretically offering of his gain there, of his increase. We then see in
that chapter Lot chooses the well-watered plains of Sodom. He goes for the extra cash, doesn't he,
Lot, and it doesn't work out for him. But verse 14, jump to verse 14, it says, and the Lord said
unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the
place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou
seest to thee will I give it unto thy seed forever. And I will make thy seeds the dust of the earth,
so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk
through the land and the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then
Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built
there an altar unto the Lord. Now for me, he's still offering to the Lord. Okay, it didn't say
then he did this and he did that, but why is he building all these altars? And jump forward to
chapter 14, where the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities have lost in battle.
Okay, so they've basically gone to battle and they've lost, and then we see Lot gets taken.
It says in verse 14, and when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his
trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
These sound good, these armed trained servants, don't they? And he divided himself against them,
he and his servants by night and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand
of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot and his
goods and the women also and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his
return from the slaughter of Chedorlaoma, and of the kings that were with him at the valley of
Shaveh, which is in the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, bought forth bread and wine,
and he was a priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the
Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which had delivered
thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all, and that's Abram giving to Melchizedek,
and we're going to see that in a minute in Hebrew seven. In fact, keep a finger there and turn to
Hebrew seven. Who's this Melchizedek that he's just given him tithes? King of Salem, and remember
tithe is ten percent. Ten percent of everything he's just gained there. Okay, king of Salem,
which is Jerusalem. Yeah, Jerusalem. He's a priest of the Most High God. He's bringing forth bread
and wine. What are they a picture of? The body and blood of Christ. Hebrew seven, okay, we're going
to, is basically a passage like I said that the tithedodgers and haters love to change. They love
to misuse. They love to read in or read out things that are in there. Well, let's have a look at it
quickly. Verse one says, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after
that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Okay, so again, are you wondering who this is?
Well, let's keep going. Verse three, without father, without mother, without descent,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God,
abideth a priest continually. So for me, it's pretty clear that this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay, that's who it is, after the order of Melchizedek. Verse four says, now consider
how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
So now this is what these people do, they go, see he only gave a tenth of the spoils.
Well, these were the goods, okay, so now remember Abraham's just been doing all this altar stuff,
he's also giving a tenth of all the goods that he got in the battle, and then verse five then says,
and verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood,
so remember the Levi's, you know, were, at least you had the Levites and then you had the priests
that came from Aaron, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law,
that is of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not
counted for them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. So the Levites
received the tithes having come from Abraham, yet Abraham was paying the tithe to the Lord, yeah,
that's what it's saying here, and verse seven says, without all contradiction the less is
blessed of the better. So Abraham was blessed by the Lord, verse eight says, and here men that die
receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. Okay,
again Melchizedek being Christ, the Levites being mortal men as opposed to Jesus Christ,
verse nine, and as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham,
for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. So even though Levi wasn't
born yet, the tithes that the Levites received were sort of eternally paid to God by Abraham.
Okay, now it didn't say here, you know, what's the fact he's in the loins, I think this guy was
trying to lie, I don't even know what he's trying to say, I think his mantra was that somehow Levi
was still around or something, I don't know. Verse 11 says, if therefore perfection were by the
Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there
that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? So although Aaron was a Levite, it was his descendants that were the priesthood,
so why did Christ have to come when there was already the priesthood? Okay, that's what
what we're seeing here, or what we're asking here, says for the priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law. So they'll see no tithing, look,
but the law here is referring to the whole thing, isn't it? That the Levitical priesthood were who
administered it all, verse 11 says, for under it the people received the law under the Levitical
priesthood, the meats, drinks, divers, washings, the carnal ordinances, okay, that's what it's
talking about. Verse 13 says, for he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of
which no man gave attendance at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah,
of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. So it's all changed, no more Levitical
priesthood and all of the different offerings for different sins, all that stuff, okay, so much of
those carnal ordinances, but including the tithing to the Levites for sure, because now we've got
the high priest has sprang out of Judah. However, did he say that we no longer pay the first fruits
back to God? Did he say we no longer give to the Lord the first fruits, the tithe? Well no, verse
15 says, and it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there riseth
another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an
endless life, for he testifieth thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, referring
to Christ, for there is verily a dissanulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and
unprofitableness thereof. That's not tithing, there's nothing weak and unprofitable about tithing.
This is a commandment being the Old Testament law, for the law made nothing perfect but the bringing
of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. You have to turn to Romans 8-3 says,
for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. The law couldn't save you,
only Christ does that. That's what it's saying, right? Go back to Genesis in chapter 28.
In 26 the wealthy Isaac builds another altar, again for me, you know, that's what the altar's for,
and then in chapter 28 his son Jacob, Abraham's grandson, made a vow to God.
Chapter 28 and verse 20 says, and Jacob vowed a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep
me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again
to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone which I've set for a
pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto
thee. Yes, Jacob tithed, didn't he? I reckon Isaac did, I reckon Abraham did, I reckon Noah did,
I reckon Cain and Abel seem to as well, and this is long before the law of Moses, isn't it?
This is long before any Levitical law, this is long before their tithes, and I will surely give
the tenth unto thee. Who did they give the first ten percent to then? So who did they give it to?
Well, God in one way or another, and here it's to God's house, which is a stone set for a pillar,
and he's saying I'm going to give ten percent to this stone set for a pillar that shall be God's
house, I will give the tenth unto thee. Now whether he's going to be sacrificing this or
however he's going to do that, he's just made that vow, hasn't he? Long before that,
and you don't have to turn there, Leviticus 27, 30, you turn to Acts 4 says, and all the tithe
of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree is the Lord's, it is holy
unto the Lord. Okay, God says the first ten percent, oh well that was in the law, that was
to the nation of Israel. So what's Jacob doing here? What was Abraham doing with Melchizedek?
They were all giving the first ten percent. This is just, this is, it's almost just like,
it's just an eternal truth, isn't it? From right at the beginning, and I believe to right at the
end, the first ten percent is the Lord's. Now Acts 4, you're turning to, and what many people
say is, oh but the New Testament doesn't command tithing. It doesn't, the New Testament doesn't say
thou shalt continue tithing, but you know what the New Testament also doesn't do? It doesn't
command you to not commit incest. Did you know that? So has that changed because the New Testament
didn't reinforce it? Anyone think you're all free in Christ now? The New Testament doesn't,
does it tell you that you can't commit bestiality? Did you know that? But the Old Testament does,
and nothing's changed there, has it? Okay, and look, you might, oh well that's a bit silly,
they're sins. Well the New Testament doesn't explicitly command you to chastise your children.
Okay, it does say to bring them up in nurture and admonition of the Lord, but where do we go for all
those verses about chastising our children? The book of Proverbs. But they're all timeless truths,
aren't they? And so is paying God the first fruits. It's just a timeless truth of life
from the very beginning until the very end. And do you know what the New Testament also never does?
It never tells us to stop tithing. Okay, it never tells us to stop tithing. It tells us to stop
other things, to stop certain, you know, observances of what we eat etc, but it never tells us to stop
tithing. And let's look at an example in the New Testament. You've turned to Acts 4 then,
and what the first church did in the absence of the priesthood. Okay, shall we see what the first
church did in Acts 4? It says in verse 31, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken,
where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believe were of one heart and of one
soul, neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own, but they
had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked,
for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the price of the things that
were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet, and distribution was made unto every man according
as he had need. The apostles were the leaders of this first church. And Joseph, who by the apostles
was so named Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and out of the
country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money laid at the apostles feet. So
yes, Levitical priesthood was well and truly over, but was giving to God over too. No, now obviously
this was unique circumstance, okay, this is the first church in heavy persecution starting,
you know, as we spoke about I think in the last sermon, I'll just speak out what a big deal this
was. However, and no one here, don't worry, you know, we're not trying to suddenly preach a new
doctrine, you got to bring everything you got and lay it, you know, at the feet of the church
leader. And that's not what we're trying to say. But what I am saying is that if people want to go,
well, what happened in the New Testament, or you could go to something that happened in the New
Testament, go, wow, wait a second, that's far beyond giving the first fruits of your increase
to God. Yeah, that's your whole lot. Okay, that's your whole lot and all living basically with having
all things common as you start that first church. Now, but here's the thing, how on earth would they
have survived and the teacher preaching continued without doing that? If they had just gone right,
well, just nothing, God's just going to, something's going to appear from somewhere,
the whole thing would have been, it would never have happened, would it?
This was a full-time church and everyone doing that meant that it thrived and the work of God
abounded. And that's what's part of the point entirely. So aside from the fact that it's just
clear in scripture, okay, from the beginning of time that people just gave the first 10% back,
despite the fact that we see it clearly obviously commanded in the law as well, and then as we
go through the Bible, we just see it in places like we were in Proverbs as well. Aside from all of that,
we're going to look at some additional reasons. The title is Why Do We Tithing? Number one,
number one, aside from the fact that God tells us to, is because it furthers the work of God.
Okay, tithing furthers the work of God. And there's a key point here though, okay, rocking up to the
nearest false prophet and shoving a 10th year income in the offering plate isn't tithing.
Okay, that's the offer. That's being a bad steward with God's money. Okay, you shouldn't be doing
that. Look, that's ridiculous. You should have, there should be some diligence spent in thinking,
right, well where's the work of God being done? Okay, where's God's house? How can I give to God?
You know, and look, and it should be your local church. So look, if people are watching online
or whatever, you know, in the future and they go to a church, look, we don't want your money, yeah,
give it to your local church. Yeah, and if you don't feel that that local church is the house
of God, then why are you going there, you know? So I'm always a bit kind of wondering with people
that on one hand they're kind of, oh well I go to this church but I send the money to here.
It's like, well, why do you go to that church then? You know, if the church isn't doing the
work of God, go to a church that does and make a way of doing that and that's a sermon for another
time. But if you're here and you think, well, I don't think, you know, I don't think this is a
place, well, don't come here then. You know, look, we don't want, oh well, just begrudgingly,
go somewhere else. Yeah, go to a church that you can actually be a part of. Go to a church that
you actually want to follow and be a part of, not go to a church because, well, I've just got to tick
that box. Look, that's not what church life is about, is it? And if you're sitting here and
you're like, yeah, well, I don't know, I don't like the way you explain it, I don't like the
way you preach this or do that or do that, you're not going to like everything, okay? If you don't,
go somewhere else. Yeah, because ultimately what happens there, you just end up with an atmosphere
forming, don't you? Because, look, I see, look, I know when people hate me, okay? I know, you'd be
surprised what you see from up here, yeah? People try and be like, you see it, okay? You see it,
you see it with, in many ways I've, I had a lot of it going on for the, for about a year and a half,
whatever, till we kicked out a load of people that, that hated my guts, okay? And you see it
and there's no point sitting here. You might just go somewhere else. Oh, just please come and give
us some money. No, go away. Yeah, we prefer to have a happy, healthy, I prefer to just have to
reduce everything we do. I prefer to not have half the things we lay on, not have half the meals we
do, not have half the materials we give out, not have any of that stuff and just have a church of
people that are just solid and united behind the leadership who want to serve God. And, and if
you're not like that, why are you here? Because ultimately all you're going to do is harm the work
of God, right? Okay, now on that as well though, look, if you're here and you don't tithe and you
don't believe it or whatever for, again, you're welcome to come here for the rest of your life,
okay? We don't have a rule here. This isn't like a membership club. It's not, you know, when the,
the offering guys aren't coming and reporting to me after it's gone, I know it's his brother's song,
so he didn't put anything in for the last month, you know? I was like, all right, let's preach on
his sin and we'll get him out, okay? Okay, that's not, that's not the point here. Look, if you don't
want to tithe, you don't want to tithe. There's no, like, there's no, you don't have to tithe here,
okay? However, I believe God wants you to tithe, okay? And we're going to carry on looking at that
in a second because, like I said, it furthers the work of God. And without it, what would we be
doing here? Without, so if no one here tithed, okay? And look, we've had some great faithful
members of this church who just tithed from the beginning and onwards and people that joined the
church, everything else, okay? If no one here tithed, we would be probably meeting in a park
right now. This week was, wouldn't have been so bad. Last week, probably not so good, yeah? We,
we wouldn't be going out for the meals that we go out, we wouldn't be having the food that we have
here, we wouldn't be having half the materials that we have here, we wouldn't probably be able
to afford an online, you know, service for those that can't get here, we wouldn't have, we wouldn't
have the heating that you have here, the baptisms would be, well, they wouldn't be stone cold here,
they'd probably be stone cold in the sea somewhere, and obviously you can think of more and more stuff,
no mini buses, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, okay? So, so there's a lot of reasons, but turn
to 1 Corinthians 9 because as we grow, eventually I'll have to go full time, okay? And obviously,
again, this is something the house church guys just don't understand because for them,
they're just meeting up and having a little Bible study, so-called Bible study, drinking a bit of
tea, telling each other that they're all very spiritual and then going home. But in 1 Corinthians
9, Paul explains this, he says this, he says, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? It's 1 Corinthians 9, 1. Art not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an
apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the
Lord. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this. So there are people trying to knock him,
discredit him, question him, and look, that's just what happens, okay? You're trying to do things
for God, you're preaching for God, I mean, he's doing amazing things to God, going around planting
all these churches, people are going to try and find fault in him. He says, have we not power to
eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and
as a brethren of the Lord and see for us? So it's a rhetorical question, he's saying that, look,
they have every right to get paid, don't they? Okay, he does have a right to do that,
like the other apostles, like James and Jude, I reckon, he's talking about like Peter,
who was an elder or pastor, okay? To be able to provide for a family, should he not be able to
do that? He says, I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working? And bear in mind,
they were tent makers without families, that was their choice, and we see why he chose to do that
and carry on working, one of the reasons is because people are just trying to find any fault
they can in him, yeah? Says in verse seven, who goeth the warfare any time at his own charges?
Who planteth the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock and eateth
not of the milk of the flock? Say these things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? So
he's going like, who, like no one else just works and doesn't get something back for their work, and
look, you know, again, I'm not a pastor yet, yeah, but I'll tell you what, there is no job like this,
I've done a lot of jobs, yeah, and I've been around people that have done a lot of different
jobs, there is no job like it, and I don't have the responsibility that a pastor has, okay, and
that will up, as it happens, you cannot compare it, honestly, I think people look at it just
saying, oh, it must just be fun, you just kind of write a few notes and get up and have a bit of a
shout about something that you fancy, and I won't even go into it, but there's so much to it,
and it's such a pressure and stress on your family and everything else, like you wouldn't,
like, it's nuts, and what you have is, you have these people that think, oh yeah, well,
they should just be doing it for free because it's a work of God, that's bizarre, it's bizarre
because it's the most important job out there, they should be able to put ultimate, like,
maximum time into it, does anyone look at our pastor and many others going, no, I shouldn't be
getting paid, shouldn't, you know, how dare they get, that's ridiculous, isn't it, and they work
harder than most people in most jobs out there, and do, and get grief every day, people hating
and wanting to hate, having to deal with all sorts of awkward issues, having people scrutinising
everything you say, and all the stuff that goes with it, and all the other things that go with it,
and there are people out there, like, should be free, but that's not what the Bible says,
that's why Paul said all of this here, and he says in verse nine, 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
for oxen, or saith it all together for our sakes, for our sakes no doubt this is written, that he
that ploweth should plow in hope, that he that thresheth in hope should be partaking this hope,
so he's saying, look, like, you know, the law of Moses about the ox was written for us, it's for us
to go, yeah, look, you shouldn't be getting someone to work and not receive something for the work,
yeah, if we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal
things, carnal things being the money, and, you know, the spiritual things are so important,
aren't they, if others be partakers of this power of you, are not we rather, nevertheless we have
not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ, so they
don't want people criticizing them, okay, they'll be, oh, they just want your money, they're just
getting paid, that's why they're doing it, no, and he didn't have a family, he was able to do this,
and what was just immense, I mean, he's traveling all over the place, and doing all these,
all these great works for God, and they were able to provide for themselves as well, okay,
he said in verse 13, do you 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,
even so the Lord ordained, what's happened, the Lord has ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel, okay, that's pretty clear, isn't it, okay, that's pretty clear, now,
how on earth, how on earth would that work without tithing, how on earth would any of these people,
any of these guys in all these churches, how on earth would they, would they be able to,
to, to basically be paid and be able to provide for their families and everything else if there
wasn't tithing, yet there are so many people that are like, no, tithing's not biblical,
it's ridiculous, so where was that money coming from, it was like being magicked out of the air,
he said, but I've used none of these things, neither have I written these things,
it should be so done unto me, for it were better for me to die than that any man should make my
glorying void, so, so like I said, how would that have worked, you don't have to turn to 1 Timothy
5 17 says in fact this, let the elders of the world be counted worthy of double honour,
especially they labour in the word of doctrine, for the scripture said, thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that trendeth out the corn and labour is worthy of his reward, so like I said, do people
look at the, do they look at these passing guys, they should be doing it for free, many do sadly,
but then when you really get an understanding, look, believe me, I didn't have an understanding
of really what they really do until I started doing this job, okay, and many of us without,
and many people that are kind of here and regular and see the job and start to see things,
that you start to get an idea, don't you, and I'm not talking about like the two bob church
down the road, okay, I'm not talking about the, you know, the Bible college pastor who just kind
of, you know, does his couple of sermons, they don't really do much, and it's still, they've
still got a hard job, however, it's very different, isn't it, when you, when the more you do for God
as a church, the more soul-winning ultimately that's going on from the church, the more you're
going to get attacked, yeah, as a pastor, think like, think the stuff that goes on with some of
the pastors that many people here have listened to over the years, we've got pastor Anderson,
pastor Menes, our pastor, pastor Thompson, pastor Shelley, pastor Mahir, like that's something else,
that's above and beyond, isn't it, what they have to go through for this job, and people seem to
think that, well, or they think, yeah, they should get paid, but I don't want to be the one that's
paying towards God for that, now like I said, you're paying God, you're not paying the pastor,
just to make that clear, however, how else is he going to get paid, it says, and then what, sorry,
what you have then is you have people that say this, go, no, it's, it, well, yeah, fine, but we
just don't agree with tithing, it should be out of the goodness of your own heart, everyone should
just give a freewill offering, right, okay, but Jeremiah 17 9 says, the heart is deceitful above
all things, desperately wicked who can know it, so what do you think that goodness of your heart's
going to do, stop paying money to the church, as soon as your sins preached, I'm not giving him
that, you know, how dare he, you know, he just preached about something that he knew, he knew I
was sitting there, he knew, he knew I was doing that, you know, how dare, that's what happens, isn't it,
and look, there are freewill offerings, okay, but that's separate to paying God what we owe him, okay,
now title, why do we tie, number one, because it furthers the work of God, okay, surely that's,
that's our goal, isn't it, that's our goal is, Chris, we want the work, we want the gospel going out,
we want a thriving happy church where they're just doing great things, able to do all these
different things, ultimately, eventually, to be able to have someone who could commit full time
to doing that job and be able to put all that time and effort into the things of God, etc,
number two though, because it benefits you, because it benefits you, go back to Proverbs
3 where we started and just to make it clear, no, you're not going to multiply what you've
given to God, like, okay, well, as long as you give God 10 pounds, he's going to give you back
100 pounds, okay, no, that's not how it works, but what you will, or what at least you have,
when you're doing things right and you're giving back to God what's his,
it will go further, it will last longer, okay, that's what I see here, and that is what I've
experienced, I'm wary of standing up and going, I've experienced it, so I've experienced that,
because a lot of people come and just, they think they've experienced something that they haven't,
right, okay, but when it matches up with the word of God, I don't see a problem with that, yeah,
and here's an interesting thing with this, is that we're talking about the book of Proverbs here,
yeah, you've got this book full of eternal wisdom, yeah, applies to all time periods, doesn't it,
and for me, look, it's the most practical book in the Bible, isn't it, okay,
so much practical help, advice, instruction that you get for the book of Proverbs,
and I just thought when I was, when I made these notes, I said, can I think of any proverb
that doesn't apply to us now, that you can't get application for today,
can anyone think of one, I can't think of anything which is like, oh no, well that's really just for
the Old Testament now, everything seems to have an application, it's just this eternal wisdom,
isn't it, in this book of 31 chapters, and then you've got this book of Proverbs which
gives us this clear truth about giving back to God the first fruits of income,
let's have a look from verse one, it says, my son, forget not my law but let thine heart keep
my commandments, for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee, that sounds good
to me, doesn't it, length of days, long life, peace, let not mercy and truth forsake thee,
bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart, so shall thou find favour
and good understanding in the sight of God a man, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean
not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths,
be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil, it shall be health to thy navel
and marrow to thy bones, that sounds good to me as well, honour the Lord with thy substance and with
the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses
shall burst out with new wine, no that was Old Testament, nothing to read there, get the first
bit, I like the first bit, cut out those two verses, that's Old Testament, let's move on,
nothing to see here, does anyone believe that, no of course not, did Solomon say some of thine
increase so, did he say only what you got paid by your employer, did he say that, did he say only
what grows in the ground, have you heard these, there's some of them, it's only for what grows,
the tithe is only what grew in the ground, no it's not okay, in Leviticus 27 there's actually,
you don't have to tell them but there's a rule about redeeming your offering okay and then
paying extra, you pay an extra fifth if you've redeemed it, basically if you've gone look I
want to have that for myself, I want to eat that, I'm just going to give money instead
okay and then you have to pay an extra bit for that yourself.
But it isn't just only what grew only because, and it's not only what, look for me and it's
something I've lived by is that if I receive money I give the tithe to God okay and I continue to do
this to this day but don't you, you know, you work at the church, yeah it doesn't matter,
whatever I get it's just a timeless truth, whatever I receive 10% goes to God, whatever I
earn, whatever I get, whatever and for me look and again like again it's not comfortable saying this
stuff and again it's up to you okay, again you could come in, never tithe, never pay a penny
here, come here, we want you here okay, we want you in the house of God okay, that's not an issue
okay, however it's between you and God and we're going to see here that I think it really affects
your relationship with God but for me look whether it's inheritance, whether it's whatever
it is I've just always given 10% to God because that's my increase isn't it, that's what I've
increased, that's what I give to God. Now on the flip side of that and people ask these sorts of
questions, if I've paid money on my gross income yeah so I pay on, so I just pay on everything I
own, I give 10%. Now if I then pay tax after that and I get a tax rebate, well I've already tithed
that money haven't I, so the tax rebate is just you getting a refund, so if I've paid money you
then got a refund from some company that I bought something, I don't go right I better give that,
that's beyond then isn't it, now if you want to give that great you know, if you want to do that
out of a out of a giving heart, look God loveth a cheerful giver okay, however for the tithe
you're just paying back what you've received from God ultimately in, you know, in your increase
and you just give back the 10%. Now honour is something that God should automatically receive
isn't it yeah, honour the Lord with thy substance with the first fruits of all thine increase
and when you do that it says your barns are filled with plenty okay, that's enough for you isn't it,
plenty, it's just plenty, more than enough for you and your presses shall burst out
well with the good stuff, for me the fresh juice here okay, you're just gonna,
look new wine that's that's the good, that's the fresh stuff yeah, now that's not a bad deal is it,
if you think about it like that, like God's not exactly going are you right, you need to give me
95% of your income and somehow you've got a scrap bar yeah, no I can understand people and be okay
this is a bit tricky yeah okay, but he's not is he, he's saying you give me what I tell you to
give, you give me 10% and I'm actually going to bless you for that and things are going to go
well for you because of that and look that's what the Bible says doesn't it and look and I'm not
preaching health, wealth, prosperity here but what I've experienced in life is that times when I
haven't tithed and yeah I'll put my hands up there's been times at previous churches where
I've had periods where I've just found it hard again well and really I should have just got okay
if I really doubt that church I should have stopped going to that church if I got to the
point where I knew that it was wrong and that you know and I shouldn't have been giving money to
that church and then I should have been either giving it to a church that I knew 100% and
ultimately make your way of getting to that church yeah, but however you know the flesh does this
stuff doesn't it so it's going I don't know if I should give that money to that and do you know
what happened in my life just everything started breaking it just it's like bottomless pit of money
just just going it's just like you know the how many dishwashers we ended up going through you
know washing machines car issues you know so how does that even break you know just what happens
now look I'm not saying if you pay that oh right that's it now all the money's going to come in
write checks with your names on it and and it's all just going to come in look that's not what
the bible says but however I do believe that well we're going to see in a second because
because therefore the devourer is not going to come and basically destroy what you do have
okay so and again like I said if you don't think it's going to God's work here well go to a church
where you think it is you know and and look keep a finger here okay go to Malachi 3 where we're
going to look at this because you can have your barns filled with plenty alternatively God
threatens chastisement so you kind of like it's kind of a bit but there might be people sitting
here thinking yeah this is starting to make sense to me because I thought I was earning enough yeah
but for some reason I just never have enough and I'm not tithing and everything just seems to go
wrong and I would just say to you just try him out like prove him he wants you to prove him with
this and if not you know then well then then the bible's wrong and I'm wrong okay for preaching
the bible Malachi 3 and verse 8 the tithe haters like oh this is to the priest well we're all
priests here okay we're all part of the priesthood and and if they mean leadership oh well no no
well it's leadership then yeah I would say this is definitely a warning to wicked pastors etc that
would rob God and look if you're a bible believing Christian and you believe the bible and you
believe the word of God and you should therefore fear God as well and you and look and you're
standing behind a pulpit like here just trying to fleece people like that is wicked yeah and
you're going to get an absolute whooping okay and and look there have been people that do that
probably a lot of them are unsafe they probably are look people still have the flesh they're
probably greedy covetous people out there but like that is that's a big deal isn't it you're
going around trying to fleece the flock and do it for your own gain but what does it what does it
say here it says will a man rob God but ye have robbed me but ye say wherein have we robbed thee
in tithes and offerings ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse that may be me to my house and prove me now here with
saith the lord of hosts if i will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing
there shall not be room enough to receive it like i said i've definitely feel like i've experienced
this i know other people i've spoken to before in this room have said the same verse 11 says 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 saith the lord of hosts so the
alternative is what things just go wrong now you might be going to go wait a second haven't i
you know i'm still doing all right i'm pretty flush yeah but i just feel like look and it's
not necessarily i don't think it's always necessarily going to hit you hit your pocket
maybe it's going to be other ways as well but here's what what i see in the bible there it's
not just there okay because we're going to see it again as well back in proverbs 3 things just go
wrong it says in verse 12 and all nations shall call you also by the way god is long-suffering if
you have if you haven't heard this sort of preaching you're kind of maturing as a christian
but look once once you know what the word of god says look god wants you to get right okay
he says it says um and all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delights of land saith
the lord of hosts oh okay so that's a nation oh no no wait a second brother Ian it's talking about
a nation that was just just to the children of israel uh who's replaced israel who replaced
israel yeah replacement theology is that you notice how all the doctrine just seemed to need
to like go hand in hand don't know so much of the bible doesn't kind of work without replacement
theology so much of the bible doesn't seem to work without the reprobate doctrine so many of
these things which so many of these kind of just lame churches seem to just can't seem to get from
the text but no we've replaced we've replaced our church has replaced israel okay this church
is look god's looking down and seeing israel and i want to bless church i want to delight some land
i want a church where we're able to do things we're able to have good events and functions
and able to do more forgotten able to get the gospel out more and able to do extra things on
the side and start adding more ministries and everything else that's what i want i want a church
which is able to plant other churches and be able to afford to even kind of get out there and do
stuff and and get on with things that's what i want i want a church doing things for god
go back to proverbs 3 where solomon goes straight from honoring god to chastisement
like we've just seen if we saw a threat here in malachi 3 and back in proverbs 3 we see in verse
9 he said honor the lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase
so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine
then he said my son despise not the chastening of the lord neither be weary of his correction
for whom the lord loveth he correcteth even as a father the son in whom he delighteth
so if god likes you like he says he does then he's going to chastise you when you disobey him
isn't he that's what the bible says and he does threaten that now turn turn to exodus chapter 23
so exodus chapter 23 because the command of giving to god is often followed by a warning
so exodus chapter 23
and from verse 16 we see the same as we've just seen here we've seen like that give to god and
then he starts talking about chastisement exodus 23 and verse 16 says um exodus 23 16 says and the
feast of harvest the first fruits of thy labors which thou has sown in the field and the feast of
in gathering which is in the end of the year when thou has gathered in thy labors out of the field
three times in a year all thy mail shall appear before the lord god thou shalt not offer the blood
of my sacrifice with leavened bread neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning
the first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the lord thy god
thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk behold i send an angel before thee to keep thee
in the way and to bring thee into the place which i'm prepared beware of him and obey his voice
provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him but if thou
shall indeed obey his voice and all that i speak then i'll be an enemy unto thine enemies and an
adversary unto thine adversary so like we've just seen in proverbs three again we've got that bring
that first fruits bring the first fruits then it's like beware because look if you if you don't obey
what i'm telling you to do you're going to get a whoopee and that's that's a warning that's the
warning that i've got to give you haven't i like like i said i don't enjoy preaching this yeah this
isn't one of those like yeah you know smash the full this is like last week you smash that wicked
false prophet cross-dressing sod yeah no this isn't but but look people need to be warned of
this don't they need to be warned what the word of god says about this so um back to proverbs three
he wants you to be blessed he wants you to do things right it's not like oh god just wants
to punish you no he just wants you to do things right okay and and that was backed by that was
early on excess 23 there but we're going back to proverbs three and the title is why do we tithe
aside from the fact that that for me it's just a clear commandment in the bible number one because
it furthers the work of god number two because it benefits you and number three because it helps
fight covetousness it helps fight covetousness verse 13 says happy is the man that findeth
wisdom and the man that getteth understanding for the merchandise of it is better than the
merchandise of silver and again thereof than fine gold she is more precious and rubies and
all the things thou cancers are and not to be compared unto her length of days is in her right
hand in her left hand riches and honor her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are
peace she is a tree of life to them that they hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her
so wisdom and understanding is better than wealth better than treasure it adds years to your life
and really adds to you the true riches and honor okay that's what i see there he said in verse 7
fear the lord depart from evil verse 9 to honor the lord with thy first fruits verse 11 to not
hate the punishment of god and then he says get wisdom and understanding instead of focusing on
your wealth and for me look tithing just helps people to get their priorities straight doesn't it
they learn to put god first don't they when you're tithing you just learn right okay well god comes
first yeah before anything else look for me the second look before i'm even going can i pay for
this can i will this even work before i'm plotting planning and working out what i can do with this
money and whether or not i'm going to be able to afford to do this or get that for me the first
thing i do is pay god is 10 every time i get paid 10 goes to god then i work out what happens after
that that's a good principle to get into isn't it you know he comes first and when he comes first
financially guess what he's more likely to come first in other areas of your life as well isn't he
if he's the first the first thing you do is well i pay god he's eat he comes first in the other
areas of your life he's more like to come first as well now turn to first timothy six because
what's the issue with so many of these tithes haters it's covetousness okay it's it's greed a
lot of the time and really it's covetousness and again i'm not talking about giving money to lame
churches and false prophets okay that's not what i'm talking about and if you're not in church you
should get into church okay that's that's clear as day however first timothy six says in verse six
but godliness first timothy six six but godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought
nothing into this world it's certain we could carry nothing out and having food and raiment
let us be there with content but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition did it say that they
that are rich no or did it say they that will be rich it's people whose goal is riches it's people
who focus on getting wealthy it's a trap and it results in people disobeying god doesn't it
affecting the work of god affecting their own blessings and then putting money above god
and some people might look i don't want to be rich but i just want to pay the bills brother here
like look i don't know if i could even afford to tie well he said prove him didn't he
he just said look prove me try me test me that's what he's saying and and and believe me i've
looked i've been on i've been on the hard end of this i don't know if i can make this month
and i paid the time and just something works out things work out so see in verse 10 for the love
of money is a root of all evil which whilst some coveted after they have erred from the faith
and pierce themselves through with many sorrows but thou o man of god flee these things and follow
after righteousness godliness faith love patience and meekness and that's what we should be following
after money can easily become some sort of god can't it for so many it's a god colossians 3 5
though says mortify therefore your members which upon the earth fornication uncleanness
inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry okay because
what happens is money goes here god goes here okay becomes an idol it becomes a false god
and that's something that we want to avoid and you know what giving your first 10 to god
for me straight away puts him up here and the money down here doesn't it okay and that's
something look we're told to flee it okay we're told to flee covetousness covetousness is a stare
it's a trap okay and and just tithing itself aside from everything else will help you with that
because in our look in this day and age it's everywhere isn't it it's all about money all
about like people people just go up to you and just ask you outright what does your job pay
okay so what do you own from that okay so is that well paid is that it's just all money everything's
about money isn't it and people look people who try to claim that they're not all about money
still you can tell they're all about money it's all people think they're impressing you by what
they've spent what they've bought what they own what they have but look it's not important is it
because the love of money is the root of all evil you know having food and raiment let us be there
with content so giving the first 10 of it straight to god does help to put it in the correct place in
our life doesn't it okay back to proverbs three where he shows us the result of this wisdom and
understanding this lack of covetousness honoring the lord trusting in him with all thine heart
leaning not unto our own understanding he says this in verse 21 he says my son let them not
depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall they be life unto thy soul
and grace to thy neck then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble
when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet
be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh for
the lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken look would anyone trade
trade all of that to have a bit of extra cash would you oh well yeah forget all that forget
the peace the safety the lying down and everything else i just want to have some extra money because
i i say to you look for me if you're not tithing then can you are you really going to get these
promises from god it's in the same breath almost isn't it and he's saying look when you're doing
things the wisdom that he's teaching you to do all these things then you're going to get all
these things and you know oh well yeah but you know i need this money but are you really going
to lie down there and just feel yeah i'm nice my sleep is sweet i'll tell you when you're not when
you're not doing the things that god wants you're doing your sleep's not really sweet is it unless
you're wicked but then you can have some sweet sleep because you know it's not gonna be a good
end for you but jump forward to verse 33 it then says the curse of the lord is in the house of the
wicked okay but he blesseth the habitation of the just surely he scorneth the scorners but he
giveth grace unto the lowly the wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion
or fools and that's all sounds pretty good to me and if you're sitting here thinking
okay well okay maybe you know maybe i'm a bit off with this brother in you know maybe i've kind of
i'm a bit on and off with it or maybe look you might be sitting here going i don't believe any
of what you said now i think like that was all wrong that look that's up to you like i said we
still want you here when it we look i have no idea you know who pays what i've got no interest
that's not something i want to know i've got no log of it or anything else we you know that's
between you and god but maybe you were sitting here going well that kind of starting to make
a bit of sense i actually thought that you were just kind of like going fishing and opening up
the fish's mouths and taking coins out and that's how this church was was working you know i've now
i've started to realize that this is it goes towards the work of god and everything else
okay but i don't know what to do now i don't know if i look i've got a budget and everything else
well i'd say to do like he said in malachi 3 10 he said bring you all the tithes into the storehouse
and maybe meet in my house and prove me now here with sir 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
for me what we've just read there all those kind of just having peace able to sleep properly having
you know not being in fear and all that is all part of those blessings that you get from god
when you're doing things how god wants you to do and and that's what we saw in proverbs 3 and
verses 9 to 10 where he said honor the lord with thy substance with the first fruits of all thine
increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine look
there's some pretty bold promises yeah and you know for me i've proved him with this i think many
people have as well look yeah we're not we're not all driving up turning up here in in you know in
ferraris and things i don't think anyone is anyway maybe they're parking around the corner
you know and and but none of that's important isn't it is it but you know when you're doing
things for god and you're doing everything and you've got like a clear conscience with him
it doesn't all feel good doesn't it you know it does feel good and obviously there are other
aspects of christian life okay i tied i do nothing else you know i just wire the money to like to a
good church and then the rest of the time we're just living in like kind of wickedness no obviously
there are other areas of it as well but this is a key area of the christian life i know it's not
it's not a pleasant sermon to necessarily preach however look it is something that does need
preaching now and again people need reminding it especially with all the attacks out there
and they become a bit more crafty some of these attacks like i said and try and be a bit
subtle and clever about how they try and convince you that it's not biblical for me i think it
clearly is biblical um i hope i've shown you that stern i hope and i've given you a bit of
encouragement with it for those for everyone here that's just like yeah no you know i'm tithing and
thank you hopefully people are thinking thank you because that's helped me with that because
i'm starting to wonder a bit i'm seeing all these attacks or you know sometimes you think oh is it
all worth it look god says it's worth it yeah god says it's worth it i know that i believe it's
worth it um and on that we're going to finish up in prayer father thank you um thank you for
this church thank you for all the you know many just faithful church members we've had here that
just just have just faithfully you know given back to you what what what you've told us to give you
thank you that you know that that you make it clear in your word and that not only do you just
tell us to give back to you but also that you then bless us for doing so and and you know we don't
it's not that we deserve that it's not that oh well you know i'm such a good person because i
give money to you it's just because you know you you're so you're so kind you're so just
just merciful to all of us not only have you given us a free gift of salvation but when we
honor you with the first fruits for our increase you also bless us and thank you for that thank
you for for just you know being here with this church thank you for helping this church to be
where it is today to to have this building to have all the many things we have here that wouldn't be
possible we don't have some you know church somewhere some big mega church is sending us
money and and everything else we just we just rely on god's people um giving back to you so
that the work of god can continue we thank you for everyone here we thank you for this church
um lord we pray that you just help us go out and get people saved and also to add to this
church as well and in return for this evening's service in jesus thank you for all this amen