Thieves In God’s House Series

Thieves In God’s House

Malachi 3.7-15

Sermon Series for Malachi (8 of 12)

July 28, 2013 Chester FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A Malachi 3:7-15 (NASB)

7 "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?' 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 9 "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 "Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. 12 "All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts. 13 "Your words have been arrogant against Me," says the LORD. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' 14 "You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 ~'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'"

1 It is unthinkable that a person would rob God but there is an even greater disaster in the text.

a The people were disobeying the Lord, and God’s blessing in their lives had been shut off.

b If you ever had your power, water, cable, internet, or gas shut off you know it isn’t fun.

c Yet, many people live with the source of blessing shut off in their lives because they are not tithing.

aa Disobedience shuts off the source of blessing.

bb Faithfulness keeps the source of blessing open.

2 The text we’ve read holds the secret to revival & prosperity.

a God called His people to return to Him (3.7) and He would reciprocate by returning to them.

Malachi 3:7 (NASB) 7 "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'

aa They had to return because they’re the once that left in the first place. (He didn’t move away, they did.)

bb They ask, “In what way shall we return?”

b God reminds how they have departed from His Law, ordinances.

aa They had fallen under a curse (3.9) that had manifested in their finances. (Agrarian culture so their finances were crops.)

Malachi 3:9 (NASB) 9 "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!

bb 3.11, Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the Lord of hosts.

cc Crops will be ripen, vines keep their grapes on them until they are ready to harvest. (No crops, grapes. . . no money.)

c God is calling the nation to revival and it revival always starts with repentance.

aa Repentance is two things: 1) Stop doing what is wrong; 2) Start doing what is right.

bb Clearly, for revival to come & the curse to be lifted, the people had to return to the ordinance of tithes & offerings.

B Malachi tells us the proper proportion of the giving (10%), the proper place to give (“the storehouse” or the Church), and the proper purpose of tithing (“that there may be food in My House.)

I The Proper Proportion of the Giving (10%.) (V. 8)

Malachi 3:8 (NASB) 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.

A Malachi charged the people with robbing from God.

1 Robbing/Stealing is not only taking what is now yours but keeping for yourself what belongs to someone else.

a In this case, the people were keeping for themselves what actually belonged to God.

b God had asked them to give a “tithe,” which means “tenth.”

2 Tithing was/is a tenth of a person income.

a Tithing pre-dates the Law of Moses.

aa According to Genesis & Hebrews, Abraham was the first pay tithes in the Old Testament (Gen. 14.17-23.)