Repentance, Faith & Floodgates
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn - DEPTH OF MERCY! (822) - Charles Wesley
Hymn - DEPTH OF MERCY! (822) - Charles Wesley
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 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?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
Sermon
Sermon
Perceptive comment about Repentance: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (p38) - 2 slides
Losing Touch with the Living God: The Message of Malachi Chapter 9: Repentance, Faith and Floodgates (3:6–12)
‘I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is … that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.’ The pride of ordinary men and women is often one of the greatest hindrances to their repenting and coming to Christ.
Pride can be an enormous stmbling-block to the professed people of God in repenting and return to follow God as they ought
Losing Touch with the Living God: The Message of Malachi Chapter 9: Repentance, Faith and Floodgates (3:6–12)
‘Inflexible Man’s Prayer’: ‘O Lord, grant that we may always be right, for thou knowest we will never change our minds.’
The well known inflexiable man’s prayer would be humourous if it was not so serious
We can sadly adopt attitudes which are indistinguishable from that ‘prayer’
Repentance is not easy, but even harder for the proud
Malachi now seeks to motivate proud, cynical, self-righteous Judah to repent and return to the Lord
Malachi had warned the nation that because of their sprirtual carelessness and pride...
God would come in judgement
fiery purification
radical refining of his people
The Lord still longs for this not to happen, and wishes to bless the nation
if only they would repend and return to him
instead of judgement he will come in a marvellous blessing
Three powerful arguments are broughtto bear with the loving intention of motivating the proud, self-rightous nation to repentance
A Return
A Return
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 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?’
God has not moved
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed”
God has remained constant
Return journey assumes the destination has not moved
They need to return to him
It is they who have changed and gone off into their own ways
God’s fixed intention - the messiah would come from Abraham’s decendants
Jacob was a devious, sly cunning man
who cheated his brother out of his birthright
cheated his Uncle Laban
He was Conniving man, ever plotting and planning to benefit to himself
God had a long struggle with Jacob to cure him of his ways
The israelites were not just physical decendants but in the cheating and insincere attitudes
“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them”
God is constant in His commands
His requirements that his people exercise faith and maintain an honest struggle to live holy lives have always been the same
“Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?”
God is constant in His desire to do them God
50 years prior he said the exact same words to Zechariah...
Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Here is a the first powerful incetive to repent and return to God - He is a constant God
God is moved
God is not heartless, severe ptentate, who coldly hands out a grudging pardon to repentant people
Rather, like the father in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
followed by a great feast of celebration
with music and dancing
to rejoice at the prodigal’s return
God is generous and fulsome in his fardon to repentant people
God delights in their return
return...
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?’
“Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts”
A tremendous and gracious promise to any backslider
Many of us have fallen many times in our Christian walk
Sometimes there have been long periods of coldness of heart towards God
This is nothing to be proud of
But no matter how many times we fall and and we come in genuine repentance he is more than willing to receive us back
This should not cause us to presume upon his love
But it should cause us tro marvel at his loving-kindness
Adultery against God, yet God is willing to heal our marriage with him.
Mal 2:16 - he confirmed he hates divorce
Examples:
Your faith drifted and got mixed up in the world, setting your heart on uncertain riches
You kept up outward appearance of worship but your heart has become bitter and cold
“Return to me, and I will return to you” - what a promise!
Those in Malachi’s day were so hard in their self-righteousness there was not possibility of returning to God, until they were deeply convicted of their sin.
A Robbery
A Robbery
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
God charges the people with robbery
How have we robbed you they ask?
In your tithes and contributions
Is it really possible to rob God?
Yes, God owns everything as Creator and needs nothing from us
Yet the our withholding of money denies that simple truth
To that extent you are robbing His work of the support which you ought to be giving to it
In God’s sovereignty he will be able to make up for what you have not given
Nevertheless you are robbing him of your support for His worship and the work of the Gospel.
Tithes in the Old Testament paid to the Priests and Levites (The Local Church)
Tithe is 10% and is the best 10%
Missionary work & Relief are under “Contributions”
What we give of our money is a true indication of our genuine heart devotion to God
God is interested in our hearts
2 Cor 9:7 - “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In biography of the Duke of Wellington, the great victor at Waterloo
The biographer discovered some old cheque stubs belonging to the Duke
Losing Touch with the Living God: The Message of Malachi 1. Is It Really Possible to Rob God?
‘When I saw how he spent his money,’ he said, ‘I knew the man.’
Our hobbies, personal pleasures, needs the king of things we really value, all in our cheque book or bank statement
What does ours say about Jesus and our love to him?
A failure to use our money for God speaks of a cold heart towards God
It speaks of God robbed of devotion
How do Christians Rob God?
We don’t just rob God but giving him nothing, but giving less than we ought to.
Maybe you try and lay claim to...
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Abraham is the man that Galatians shows was the man who received the promise of the Gospel
He tithed to God 430 years before the Mosianic Law
He is a key example of conversion, faith and living by faith
and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
The Gospel free’s us from bondage to self, to follow in Abraham’s footsteps out of love for God, who first loved us.
Jesus calls us to righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, and they were red-hot tithers
tenth of everything the could think of, they gave
if we stick to tithing loegalistically we are missing the point
Christians are not rules by giving a tenth but rather sacrificially
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Weathy Christians may find they are robbing God even in giving a tithe
If a tenth of your income is a not a sacrifice then you are robbing God
We should give in such a way we feel the pinch
Tithing in the Old Testament, included crops and non-money commodities
It also included their time.
Prayer
Worship
Serving God
It would be wrong to rob our families entire of our time, but do we give God an appropriate proportion of our time?
It can also be our concentration & commitment
How are the robbers cursed today?
Old Testament: Israel tilled the promsed land, sowed seed and lived by the crop
We sow the Word of God in the Gospel and look for a harvest of conversion
The penalty for robbing God was that the harvest would be blighted
How can a fellowship with so little genuine love for God, that they are skimping as much as possible on their offerings to God be entrusted with helping in the development of a new babe in Christ?
You cannot expect a Pastor who is forever worried about the financial needs of his family to produce the best sermons and teaching from God’s Word
Outsiders are put off from entering a building that is in a state of disrepair or unkempt
When we stand before God in judgement did we invest in God’s Work? Or did we fritter it away on a bad investment in this passing world?
In robbing God, we rob ourselves
True repentance always comes down to very practical matters.
The chuirch at Ephasus had lost their first love. What was the divine remedy?
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Love for God is not love for him at all unless it expresses itself in a practical way.
A Reward
A Reward
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
God looks for practiucal repentance
He is a gracious and loving God
The Lord promises that four marvelous blessings will flow to them from a whole-hearted obedience:
1. Abundance
And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need
God promises to supply all their needs abundantly
They will not know where to store such a bumper harvest
2. Protection
I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts
God processes a blessing that cannot be snatched away.
It will be a blessing which is secure and which they can enjoy to the full.
3. Reputation
Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts
Jews were so worried about their reputation. They logged the return of the reputation under King Solomon.
God tells them to concentrate on serving Him and He will build the reputation of his people in the eyes of others.
4. Certainty
thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts
It seemed they would be risking everything
If they had the faith to step out on the promise of God and put themselves in this seemingly exposed position then God would respond miraculously.
They would see God’s response and conclude “He really is there! He truely does keep his word! Once we had a second-hand faith from previous generations; now we have seen God at work for ourselves!”
It would bring assurance and certainty to their-walk with God
Spurgeon said to his students preparing for the ministry… (3 slides)
‘It is proven by all observation that success in the Lord’s service is very generally in proportion to faith. It is certainly not in proportion to ability, nor does it always run parallel to a display of zeal; but it is invariably according to the measure of faith, for this is a law of the kingdom without exception, “According to your faith be it unto you.” ’
And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Be assured - God never leaves truth fiath unrewarded
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology