We're talking about something that in the 21 years we've been up here, we've never done
a series on this. I believe I did a partial message on it in 2008. We've never done a series
on it because I've never felt the Lord was leading me to do a series on tithing or giving.
And knowing how people up here think, I grew up in North Dakota, so I know how the old
European mindset is. People are really touchy when you talk about money. And I thought, well,
if he ain't going to tell me to do it, I'm not going to get into that. That's not going to
produce anything good. But it's time. We need to at least have it on record if not for ourselves
for the future generation. So we're into a series on financial giving. Specifically, we're
looking deeper at tithing. Now my goal is to make tithing, or to help you view tithing
and giving financially, as more of a blessing and a promise than a headache, than a law,
than an obligation. Then, oh man, I'm forced to do this and a command. No, that's not how
God intends this. Humans turned it into that, but that's not how God intends it for us.
It's actually a promise and a blessing to be a giver. And hopefully by the time we're
out the series, you'll see that real clear. So I want to review a bit from last Sunday.
In the New Testament, love and giving are tied together. Wherever you find love, you're
going to find there's somebody giving. Because true godly love is I want the best for you.
To want the best for you, I'm going to give into your life somehow to help you
get there. Giving is an expression of love. Giving does not start with a command
if it's mature giving. I remember the first time I tied, I think I was seven or eight
years old. And some of you have heard the story. When we started, as we were growing
up, we were farmers, and dad was raising pigs and he wanted to teach us some financial
sense. So he bore all the expense. He gave us a little one. He fed it all summer
until in the fall. And then he said, whatever money comes out of that is yours.
I'll never forget this. $22.50. And as an eight-year-old back then, that's
like, man, I struck it rich. So he handed me the $22.50. And then he said,
now not all of that belongs to you. And I'm going, what do you mean? You said,
I could get whatever comes out of the pig. Well, you did. But 10% of that doesn't
belong to you. It belongs to God. What? Yeah, 10% belongs to God. You have to
give $2.25 to God. I said, where's God? How do I get it into his hand? He said,
well, he established that so it goes to the church because that's what he's
wanting to accomplish. So you're helping him accomplish what he's doing. That's how
he decided to fund what he's doing on earth. That $2.25 was like ripping off my
arm. It's like serious that much. And then he made the next announcement. And
that's where it starts every year. So it started as a command, but that's where it
starts when you're mature, when you don't understand it yet. But as you're
stretched and you grow, you find out that giving actually comes out of love.
You want to. It's a difference between a husband feeling like he's
commanded, he has to buy something for his wife on their anniversary, or he wants to.
And I know none of you guys would have this problem, but believe it or not,
there are some guys who do not want to give their wives anything.
She should get a job in her own way. And I'm not giving her anything for her
birthday or for our anniversary or whatever. All that showing is how selfish you are
and how little you love her. God needs to stretch you.
So I can freely... I hope my mic don't start that again. I can freely talk about that
because none of you are that way. That was the place you should have said amen.
Unless you're lying and it was good, you're quiet. God tests our love for him by looking
at our giving. Folks, everything we love in life, we give into, whether it's a car,
whether it's a pet, you know the thousands of dollars people spend on their pet.
Oh, I just love that pet. Had a neighbor, Colorado, when we were living there,
he had a golden retriever, beautiful dog. Must have thought a rock was a ball
and he picked it up in his mouth and down the hatchet went.
Swallowed a rock, about that big. Took him to the vet. They x-rayed him. Oh, he's got a rock in his
stomach. That's what the problem is. They didn't know what the problem was then. They figured it out.
I can't remember what he said. It was like 1500 bucks or something like that back then
that he spent for surgery, get the rock out of the stomach.
Why would you do that? Oh, we love that dog. Yeah, so you're going to give to it,
aren't you? Two days later, same thing, swallowed another rock.
Back to the vet we go, we spend it all over again.
I said, how are you going to fix this? We are going to clear all the rocks out of the pen.
It's not going to be a rock in that pen. Because, see, they don't make any difference
if it's a dog, if it's a car, if it's a house. It makes no difference what it is.
If we love it, we give in to it. We give our time, we give our energy,
we give our thinking, our emotions, we give our finances. What we love, we give to.
That's just how it works. I wanted to touch this thought yet.
And however far we get this morning, we'll just stop there and finish next Sunday
because it's a series. We can do that. Is all giving based on love?
Think about that. Is all giving based on love?
No. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul spoke about love with what the Holy Spirit gave him,
I think I got it here. Yep, though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
So we can give and it's not motivated by love.
That's interesting. Do you know the business system of this world
is based on that principle in many ways?
When you cut a deal with someone else as a businessman, that's okay. You got a contract,
you got a deal, you're buying their product and et cetera.
If you want to have a good relationship with them,
I knew one guy who was a businessman, again back in Colorado, he did very well for himself.
And his wife said to me one year, she said,
do you know that he spends more on his customers at Christmas time each one?
He spends more on each one than he does on me. Do you know why he does that?
To keep the customer, not because he loves them.
It's the old, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Concept? It's big in Congress, by the way.
If you haven't figured that one out yet, it's big in our government.
You know when we took that and we drug it into the church,
because the church loves to adopt worldly culture,
we drug it into the church and we've made a saying around it.
You be about God's business and he'll be about yours.
Stop and think about that. Is that a scriptural saying?
Can you sway God into doing what you want him to do by doing something for him?
Or earning it then? That don't work.
I'll give you a hint. God is about our business all the time.
He just approaches it differently depending upon where we are in our attitude.
John 16, he either convinces us of sin, righteousness, or the devil is judged.
Depending upon where we're at, we can be doing nothing for God.
God doesn't look at us and go, ah, they're doing nothing for me.
Just forget about them. Let's go on to somebody else who's working with me.
No, he keeps working on them. He's about their business.
Just not the way they want them to be about it.
But he's going to be on them. He's going to be with them.
See, the whole concept of, well, you know, you should do something nice for them
because someday you might need something nice from them.
That's not godly love. That's a business technique.
And most businesses, that's how they operate.
They buy gifts for each other. They buy gifts for each other.
I want to stay with this mic because I like to use my hands.
They buy gifts for each other. They do all kinds of things for each other.
If you're in Congress, you get all kinds of big kickbacks, which of course nobody knows about.
If you will vote my direction, there will be a reward.
And it becomes this business transaction. That's not love.
If anyone gives a cup of cold water, any one of these little ones,
I tell you the truth, he will not lose his reward.
Suppose a brother or sister without clothes or daily bread,
and you say, oh, we'll pray for you. Keep warm, be fed.
But does nothing about his physical needs? He said, what good is that?
That's faith without works. It's dead.
Of course, everything that God gives to us is wrapped up in two principles.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbors yourself.
When we give a cup of cold water to somebody, we are loving them.
When we help them buy food and clothes because they're in a desperate situation,
it should be coming out of we're loving them.
We want the best for them, so we're trying to help them.
But there is a love of the world we want to stay out of.
It's a selfish love. John talked about it in 1st John 2.
It's a love system that we aren't supposed to be part of.
Love not the world, things in the world,
because it goes to lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
And I don't want to take the time to go there,
but it is the world system of love, and you just don't want to go there.
So I just wanted to cap that off.
There is just because you're giving doesn't mean you love them.
The best example of that, if you have ever raised children,
honey, he had it first. Give it back.
Eventually, they're going to give it, not because they love them.
I'm going to have to lose this mic, hand me that one if you would.
We thought we had the problem, but apparently not.
So we'll keep digging.
They're giving the toy back under command, under duress,
but not because they love.
So we can give because that's an obligation we're demanded to.
That's why I don't want to go to church, because you go to church and now you've got to tithe.
If I stay away from church, then I don't have to tithe.
Well, it's not yours either way, whether you come or stay away.
The tenth still doesn't belong to us.
So I want to hopefully shift our mind into, wait a second,
there's blessings and promises tied to this.
That's the reason God wants it to happen.
Rather than, I suppose, had one guy say to me,
you know how much money I've given to the church over my lifetime?
I could have traveled the world.
Cheerful giver, are we?
See, all he was telling me is he didn't have a clue what it was about.
He was doing it under duress because he felt like if he didn't,
he's going to get in trouble with God.
Oh, wait a second.
You need to shift that mindset into what the New Testament talks about giving.
So every week I want to be able to have, or close to every week,
have someone share their experience on tithing and what they've done with it
and why they feel it's a good thing.
And this morning, Sandy's going to come and share.
So if you would do that, and we've got enough people volunteered,
we have a mix between men and women.
So this is awesome.
So tell us, give us your story.
Well, my family, when I was very young, deemed me the most likely to not succeed.
To not succeed.
And then they proceeded to treat me that way.
And so then my rebellion and my stubbornness came out
and proceeded to prove them right.
And I left two days after graduation.
And ended up in California where my friend that I went to live with,
she knew the Lord.
So I started going to church and learned about tithing.
And I had no problem with it.
I've always been a giver.
And I watched God move through my life.
It was amazing.
I started a business out there and ran that for 10 years.
And there were seasons where I said,
God, can you trust me with more?
And he did.
And there were seasons when I tithed according to what I needed to make,
not according to what I made.
And he blessed it.
I've had opportunities to,
I support some missionaries in Africa that go to Africa.
And one of the pastors over there
and his family had no home.
And I had the opportunity to buy them a home.
It wasn't that exciting.
It was only 5,000, but changed their lives.
And God has blessed me with a house with nine bedrooms and seven baths.
And he has filled it with people that need it and want it and appreciate it.
And that blesses my heart to no end.
If I had a house with a hundred rooms, I would fill it, you know.
And I've been able to help some young men
that were homeless and they would come and stay
and I would help them out to get back on their feet.
And I have my horses.
I have chickens.
I have a dog named Gertie.
And that fills my heart to no end.
And the thing I've learned about tithing is that it's always been a joy.
I mean, I giggle when I put money in that thing.
And also the adventure.
What are you going to do with it now, God?
You know, when I'd ask him for more,
he would give it to me and then give me something to do with it.
And it was always fun.
I always look for adventures and he brings them.
And it's just joy.
Absolute joy to do.
So you contribute your success to the giving and the tithing.
Yes, yes.
There was a time when I stood in front of my drawing board
and he said, you have carte blanche, Sandy.
You can get as big as you want now because I was giving.
He could trust you.
Yeah.
That is awesome.
And I could trust you.
So you never felt like your giving was robbing from you.
No, it was feeding me.
That's unusual because most of us go through a time
where it's like, ah, this is hard to give this.
But you're a giver at Nature.
Yes, I am.
I am. And a houser.
I love housing people and feeding them.
Yep. Thank you.
Thank you.
So let's go this direction.
Spend a few minutes here.
Break this down and see how far we get.
The three main ways of financial giving in Scripture.
And it kind of holds true in society too.
Tithes, offerings, and alms.
Those are the three.
Tithes is giving a tenth of our increase or our profit.
That's what Scripture calls it.
Jesus referred to it this way.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for you pay tithe.
Jesus talked about tithing of mint and anise and common
and have neglected the way to your matters of the law.
So there are some way to your matters than tithing.
Justice, mercy, and faith.
There are bigger things than tithing.
But you ought to have done those without leaving the other,
the others undone.
Part of the others is tithing.
So Jesus was foretithing.
That word tithe there means the tithe,
either the person giving it or the person receiving it.
It comes from a root word number 1183.
So that root word means to give or take a tenth.
That's so when you read tithe in the Bible,
when what Jesus just said means a tenth to pay or receive tithes.
Which came from another word, which is the feminine.
They've got masculine feminine words in the Greek.
Also means a tenth or a percentage or technically a tithe or a tenth.
So when you say we're tithing, we're talking about one tenth of the profit or increase.
Remember that, because once we get going on what do we tithe on, gross or net,
well, that principle is going to enter back in.
Offerings.
Offerings, he looked up and he saw the rich putting their gifts in the treasury,
and he also saw poor widow putting in two mites.
So he said, truly, I say to you this poor widow has put in more than all.
For all these out of the abundance have put in offerings for God,
but she out of her poverty put in her livelihood that she had.
Sacrificial giving, she sacrificed to give that.
Acts 24.
After many years, I came to bring alms.
Okay, that's coming next.
Paul took alms and offerings back to Jerusalem for his nation.
After many years, I came bringing my alms and offerings.
So what are offerings?
Offerings are, there's the definition for it in the Greek, a present,
especially a sacrifice like the lady who gave the two mites.
It's a gift, it's an offering.
It's a presentation, a sacrifice to offer something up or offering something up.
So you're giving something, you're offering at free will.
This is something that is mine and I'm going to offer it and I'm going to give it.
Alms.
Now after many years, I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation.
I'll just use the same verse.
Jesus talked about it.
Take heed that you don't do your alms.
Now the new King James calls it charitable deeds.
King James calls it alms.
Watch that you don't do your alms before men to be seen of them.
Otherwise you're not going to have a reward.
Therefore when you give alms, do not sound the trumpet and say,
hey, look what I gave.
Da da da da.
They already have the reward.
Verse three.
But when you do us alms or you do that giving,
keep it so secret that your left hand and your right hand don't even know what's going on.
That thy alms may be in secret so that the Father can reward you openly.
So what are alms?
Alms are compassionateness towards others, specifically the poor,
people who need help, people who are struggling,
people who are hit a bad stretch in life.
You help them, but you don't help them so you can brag about it.
Well, I gave them a thousand dollars.
That should pay their gas.
Why did you say that?
Because you want credit.
See, alms is something that you do in secret.
Nobody knows what you did.
Sometimes it's done through the church, sometimes it's not.
But it's giving to someone who's in need,
someone who needs help, someone who's struggling financially with food or whatever.
So you've got tithes.
Oh, there's, I never switched it to that.
Alms, compassionateness, exercise towards the poor,
people who need help.
So you've got tithes.
That's the 10%.
You've got offerings.
That's any amount that we give to God's work, not necessarily a tithe.
It can be special speakers.
It can be projects.
It's offerings.
We decide to give more than our tithe.
And then you've got alms.
Any amount given, typically to help someone,
often given directly to the person.
It's not the tithe, it's alms.
Typically given to help someone in need.
So we're not going to spend a lot of time on offerings and alms.
But I wanted you to understand they're in Scripture
and that's what they look like and that's what they are.
In case God ever taps you on the shoulder and says,
Hey, give them 20 bucks.
Give them 50 bucks.
They need some help.
That's alms.
That's scriptural.
Do that.
In fact, let's bring it into present day.
Go fund me.
And most of these crowd giving platforms are alms.
They're not tithes because once we get to the definition
of tithe, they're not tithes.
And they're not offerings.
They're alms.
You're helping someone who hit a rough patch.
And there's nothing wrong with go fund me or any of that stuff.
But technically it fits in under alms.
Offerings is where you can get extravagant giving,
like Mary was talking about this morning.
10% is 10% whether you, no matter how you cut it,
it's not extravagant giving.
It's 10%.
That's a tithe.
Extravagant giving goes into offerings.
You can get extravagant with alms.
Sometimes you hear of a movie star or something
tipping a waitress $5,000?
Because they felt that the person could use it?
That's alms.
They're helping someone that they felt needed help.
And $5,000 on a $25 meal,
I'd say that's an extravagant tip.
And that is scriptural to give extravagantly
and ex-sacrificially.
But we're not going to take too much time
on the offerings in the alms.
I want to spend more time on the tithe.
So let's get started here.
When did tithing start?
Most people say, well, I'm not under the law,
especially New Testament, our age.
We're not under the law.
We don't have to tithe.
Tithing didn't start under the law.
Tithing started with Abraham.
And this is key as we develop this,
and hopefully I get through it all of it this morning,
the developing part.
Abraham was on his way back from rescuing Lot.
He had just had a battle with people who took Lot,
and a lot of other people too,
but he was going there to get Lot, his nephew back.
And on his way back, Melchizedek,
the king of Salem, who was a priest of God,
brought bread and wine.
What did bread and wine use for?
Communion.
So the king of Salem,
which later was renamed Jerusalem,
wasn't called Salem anymore,
it was renamed Jerusalem,
but what does the name Salem mean?
Peace.
So the king of peace...
I'm just pointing this out,
because once next week when we go to Hebrews 7,
it'll make perfect sense,
because Melchizedek was a type of Jesus.
Jesus is the prince of peace.
So the king of Salem or the king of peace,
king of Jerusalem, later it was renamed.
So he was the king of a city,
and he was the priest of God,
brought communion out to Abraham.
And Melchizedek blessed him and said,
bless me, Abram, the God of God most high,
possessor of heaven and earth.
So Melchizedek blesses Abraham,
and verse 20,
and bless be God most high,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand.
So he pronounces a blessing over Abraham
that came from the possessor of heaven and earth to Abraham.
And then he pronounces a blessing to God,
and everything that God did,
and he, Abraham, gave him a tenth or a tithe of all.
That's the first place it's mentioned in Scripture.
Now, I'm not...
I'm highly doubtful Abraham came up with that idea.
There were a lot of things that God taught Adam and Eve
that never made it into the Bible.
Like for instance, Cain and Abel.
Why was Cain's sacrifice rejected
and Abel's was accepted?
And God didn't cut Cain any slack.
It's like, hey, you knew what I wanted.
Well, the Bible doesn't tell us that story,
but that story took place.
And at some point, Adam and Eve taught their boys,
if you're going to make a sacrifice to God,
it has to be a blood sacrifice.
Well, Cain already had feelings with Abel because,
I mean, the whole idea of I'm going to kill you with a rock
didn't start just one day.
They're already struggling with each other relationship-wise.
And more than likely, Cain did not want to buy something
from Abel that had blood in it because Cain was a gardener
and Abel was the one who raised animals.
I ain't giving him that money.
I'll just bring what I got.
It's going to be good enough for God.
And God said, no, it's not going to be.
You know what you're supposed to be doing.
So there was a lot of information that was given
that we have no record of.
I believe Abraham already knew about tithing and what it was about.
I don't think he conceived that right here.
But it's the first place it's mentioned in Scripture
is right there in Genesis 14.
And we're going to go a lot deeper into that Scripture next Sunday.
I just want you to see that it started with Abraham.
So here's the beginning of tithing.
Who was Melchizedek?
He was the priest of God Most High.
What was Melchizedek celebrating with Abraham?
The defeat of the enemies, the rescuing of Lot.
How were they celebrating that victory?
Communion.
Well, now we're into covenant.
We're celebrating the fact that the God Most High
took care of this whole thing.
He is possessor of heaven and earth.
He defeated your enemies for you.
You ended up blessed because of covenant.
So we're going to take communion
and celebrate this covenant we have with this God.
And during that celebration or taking that communion,
that whole setting, blessings were spoken by the priest
or the official representative of God.
That's what the priest was.
And the reciprocation on receiving the blessing
was Abraham giving the tithe.
That is a principle that goes throughout.
It never quits.
That principle still holds true today.
And I'll show you that next week.
We won't get to it this week.
I'll show it to you next week.
The picture is we are in covenant with God.
That covenant is God giving us innumerable, unmeasurable.
They're as big as they need to be
for whatever the situation is, blessings.
In covenant, the exchange on that,
the financial exchange is the tithe.
It's a 10%.
That's explained real deeply in the law,
which we're not going to spend much time there either,
just enough to see how they explain things,
but it doesn't apply to us.
But this is the beginning with Abraham of tithing.
And by the way, it hasn't changed since Abraham.
It came right through the cross unchanged,
lands of smack dab in the New Testament.
I'll show that to you.
You say, why would it?
Theological question for you.
I'll make it easy.
Are we under Abraham's covenant today or not?
Are we under Noah's covenant today or not?
Not yet Noah's covenant.
That's a yes.
You're right.
Are we under Moses' covenant today or not?
No.
The law?
We're under the law?
No.
Moses' covenant is usually referred to as the law.
So you've got Abraham's covenant is still in effect.
A lot of people don't know that.
Do you know a reason you've got the baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Because of Abraham's covenant.
That's what it says in Galatians.
Part of the blessing that was given to Abraham
shows up in our life as a personal individual
receiving of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
So we're still under that covenant.
It didn't stop at the cross.
Tithing hasn't changed.
We're still under that covenant.
It didn't change at the cross.
It came through the cross unchanged.
Remember that principle?
We're not going to develop on it here.
But remember the principle?
The things in the Old Testament either stopped at the cross,
came through the cross changed,
or they came through the cross unchanged.
Examples.
God's love for the human race in the Old Testament
came through the cross unchanged.
It's the same today as it was back there.
The working of the Spirit and how He operates
came through the cross, but totally changed.
The Old Testament law stopped at the cross.
Did not come through.
It was replaced with Jesus' covenant.
Got to keep some of these things in mind.
I'm kind of just building a foundation to where we're going.
What has changed when it concerned tithing
and the Old Testament to the New Testament?
It's what motivates us to do it.
Back then and under the law they were forced to do it.
It was part of the law.
Today we're not forced to tithe.
Do you know what it is?
It's an expression of our love.
That's exactly what...
All giving flows out of love.
Tithing is the same.
You take all the 600 and some separate commands
of the Old Testament and wrap them up in two.
One of the commands was tithing.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
If you do that you'll tithe.
What you love you give to.
See it's starting to come together now.
Yeah, but isn't tithing part of the Old Testament law?
Yeah, it is.
But it was first introduced by Abraham.
It actually is under his covenant.
And then the law was added to fix some things.
We'll talk about that next Sunday a little bit.
Let's talk about the covenant and how tithing fits into it.
Just real, real briefly here.
The concept of an individual being able to participate
in a covenant with God came through Abraham.
Noah's covenant was a general overall.
This is what's going to happen in the earth.
And if people do this, that happens.
And if people do that, that happens.
It was like a governmental covenant.
Abraham's covenant was the one that made it personal to the person.
And even the way God announced it in the Old Testament,
he was the God of the Israelites.
He was, but is that usually how he announced things?
He said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac.
Individual relationship and working with God
that started with Abraham's covenant.
And it continues today.
God works in our life individually because of Abraham's covenant.
Tithing is directly tied to Abraham's covenant.
Abraham's covenant is what brought life.
The law didn't give life.
It just pointed out our sin and that we were sinners
and that we needed a savior.
Here's a scripture on it.
Whatever the law says, it says to those under the law
that everybody is silenced.
The whole world held accountable.
There will no one be declared righteous in his sight
by observing the law.
Rather, through the law, we become conscious we're sinners.
We can't keep the law.
It's impossible for a human being to keep every point of the law.
That's why it can't save us.
Well, if we can't keep it, what did he give it for?
To show you you can't keep it.
You need a savior.
Well, I don't lie. I deserve to go to heaven.
You deserve nothing.
Salvation is a gift given by faith.
You can't earn it by not lying.
Well, I went to church every day of my life.
Well, good for you.
Hope it helped you.
But it doesn't guarantee you heaven.
The law just points out you're not good enough.
There's no life in it.
There's no promise in it.
It's just here's where you're failing.
Here's where you're failing.
That was the purpose of the law
so that everybody would come to the point
they're silent and quit saying,
yeah, but I'm good enough.
No, you're not.
You're failing.
You're all failing.
Did you know that that whole concept of the law,
from what I understand, the way I'm seeing it,
God never wanted that to take place.
He never wanted the law and that whole thing to take place.
Look at the Scripture.
Let me take an example from everyday life.
Just as no one can set aside and add a human covenant
that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
The promises that were spoken to Abraham and to his seed,
that was Jesus, not us, Jesus.
The Scripture does not say,
and to seeds, meaning many people,
but it says to seed, meaning one person who is Christ.
The promises were spoken to Abraham and Jesus,
and we get in on it through Jesus,
but Abraham's covenant is the core of that.
Read on.
What I mean is this.
The law introduced 430 years later,
does not set aside the covenant he had with Abraham.
For if the inheritance depends on the law,
then it no longer depends on a promise.
God made a promise to Abraham.
Well, if we can earn it by the law,
well, it's no longer a promise.
But God, in his grace, gave it to Abraham through the promises.
What then was the purpose of the law?
It was added.
Why?
Because sin got so bad.
Because of transgression, until the seed, Jesus,
to whom the promise referred, had come.
Had the world not gotten so deep into sin, specifically Israel,
I don't think he'd ever added the law.
But they were going to lose the whole thing
by the time Jesus was supposed to be born
because of the depravity they got into.
You got Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Have you ever studied Jacob's 12 sons, their lives?
These people hit the ditch really hard
when it comes to righteousness and doing what God wanted them to do.
I think God looked in on that and said the direction this is going,
this isn't going to work.
So we're going to add another covenant until Jesus shows up.
We're going to add the law.
We're going to try to hold this thing together
and show them how wrong they are.
You can't sleep with your son's wife and get away with it.
Remember one of them did that.
And then he denied it.
But she was a sharp woman.
She took his staff.
And then she got pregnant by him.
And then she came out of the woodwork and said,
hey, by the way, I've got your baby.
I do not do anything like that.
Well, whoever owns this staff apparently did.
Pulled out his staff.
See, this thing was going south so fast, so bad,
that we had to spend a few hundred years here yet,
like 1500 from Moses to Jesus.
We're never going to make it.
This thing's going to collapse in on itself in sin.
So God added the law to fill that gap.
It was added because of sin.
What then was the purpose of the law?
It was added because of transgression
to make men more conscious of what they're doing.
It was intended to be in effect until the seed, Jesus.
The law was in effect until Jesus.
Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God?
Absolutely not.
For if the law had been against God, I mean, that wouldn't work.
The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin,
so that what was promised might be given as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ.
To the whole world might be given to those who believe.
The law made of sinners who was a promise made to Abraham and Jesus.
It was added to make sure that promise that was given to Abraham,
which would be his seeds, Jesus would become his promise.
The law was added to hold everything together.
That's my understanding.
So I repeat, the covenant that brings life and blessing is Abraham's covenant.
It's not the law.
On that day, the Lord God made a covenant with Abraham.
Okay?
So now let's go back and make application here.
By faith, we're brought into Abraham's covenant
and have become Abraham's spiritual children.
So our inheritance comes from Abraham.
Were his kids, huh?
You say, that can't be right.
It is right.
Notice this.
And he received a sign of circumcision,
a seal of righteousness that he had by faith
while they were still in circumcised.
So then he is the father of all who believe
whether you're a Jew and believe in circumcision
or whether you're a Gentile and you don't believe in circumcision.
By faith, you become a child of Abraham.
There's that scripture.
Verse 13, I think it's right there.
It was not through the law that Abraham
and his offering received the promise
that he would be heir of the world,
but through righteousness that comes from faith.
Oh, offspring.
Receive the promise that he would be heir of the world.
Well, his offspring was Jesus.
And then what did Jesus say to us?
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
See, it was given to Jesus.
And then through his covenant,
he turned around and gave it to all of us.
And we receive the promise.
That righteousness doesn't come by the law,
doesn't come by being born a Jew.
It comes by faith because you become an heir of Abraham,
who the promise was first mentioned to.
The law brings wrath.
Yeah, you're wrong.
But where there's no law, there's no transgression.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith.
You say, well, where there's no law,
there's no transgression.
What does that mean?
That means if you don't know you're breaking the law,
you don't, in your mind, you're not breaking the law.
Now, you're still breaking the law.
Just you don't know it.
I don't know.
I didn't know I was supposed to do that.
Well, yeah, you were supposed to do that.
Oh, so it's the law still stands.
You just didn't realize it.
So you weren't transgressing.
But the law just pointed that out to you.
Yep.
You don't measure up.
Verse 16.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith
so that it may be by grace
and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring.
Remember, it's not the physical born of Israel
that God considers Abraham's offspring.
It's those born of faith.
Remember the two sons, Isaac, Ishmael?
It's not the one of the flesh who gets the promise.
It's Isaac, the son of the promise
that Abraham got by faith.
That's how it's passed on to us.
By faith, we become Abraham's offspring
and we can inherit what was promised to Abraham
because he is...
Remember the song when you, if you grew up in church,
remember the song years ago,
it irritated me to no end.
Father Abraham had many sons.
And we had to sing that.
In front of, I mean your little kids,
you got to get up in front of the people.
Mother Abraham, it was embarrassing to me.
It was built on Scripture.
It was built on truth.
He is our spiritual father.
We do inherit from him.
Verse 16 there, he is the father of us all.
Verse 17, as it is written,
I have made you the father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom you believed,
the God who gives life to the dead
and calls those things that are not as though they were.
Being fully persuaded that God had the power
to do what he was promised, talking about Abraham.
Back up.
In other words, it is not the natural children
who are God's children,
but it is the children of the promise
who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
If you've put your faith in Christ,
if you are born again,
you are considered to be offspring of Abraham.
And the promises that God gave to Abraham,
we inherit.
It's not the physical line
of the Israelite or Jewish people.
And that was the camel they couldn't handle
because they were the chosen people
and nobody else counted.
Well, God opened it up to the world
when he instituted faith.
And everybody now could get in on
the covenant God made with Abraham
and receive, be in error.
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham
might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
so that by faith,
we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Did you know, without being an heir
to the covenant of Abraham,
you can't receive the promise of the Spirit?
What did Jesus say the promise of the Spirit was?
He said, wait in Jerusalem
until the promise which was given by my Father
till the Holy Spirit comes.
It's the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit,
for us as individuals,
goes back to Abraham
and that covenant.
So, I'll end with this.
We'll just pick it up there next Sunday.
We like to get excited about,
for instance, we were talking about David.
You come to me with your spear and your sword.
I come to you in the name of Jehovah's of both.
What gave David the right to make that claim?
What we're talking, covenant, what covenant?
Abraham's covenant.
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine?
This clown is not in Abraham's covenant.
Why are you even listening to him?
And David encouraged himself in Jehovah Elohim.
What gave him access to Jehovah Elohim in the first place?
The covenant that Abraham set up with God.
What God did through Abraham and the exchange of sons.
Abraham was willing to give Isaac.
God said, that's all I need, you don't have to give him to me.
I will give you mine.
That exchange made everything God is,
a personal God to each one of us.
Abraham's covenant.
Well, there's a lot of things that tie into Abraham's covenant.
That's why God gave the law, because they weren't getting it.
One of the things he said to Abraham,
when he called him out of the Ur and Keldes,
he said, walk before me.
I'm quoting King James now.
Anybody can finish that? Walk before me and be blameless.
There you go.
We got some people who've read their Bible before.
Good memories too.
Walk before me and be blameless.
We walk not by sight,
but by, as what Paul said.
So when God told Abraham, walk before me,
he says, you got to walk this out by faith.
Which Abraham believed God
and that was credited to him for righteousness.
That's where the whole thing of faith started,
was with Abraham.
Walk before me, be a man of faith, Abraham,
and be blameless.
Deal with the sin in your life.
Nothing's changed.
Even today,
4,000 years later,
nothing has changed.
Those two things
is what everybody was supposed to live by
all the way through.
Well, they hung on to the
oh, we believe we're sons of God,
we're the children of God,
we're the heirs of God,
the walk before me, blameless,
kind of hit the ditch.
And what is the law deal with mostly?
Sin.
I mean, we read the scriptures this morning,
the law was given to show you how wrong you are.
Why?
Because they didn't see it
before God just hanging in front of them.
Thou shalt not lie.
Yoo hoo!
Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's property
or his wife.
Hello?
That's what it means to be
blameless.
So he just spelled it out for them.
Because they weren't getting it.
It was nothing new,
they just weren't getting it.
So he just added on
a whole section of
stuff on top of Abraham's covenant
to get us to the seed.
Because we read it this morning.
The law was given
until the seed.
Jesus.
It was plugged right in there.
He added it.
Because we were messing things up.
Well, do you know one of the
awesome things about covenant
is that exchange with God?
And when God
blesses us,
he wants to see if we love
him any enough
to reciprocate.
Because see the love
of money is the root of all evil.
It is the best test
there is.
It's not the root of evil.
The love of money is the root of
all evil.
The best test
he can put to us is
okay, I'm blessing your socks off.
Do you love me enough
to reciprocate?
Am I number one?
Love God with all your hearts
all minus strength?
Or do you love your money more than me?
That's the test of tithing
in the New Testament.
He's not going to command you to do it.
He's testing our love for him.
I'm going to show that to you again
really clearly next Sunday.
We like it when God
blesses us.
But that old human nature
that fallen nature
just swallows
really hard
when we're supposed to reciprocate
and get on board
with what he wants done.
Oh, we want him on board
with what we want done.
Oh, God help us
if you could just come through
and this it would be so awesome.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then God says,
you know what? Do you love me?
Oh, I love you, God.
Love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
Well, then why aren't you tithing?
Well, not under law. It's not about law.
It's about an exchange
of the covenant.
And I get it.
I can't afford to tithe.
Well, we're going to talk about that.
You know that God would never require you
to do something you can't do.
That's a setup for failure.
So, see, those are some of the questions
we have to answer. Well, I can't afford it.
How can I do? I mean, why would God even expect that of me?
I mean, it's like, I love him, but I mean,
now he wants 10% of my money.
Well, we never got that far,
but I hate to break it to you.
It's not your money.
Whoops.
Never was our money.
He let us use it
as stewards and servants.
We oversee it.
We watch it. We take care of it.
We distribute it. Work with it as he guides and directs us.
He just said,
you know that dollar bill, I just want one dime.
Just one dime.
Because I got things I wanted to do on earth, too.
And I need that dime to fund it.
You love me enough to give it to me?
Don't tell me what to do.
I'm not.
I'm asking.
All giving is rooted in love.
For God's so loved,
loved us
that he gave Jesus.
All giving, from God's perspective, needs to be rooted in love.
Otherwise it turns selfish.
It turns like, what can I, you know,
if I make a treat this guy
who's part of my business
and he's one of my suppliers,
if I treat him really good
and I get in with him,
you know, I think I'm going to buy him
something for Christmas,
something really nice.
You know that actually
is a selfish gift.
Because you're giving it to him
for what it can earn for you back.
That's the world's twist on love.
God says,
you give it to him because
you want the best for him.
You just want to see him succeed
and prosper and
you just give it to him, no strings attached.
If I ever get anything back, fine.
If I don't, fine, too.
That's God's love.
That's tough, isn't it?
But I will commend you.
The room didn't go tight once this morning.
And we've talked about money.
And it never got tight in here.
Usually it's like,
the room just goes,
I wish he'd quit talking about this.
I don't like it.
So I commend you. You're listening. You're thinking.
Now, view it as a promise and a blessing.
Keep that in mind.
And as we open it up,
we already saw the blessing of Abraham
becomes available to us.
There's promises attached to this
that money can't buy.
View it not as a thing
I'm demanded to do.
View it as a, here's a blessing
for you and a promise. You want in on it or not?
View it that way.
And it makes it,
it'll throw a whole new light on it
because we're not under the law.
We're not commanded to do this.
You know, I was raised believing
if you don't tithe, you go to hell.
That's actually law.
That's not New Testament.
That's actually law.
You don't have to tithe.
But oh, you're missing out.
Oh, you're missing out.
I don't understand why my life goes so bad.
Are you a tither?
Can't afford to. Well, there's why your life
goes so bad.
Literally,
everything we need in life
is tied to our giving,
money giving.
And we have the right
to stand before God
in covenant and say,
you said,
Mary brought that up this morning,
you said,
you said, if I
will be faithful
and give you what's yours,
that everything I need
in life, I'm not talking
Malachi now, I'm talking Corinthians,
everything I need in life
will be given to me.
I have been faithful
so I am expecting
your word to take place
in my life.
That's the power it holds.
It's amazing. So Lord,
in the name of Jesus,
open our hearts and our minds
to a new thing here.
Help us realize and understand
the whole thing of the tithe
was given to bless us,
not take from us,
but open an avenue
where it could be
multiplied to us, just like Sandy said
this morning.
Lord, if you can trust me with more,
let's do more.
And he gave her more.
And once he could trust her
he said, whatever you want,
whatever future you want,
you can write it.
There is walking
in the blessing
because she tithed.
Thank you for your word.
Thank you for the promises.
Thank you for open hearts
in people here, online.
Open hearts that we actually
back up and reconsider this
and see some new revelation
about the tithe and about
financial giving that we've never seen before
because with that revelation
comes more. We thank you
for it in Jesus' name. Amen.