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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Father, we thank you for another moment, time, and opportunity you've given us to hear the word of God preached and we pray that you bless Pastor Bridge right now. Fill in with your Holy Ghost. Please help us all have open hearts and receptive ears. To receive the word of God and apply it to our lives, Lord. We pray that you'd help keep all distractions to a minimum. We praise things in Jesus name. Amen. All right, Malachi chapter three, we're gonna jump right in there at verse number one. The Bible says, Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. And, you know, the first part of this verse might make you start to think about John the Baptist, because in Isaiah, it was prophesied that he was gonna be a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, if you remember that, but I don't actually, I don't think that Malachi three is referring to John the Baptist was talking about the messenger that's gonna prepare the way. There is a preparation of the way being prepared, but when we continue to read this verse, I think it becomes a little bit more clear who we're talking about who that messenger is. Verse, if we continue reading, it says, And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So it gives us a little bit more of who that is. Well, it's the Lord whom ye seek is going to come to the temple, and he's the messenger of the covenant. He's the messenger of the new covenant coming in. He's prophesying Jesus Christ is that messenger of the new covenant, and he's the messenger of the Father, right? Coming in. He did everything that his father commanded him, all that he was supposed to do. He had instructions from his father. He was the messenger of the father to come and bear witness of that covenant to the world when he came in. So this is what this is talking about. And as we continue to read, too, like look at verse number two, the Bible says, But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a So again, this person is obviously a little bit more, I would say, more important even than John the Baptist, and gives us more indication that this is obviously referring to Jesus Christ. Verse three says, So he's going to come and basically cleanse Levi, and cleanse his people, and cleanse the priests, so that now when they actually offer, they can offer in righteousness. So he's going to come bringing, and I believe there's multiple levels to this. So one, of course, first and foremost, Jesus Christ comes and he brings salvation. He brings righteousness that gets imputed unto all those that believe upon him, and completely purifies, and purges, and transforms into a new creature, basically. Those that believe on him, they're born again, and become children of God. But not only that, Jesus Christ comes to also preach righteousness, and to set things straight that were not in order, and to bring back the proper order in the right way, and the right ways of God back into their minds, and into the practice, and into what they should be doing. Because as we see in the book of Malachi, especially specifically, the big problem is that these people are so far removed from the Lord, and they have no idea. I mean, throughout these chapters we see, and we're going to see it again in chapter 3 where I already read it, where they just keep on asking, like, Well, what do you mean, God? What do you mean we're robbing you? What do you mean we're not serving you? What do you mean we're saying things against you? What is all this? They have no clue when they're getting these rebukes that they're even guilty of these things. So, of course, Jesus Christ is going to come, and he's going to set these things straight, just be like, Look, this is what you need to be. Get back to where you're supposed to be. He's sent unto the lost sheep of Israel, and that was his job. And I believe we also see elements here of not only his first coming, but also his second coming. When Jesus Christ comes the second time, he's going to come and rule with a rod of iron. And he is going to have the laws established, and things will be run according to God's law on earth, really as it is in heaven when Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne here, literally ruling and reigning on this earth for 1000 years. But think about this too, that refining and purifying, I just want to dig into this a little bit more. Refining and purifying, that process, the only way that you refine gold and silver and purge them is by heating them up and getting it really fiery and being able to burn off the dross and be able to separate that. When it comes to purification, even the soap, the fuller soap, the scrubbing, the purging, the purifying, none of those things are very pleasant. When you apply that now to people, because that's who he's applying it to, is to Levi. You're applying that to people. When the Lord wants to purify his people and purge them, obviously what Christ did, he had to endure all manner of pain and shame and suffering and everything else in order to bring purification for us. But if we're not talking just in the spiritual sense, just even in trying to live righteously, as sins are purged from your life, as you get right with God, that's not easy either. That fiery trial that tries your faith that comes along, see God, when you get through the trying times, when you get through the hard times, and you stay steadfast and you remain and don't faint and you don't back down and you keep moving forward, that makes you even stronger and better on the other side. That even though you may be tried, you're going to come forth shining so much better. Job was tried and he stayed faithful and then he was blessed and came through all of that so much better in the end, but he had to go through a serious trial. And when God wants to sanctify his people and set them apart for his name, and he's saying, look, I've got a standard for you. You need to be refined though. You need to be purged. And you can apply this to every believer. After you get saved, you've got this new creature, but you've still got this old flesh. And the Bible says that it gives analogies for like bringing forth fruit, right? And what do you do with fruit trees to bring forth fruit? You have to prune them. You have to, you know, you maintain them. Yes, you might have to dung it to provide the nutrition. You might have to cut away at a lot of the dead branches and start clearing out the bad so that there's more of the good to be able to bring forth more fruit. Similarly in our life, you know, when you start to bring forth fruit, God likes that. And he's going to view you in a sense like as a tree, you're bearing fruit. He says, hey, I like that fruit, but I want more of that fruit. So how are you going to bring forth more fruit? Well, you've got to get rid of the dead branches. You've got to get rid of the dead weight. You've got to get rid of these sins that so easily beset us in our race to help make you more fruitful, to help make you more profitable to the Lord and just more pleasing in his eyes. So that process is bringing us up because that process isn't easy. The purging, the purifying, that's not something that's simple. But you know what? We've got to set our mind to it and be able to stay to it and know that it all will work together for good. You know, staying through to the end and staying the course. And this is one of the reasons, you know, when Jesus comes, that's what he's looking for. Verse number 4 says, Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. See, at this point, God's not pleased with any of their offerings. Why? Because their heart's not right. They're not doing the right things. They're not following the commandments. They're doing everything wrong. So he's saying, you know, I'm going to come in and I'm going to set everything straight. So then, once you've been pruned, once you've been purged, once you've been purified, now I'll be able to take pleasure in your offerings. Now, when you do things, you can do them the right way. You know, even especially if, like, you're not saved, God's not going to be pleased with your sacrifices anyways. You get saved, you're purified in that sense spiritually. But then also, God's also not very pleased if you're just out, you're saved, but you're out living a life of sin. You're just living a wicked life. But then you come and you make this big sacrifice at church or your big donation, your big offering, right? God's not impressed with that. In fact, he's not going to like that either because what he wants you to do, way more importantly, is to listen to him and obey him and obey his commandments. And then when you bring forth that sacrifice, the big thing that you want to bring to the Lord, that will be well pleasing in his sight. Because you've already been hearkening to him, you've already been listening to him, and now when you bring forth, he's going to say, hey, that's great. As opposed to just the, you know, daddy warbucks that comes in, living a wicked life, out in adultery and fornication or whatever else, and then he just wants to throw down a big wad of cash thinking that, like, he's going to get some great respect from God or love from God on that. God's like, I don't care about that. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. Verse 5, and I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swarers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless. And that turn aside the stranger from his rights, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. So he's saying, once I get you right, once you then are able to bring these offerings, he says, you know what, then I'm going to come near to you for judgment. And, you know, a righteous people that loves God, you're going to welcome this judgment. You're going to want to have this judgment among the nation. You're going to want to have wicked people being punished for their deeds. Having crimes justly punished. That's what a righteous nation wants. It's a wicked nation that doesn't want to have any punishment that says, oh Judge Nod, no one can judge me. You don't want to get judged because you're wicked yourself, and you don't want your sins coming to light, and you don't want to pay any penalties or any punishment for what you're doing. So, basically, it's let's just all be real sympathetic towards everyone who lives wickedly. Well, no, once you start getting purged, once you're refined, once God's been working on you and says, okay, now, now you can offer these great, pleasant sacrifices to me, and now I'm going to come, we're going to bring judgment, we're going to set this stuff back up again. And, you know, it's a blessing to have the law of God in effect, not a curse. It's good for the people, it's good for the nation, it's good for that land whose Lord is the God. It's good for the people who are going to say, you know what, no, we ought to have a swift witness against the stinking sorcerers, against the palm readers, against the prognosticators, against these people, the stargazers that want to give you the psychics and everything else, these mediums. You know, there ought to be a swift witness against that, ought not to be tolerated, ought not to be something that's just, oh, yeah, sure, this is great fun, let's just invite this into our culture and into our nation. No. How about against the adulterers? There ought to be a swift witness against adultery, there ought to be something that's punishable in a crime to commit the crime of adultery against your spouse. There ought to be a witness against, there ought to be a witness against the false wares, the stinking liars out there. I mean, a lying is incredible, and if you've been watching all the stuff that's been going on, you know, the January 6th stuff and all the new video evidence that came out, I don't know if you pay attention to that stuff or not, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, it just shows further and further and further how wicked and corrupt people in power are and our government just lie about things all the time. All the time. False swears. Oh, it was so whole, this insurrection was just terrible, and we were in fear for our life, and it's like you've got police officers literally walking people through the halls of the Capitol. But they wanted to tell us, oh, no, it's this great big problem, it's this horrible riot down there, and our democracy is threatening, you know. The police were walking the people, you know, the big name and face of the whole movement, the guy wearing the horns on his head, we call him the shaman or something, I don't know. That guy is being walked around through the Capitol building by the police. They're not telling them to get out, they're not like saying, hey, buddy, you're not, you can't be in here. They're like trying to open up doors for them. And a dude got sent to prison for like three or four years or something. It's a big joke. They're a bunch of liars. And now they're upset that there's video out there, like the actual video, they're foaming at the mouth, mad, oh, no, we need to censor that. Whatever. That's enough of my political ranting. Look, we need, would to God we could have the false swearers having a witness against them. And having judgments against those that are going to, you know, because that's a significant thing. And any of those stinking false swearers that were putting innocent people in the prison, they ought to be going to prison now. Now the truth comes alive, now why don't they, a righteous government, a righteous judgment would say, you know what, you lied about this person, this person's been spending time in jail, now you're going to jail. Free that guy and send the criminals to prison. That's the false swearers, but it doesn't seem to matter at all. And against those that oppress the hireling and his wages, the people that just steal from the, you know, the poor people who are just trying to work, the low level job, the entry level, you know, the day laborers, they go out, say oh yeah, some guy comes, oh yeah, I'll hire you for this much, and then they work, and then they don't get paid. That's oppression. Right over witness against that. And then, you know, the widows, the fatherless, the people that are turning aside the stranger from his right of all says, and fear not me. That's the judgment, you know what, would to God we could have this judgment. It's coming. Jesus Christ is going to bring this judgment in. And we're going to see what it's really like to live in a great world, a great land here on earth when Jesus Christ sets up his throne and kingdom and rules and reigns with that rod of iron according to the law of God. Then all the people, oh, everyone's going to be dead then if you have God's laws and his death penalty. No, they won't. What you have is a lot more people living righteously is what you're going to have. Verse number six, for I am the Lord, I change not. Let that one sink in. Let that one sink in. The Old Testament God, the Old Testament law, the Old Testament things that were good that he's bringing up here. Guess what? I am the Lord, I change not. God doesn't change. God hasn't changed his mind on adultery. God hasn't changed his mind on the false wares. God hasn't changed his mind on sodomy. God hasn't changed his mind on the oppressors and the false wares and every other matter of wickedness. He hasn't changed his mind on that stuff. The world may change, but God doesn't change. And people are going to see that one day it will be known. One day it will be known. People want to say all manner of foolish things these days, it will be known by everybody. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father. Everyone will and everyone will know at some point, oh wow, so these laws are going into effect, huh? Yeah, because God doesn't change. We say, wait a minute, if God doesn't change, why do we have these, you know, why aren't we offering up lamb sacrifices? Because the priesthood changed. But God doesn't change. Right and wrong doesn't change. The ordinances of the priesthood have changed because Jesus Christ, the order of Melchizedek, and if you missed all that, watch Hebrews chapter 7 when we went through that in the Bible study or just the whole book of Hebrews, for that matter, comes up quite a bit, explains, gives all the explanation behind those changes that were made to the law. But look, God doesn't change. The law is fulfilled, and it's fulfilled through Christ, and those areas that were part of the law were fulfilled in Christ. For I am the Lord, I change not, but then I love this, this verse continues, therefore these sons of Jacob are not consumed. You know what else doesn't change about God is His long suffering and His mercy. Absolutely the law, the righteousness that commands, commandments. Look, God's against all these things He just mentioned in verse 5. Look, I'm the Lord, I change not, but therefore these sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because I don't change. God is stable. God is our rock. When God speaks, when God promises, we can trust that and thank God for that. He says, hey, I'm the Lord, I change not. Yes, He made the law, but He also is bringing in that new covenant. He also brought it in. That new covenant that saves the soul, even though we're sinners, even though we do things wrong against His law, hey, therefore you're not consumed. Because I change not. The Bible says, you know, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus is God. Makes sense. I'm the Lord, I change not, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, forever. I love those verses. The same. Jesus Christ is the same. Jesus Christ isn't any different in 2023. Jesus Christ doesn't care about the stupid American culture. The American culture is definitely not going to correct the Bible. It's not going to correct God. It's not going to correct Jesus Christ. It doesn't change. Verse number seven. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. But here's that heart, right? He says, therefore, you're not consumed. You're sons of Jacob, right? Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. God wants to see the repentance. He says, look, and in the context here, you know, He's talking about when He says the sons of Jacob, He's referring to the children of God, the children of Israel, the sons of Jacob, the people who are called out. We apply this spiritually as children of God. Children of God, you know, we still walk away from His ordinances, right? Still save people who don't follow commands of God. But you know what? God's still saying, hey, return unto me. Get back in line. Come back. Follow me. Follow my commandments. Follow my instructions and I'll return unto you. But ye said, wherein shall we return? They don't even know what they've left. So now He's going to start answering this question. And look, it's God saying, you say this, and then I say this, you say this, you know. He's saying, but you're saying, well, how are we going to return? What do you mean return? Wherein shall we return? And then He brings up one of the points. You know, He brings up a few points. He brings up one point here. He says, well, will a man rob God? And asking them that question, they would say, of course not. I mean, who's going to rob God? You'd have to be crazy. You'd have to be off your rocker to think that you could rob God. Who would have the gall of audacity to rob God? Now, I'll tell you this much. You know what? There are people out there that have that audacity, and it blows my mind. It blows my mind. I can't believe, you know, I've tried to deal faithfully sometimes with some people to help them out and hire them to do jobs and stuff. And there's one guy specifically, I gave him some of the money up front to do a job, and then this never came and didn't, never saw him again, completely just ghosted. And it's like, you know, you didn't steal from me. You didn't steal my personal money. You stole from the church, but you know what? The church money belongs to God. I mean, that's, it would be better, it would be better to just go and steal from the bank than it would be to steal from God. I don't, I don't, I mean, people just have absolutely no fear of God. It's crazy. These people think they have a fear of God. You know, he says, well, will a man rob God? I'm sure they would say, of course not. Of course we're not going to rob you, God. But then he confronts them with the truth, yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, why have we robbed you? What do you mean we've robbed you? We haven't robbed you. What are you talking about? And then he says in tithes and offerings. They're not doing the right offerings, they're not bringing in their tithes. Verse 9, ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. God gets angry when people rob him. It makes sense. I mean, I get angry if someone robs me. I don't like that very much. God's, God is saying, well, look, you're cursed. You're going to rob me. So, well, God doesn't need it. And look, and you know what, here's the same mindset. God does, does God need our physical goods and substance? Does he need it? Not at all. Not, not at all. He doesn't need our cash. He doesn't need anything that we can give God. God doesn't need it. But God demands it and requires it. Belongs to God. He owns it. But he doesn't need it. Now, don't ever get this mindset of thinking, just because there may be some big entity out there that has so much money, more money than they would ever want, and say, well, they don't really need that, so it's okay for me to steal from them. That's how a lot of people justify their theft. Oh, Walmart, multi-million, Amazon, right? Multi-billion, whatever, however much money. They don't need it. They've got enough money anyways, so who cares if I take this and not pay for it? Who cares? Hey, I'll just lie and say that this thing's broken and I know that they're not going to make me send it back, so then I'll just get this for free. Yeah, you're stealing. You're a thief. You do stuff like that. Don't justify it because there's not a face on the people you're stealing from. People think they could rob God, too, and steal from God. God doesn't need it. He owns a cattle on a thousand hills. What does he need my cattle for? Well, if God demands something, you owe God everything anyways if you're saved. You owe your life to him. You owe all of your substance to him. You owe everything to him. He lets you keep 90%. But he demands that tithe. And you withhold the tithe and offering. The Bible says, look, you're robbing. You're robbing God because the tithe is the Lord's. Leviticus 22, turn to Deuteronomy 14, the Bible says in Leviticus 27, 30, 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. It is God's. It is the Lord's. God, it's his tithe. And just to make sure everyone understands, when you bring in money here, you are not giving it to me. I am not the recipient of that money. I am the manager of the money. I'm the administrator of the money. But it's not my money. It's not your money. The church's money is all God's money. And the tithe belongs to God. And we're supposed to use that appropriately for godly things, for righteous things. And we'll get into that a little bit here. The Bible tells us how to use it. It's primarily that there may be food in his house, okay, so that the servant of the Lord can be cared for and taken care of because they weren't supposed to have their own inheritance. They're just supposed to live their life and serve God. While everyone else is out working their land and making a living and doing all this other stuff, the servant of the Lord was supposed to be focused on serving the Lord. So those servants, while everyone else has to pitch in now, give the tithe to God and then God cares for his servants through those tithes. That's how the economy works. And it makes sense. But let's read here in Deuteronomy 14, verse number 22. And I don't want to spend too much time on this. I preached on this, I think, not that long ago. But look at verse number 22. The Bible says, Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there. The tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. Over and over again, I could preach an entire sermon on this. I've done it in the past. But there's so many elements here, so many aspects. How many times are you seeing the place that the Lord thy God shall choose? You're bringing your tithe in, you're bringing it in, and you're bringing it to where God would have you to be. God builds a church. So wherever you think God would have, whatever church God's going to want you to be a part of, that's where you ought to go, and that's where you ought to bring your tithe to. And when you're going to that church, you ought to bring your tithe to that church. And if anyone ever hears this video, and other people watch and follow online, with our church, and what's going on here, and we have people who send in money remotely, and donate to our church, you know what? God bless you. I'm thankful for all the people that want to help out our ministry, and give money. But if you're going to church somewhere, you bring your tithe to that church. That's what you ought to do. I mean, you're there, you're going to reap the benefit of having a pastor preaching, and running a church, and running a service and stuff, whatever it is. You say, oh yeah, but I don't like, look, bring your tithe there. The good thing is you don't have to worry about the rest, and just let God deal with that, but you don't bring it in to the place that you're going to. Bring it there. And here it's saying, they're supposed to be bringing in the first fruit, the tenth of all their, you know, the agriculture, and you know, whether it be fruit, or the food. But he's saying, well look, if you've got a long way to go, and you've got a lot to carry, then just convert it to money, and then when you get there, you can exchange it again, and get whatever you want. Verse number 26 says, and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth at, for oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, whatsoever thy soul desireth, and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household, and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him, for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates, and the Levite, because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat, and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand, which thou doest. That tithe that comes in supports the Levite, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger, and these are people who, as we can see later on too, especially, these would be the same people that the church should care for. The fatherless, the widow, and the Bible goes into more detail in 1 Timothy chapter 5, I believe, talking about a widow who's a widow in deed, and what would meet the requirement of someone who the church should care for, someone who's a widow, but it's not just a bunch of wicked people. The widow who's a widow in need is someone who's serving God, and is faithful, and is washing the saint's feet, and doing all these things, and over a certain age, those are the ones that you take care of. It's not just a blanket, but there's some discretion to use here, but the whole point is, look, God will provide for these people, because they need help. But not at the cost of just people who are going to go out there and live wickedly, and not seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then no. And that's the difference between the church providing for people, and the government providing for people. It doesn't matter what the government, what you do. They'll just show up, and they'll give you money. You just keep on living wickedly, and keep on doing whatever, and keep on being a drain on society or whatever, but the church is going to be, hey, wait a minute, no, I mean, we'll help you out, but serve God. You know, live righteously. We'll care for you. But it's still only specific people that are in this category under God's economy of caring for people, right? So it's the Levite, plus a few others, but these things are repeated in New Testament, and again, I don't want to take too much time on this. I've got a couple more verses I want to read about tithing. It's important to note that the tithe was around even before the law was given to Moses. I don't know if I want to read all that. Genesis 28, I'll read this for you. Genesis 28, verse 28, Bible reads, And Jacob vowed to 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 have set for a pillow shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. He didn't just make that up. That was already known of giving the tenth unto God. He's saying, you know what? I'm going to make you my God, and I'm going to give the tenth unto you. That was Jacob. Also, we see Abraham, even before Jacob, and I'm not even going to read this passage. Hebrews chapter 7, I went over it when we went through the book of Hebrews not that long ago. Hebrews chapter 7 basically tells us that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. So after the fight, when Abraham went to go rescue Lot, and then he defeated Sodom and the kings that took Lot captive, he defeated them, brought back the goods, brought back the spoil, and gave the tenth unto Melchizedek. Why? Because he paid of the increase. He paid the tithe to God. And I'm not going to unpack all of that Hebrews chapter 7. It's just a little bit too much out of the scope for tonight's sermon. But here's the good news. I bring that up again because people want to say, oh, the tithing is just the Old Testament. It's just for the Levitical priesthood. No, it's not just for the Levitical priesthood because that was the order of Melchizedek. That was given tithes. So yes, the Levitical priesthood has changed. There's a change of the law of necessity because now we're under the priesthood of Melchizedek. Well, guess what? Melchizedek received tithes in Abraham. So if he received tithes then, why wouldn't he receive tithes now? And if the purpose was that God's house might have food and that the Levites or the servants, the ministers of the Lord, would be able to focus on serving the Lord and have food, why would that change? Why would the plan change? Why would all of a sudden God now just be like, nope, I'm not going to take care of anyone who wants to serve me with their life. I'm going to require you to go out and work a field and work something else and then also to do this work that in the past, yeah, I would just take care of Levites, but now I don't want to take care of the ministers. It makes no sense. Makes no sense. That part continuing all the way through to the New Testament actually makes sense. And here's, I love this verse too, go back to Malachi chapter 3, because another reason why people don't tithe is because they think they can't afford it. I understand the mindset. I understand not having much money. I do. I understand being in a position where you don't have a lot of money. I have been there myself. But you have to do these things by faith. If God commands it, you know no matter what it is that God is commanding, it won't be bad for you. Trust God that it won't be bad for you. Just trust Him. And what He says in Malachi is, hey, try me on this. Just test me out. Test it for yourself. You by faith give your tithe, you pay your tithe to God, 10% of what you make you're giving back. You're thanking God and going, here God, you gave me all of this, here you go. And if you made $10 in a day, you give Him $1. But it's only $10, man. I can't even get lunch for $10. You give God $1. You make do with the $9. You make $100, you keep $90. You make do with it. God will make sure you can make do with whatever that amount is. Verse 10 of Malachi 3 says this, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, said the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Just test me. He's saying, I'll bless you. And you know what? I can testify today that God will bless you, guaranteed. Guaranteed? I mean, it's written right here. But I've got personal testimony. Look, I've tithed. Since I started going to church, I've tithed. Not a question. You've got to make it a thing that's non-negotiable. You've got to make a decision on something like this. Just say, you know, this is non-negotiable. For me, church attendance was non-negotiable. I'm just going to go to church. I am going to be in church. I'm going to make sure I'm in church three days a week. Three times a week. Not three days. Two days a week. It's easier. Three times. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. I don't have arguments about it. I don't question. I don't say, am I going to do this? I don't question whether or not, when I get paid, well, am I going to tithe? I don't know. Let me see what else I have to do. Let me see what other bills I have to pay. No. No. Number one, tithe. There should be many things in your life that you just, it's settled. You don't even have to think about it. It's already done. You're just going to do this. Tithing should be one of them. The money belongs to God. Because of all the things, too, it's like, why would anyone ever want to even come close to thinking that you might be robbing from God? That's how the Bible says it. I'm not making up this language and saying, oh, you're robbing from God. No, the Bible says that. God is the one saying that. You are robbing God. You just want the money, Pastor Bruce. No. No. I have a full-time job. I have employment. It has nothing to do with me wanting your money. It has to do with me wanting your righteousness and not robbing from God. Because you know what I said before? I tithe. I pay a tenth of everything I earn to God through this church. It has nothing to do with me wanting your money. It has to do with doing what's right in the eyes of God. But too many people, they just can't see past that and they just think that every preacher and everyone who brings it up is just so wicked and bad because they talk about money or tithing. Now look, there's a lot of people out there who preach because they love money and they preach for filthy's lucre's sake and they ought to be called out. And that's wicked and wrong. And watch out for the preachers that always just talk about money. Yeah, absolutely. It's a sign of a false prophet. But you can't take that to the extreme of just going, well, now anyone who talks, well, there is no, there should be no tithing. No, there is a tithe. They've perverted it. They just care about the money. But God still commanded it. And it's still robbing God if you don't do it. And he says, hey, prove me. Test me. Because I will pull out a blessing unto you. Verse 11, he continues with the blessing. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. The things that would come and devour your goods and devour your increase, God says I'll rebuke the devourer. He'll cause it to cease. Ultimately, here's what happens. If you choose not to tithe, that money you think you're saving, the devourer will come. And it will be gone anyways. So even though you think you're being real smart and be like, no, I need this money, then something else is going to come along and take that money from you. And you're going to be like, why are all these bad things happening? And unfortunately people don't get it. And they're like, well, these bad things keep happening to me. So once all this stuff stops, then I'll start paying the tithe to God. It's like, no, look, you're not getting it. You could have just been paying the tithe to God this whole time and not have to deal with all this other stuff. And probably ended up more ahead. Because God will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. All these bad things that could happen to you, God's saying, it won't happen. It won't happen. I'll bless you. I'll make sure that you're getting what you need. Verse 12, and all nations shall call you blessed. For you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. For your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against thee? So now he's bringing up the next subject. Remember, he's showing them how they're in error. And they don't know it. So he just gets done talking about the tithes. And hey, you're robbing me. Now he's moving on to the next subject. Your words have been stout against me. What do you mean? How have we spoken so much against thee, Lord? What do you mean? We don't speak out against you. We don't rob you. Well, he just proved him wrong about that. We don't speak out against you. Verse 14, ye have said, it is vain to serve God. Vain means like it's meaningless. It's pointless. To serve God. It's kind of baffling that these people could still think that they're, like, what do you mean, God? And they're saying that basically it's just vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? Like, well, what good is that? But you know what this looks like to me? This looks like and sounds like what we come across today is the people that don't even understand salvation and they want to mock, like, one saved, always saved. What good is it then to obey God? If everyone's just going to heaven, then what good is it to obey God? What good is it then? What's the point? People have absolutely no understanding. Well, there is plenty of reason to serve God. And just like those people, these people, they don't see it. They just don't even understand. Like, well, what's the point in serving God? What's the point? There's lots of reasons to serve God. One, so you don't get chastised and disciplined by God. That's number one. Number two, because God will bless you by serving God. God will lay up treasures for you in heaven when you serve God. There's so many reasons to serve God. It'll actually help your life in general when you serve God. Your joy will be increased. Your peace will be increased. Your love will be increased. The fruits of the Spirit. You'll be reaping those fruits in your life by walking in the Spirit, obeying God. There's so many benefits to doing that. But these people are so backwards on the value of righteousness in serving God that they get to the point where like verse 15 says, and now we call the proud happy. True words have never been said. We call the proud happy. I mean, we literally have a parade that's the happy pride parade. Oh, wait, except there's another word for happy they use. It's called gay. The word gay means happy in case you didn't know that because it's already been perverted and abused by people who are discussing pervert reprobates that have taken that word, which is a good word. It means happy and mislabeled themselves because they're not happy. They're miserable, but they want to lie to themselves and tell them that, oh, no, I'm actually happy. I'm gay. I'm happy. No, you're not. You're just a pervert and you're miserable and you're wretched and you're poor and you're blind. And those people are not happy. That's why there's so much suicide. Those people are not happy. They're full of all anger and wrath and malice and sedition and strife and all the things you read about in Romans chapter one and all places you read about them. They are not happy. Never. They just want to call themselves that because they think that might help and it doesn't. But when you have a backward society that just calls evil good and good evil, they'll call miserable happy and happy miserable. Oh, man, you, you fundamental Baptist, you guys are just, you know, why don't you lighten up a little bit and enjoy life? We actually do enjoy life. I love life. I really enjoy life. It sounds like you're mad. Look, I'm not mad all the time. I just preach the word of God. And sometimes it fires you up and you got to preach against the wickedness. I mean, there's a lot of wicked things out there, you know, that makes me angry. But there's a lot of great things in my life and I love those things and I'm happy. I'm gay, but I'm not a faggot. Big difference. I'm happy, but we call the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness are set up. We see it today. Yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Earlier I was talking about bringing judgment. That's what we need. But in the land and these people, the people say, well, where do you mean, God? It's the modern day Christian. What do you mean we're not serving you, God? What do you mean? What do you mean? These fools out there that think they're serving the Lord and think they're serving Christ and they call the proud happy and come on in and they're our buddy and they'll elevate them and lift them up and say, yea, you know, come on in. I'm opening up my door to you. Go ahead and watch our kids in the nursery. Fools, blind. But look at this, because there's still hope. And this is why I subtitled the sermon for this evening. I always like giving a few extra words besides the chapter that we're looking at. Malachi 3.16. Good one to remember. Good one to memorize. Malachi 3.16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. And the more wicked things are, the more believers, the Christians should be talking about these things. We're talking to one another. We're encouraging one another. We're assembling so much the more as you see the day approaching. Spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it. So when God's people, the ones that actually fear His name, the ones that actually care about His commandments, the ones that actually love God and they start talking one to another and all these weird things are going on and the proud is called happy and the wicked are set up and all this nonsense is going on. You know what? God listens and God hears. Even though you may be in the minority because the whole world is perverted around you, God hears you. God hears those that fear His name and it says this and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. You can be in that book of remembrance for the Lord. Fear God. Talk to one another. You're in that situation. The Bible is saying there's a book of remembrance being written. Remembrance, one, of what the wicked people are doing because their judgment is going to come. And God will be able to say, hey, you, on judgment day, do you remember my faithful servant here, what you did to that person, what you did to this person? But then also the book of remembrance because you know what? God is going to come and deliver. He hears the troubles. He hears the trials and He's going to come and not forget you and not forget that you're here and not forget what you're going through. God will write it down in His book of remembrance and then deliver. Verse 17, and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. In that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. His children, God's people, born again, believers, sons of God, love His name, love is appearing. In that day when I make up my jewels, I'm going to spare them. Why? Because the rest of the wicked people are going to endure wrath. You'll be spared. Then shall He return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between Him that serveth God and Him that serveth Him not. The day is coming. Christ is coming back. The messenger is coming back of the New Covenant. He already came once, which was shortly, sometime after the writing of this book. He's coming back. Those that love Him, those that keep His commandments, those that care, our thoughts, our words, our concerns, they're written before Him in the book of remembrance. Great hope. The other verse I really like a lot is in Daniel when it talks about the exploits of those that do know their God. They're going to increase. Those that do know them are going to do great exploits and do great things in the name of the Lord during this time of the Antichrist just going against the people of God and stuff. And there's going to be a remnant. There's going to be some people who actually love God, and they're going to do great things in the name of the Lord. And that's another way, if it happens to be during our time, you can be in the Bible as one of those people who are doing the exploits that the Bible is actually writing about. Because writing about the events that happen in the future, if they happen to happen during our time, why don't you make sure you are in the book right there as one of the ones that's mentioned doing great exploits for the Lord. That's about right. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for all the great truths that we find in the Scripture. Lord, I pray that you please help us in our lives personally, dear Lord, to never get to a point where we're like the people that are being preached to in Malachi where they just have no idea how far they've strayed from you, dear Lord. I pray that you would please help us all to understand all of our own failures and where we have strayed from you, dear Lord, because none of us are perfect. We definitely have our own sins. God, I pray that you would please help us not to be blinded to our own sins and that you would help illuminate those things and make them known to us and make them apparent that we could make those changes so that we're not in this condition of just having no clue as to how far we really have been removed from being obedient. I pray that you would just bless us and help us, dear Lord, in the midst of this crooked and perverse nation that you would just be here for us. We thank you for all the great promises that you give in your word and for the book of remembrance, dear Lord, and we pray that you would please just hear us and help us. Lord, help us just to magnify your name among the people and to lead more people to Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed for the evening. Brother Peter, will you please lead us? Psalm 471, cleanse me. Psalm 471. Alright, church, let's close out this church service with this last part of the verse. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, though my thoughts I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. Let me from every sin and set me free. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin. Fulfill thy burden, make me pour within. Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame. Grant my desire to magnify Thy name. Lord, take my life and make it holy night. Fill my poor heart, heal my grave of divine. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride. I now surrender, Lord, in Thee above. On the last, O Holy Ghost, revival comes for thee. Save the revival, start the work in me. Thy word declares, Thou wilt supply for me. For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead. Amen. Church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. Amen.