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Are You Trusting in the Law? Why? Folks, if we are trusting that obeying the law of tithing is going to keep the curse off of us or bring the blessing of God to us we have denied, in effect, the cross of Emmanuel the Christ. Was circumcision a good thing that Abraham did? Yes. It was a sign of the righteousness that had been given to him. Did circumcision become a law? Yes. Was tithing something good that Abraham did to Melchisedec? Yes. Was it to bring a promise or a blessing? It was given out of that of which he was already blessed with or gained the spoils of. Did tithing become a law? How can we tell that it became a law? Because it carried a curse if you didn't do it and a blessing if you did do it: Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not tangled again with the yoke of bondage." What is the yoke of bondage? It is any law, rule or regulation that is added to the gospel of Christ. Which of all the old laws, rules and regulations were they wanting to hang on to in the early church? Circumcision. So Paul addressed it. Galatians 5:2 "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." How could it be that the observance of what Abraham himself did would now be unprofitable? How could it be that by observing this ancient practice that Christ would profit them, how much? Nothing! He didn't say if you go out and smoke a joint, Christ would profit you nothing. He didn't say if you go out and sin Christ would profit you nothing. He said if you obey this law believing that it is going to gain you
something with God, Christ can profit you nothing. Why? Because our trust
is no longer in Christ. It is in the physical act which we believe was
necessary and it wasn't necessary: Galatians
5:3 "For I testify again, to every man that is circumcised,
that he is a debtor to do the whole law." Paul said he is going
to say it again. If you became circumcised to follow, whether the ordinance
that Abraham went through or to obey the law that came for circumcision,
what does it mean if you are observing for that purpose? You are a debtor
to do how much? The Whole Law! Has anyone ever done that? No. Christ has
become of no effect unto you: Galatians
5:4 "Christ has become no effect unto you , whosoever of you are justified
by the law. You are fallen from grace."
Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Behold, I ,Paul say unto you that tithe, Christ shall profit you nothing. This is going to hit the churches' self-righteousness the same way it did the early churches' self-righteousness. Those that have tithed all their religious life are going to be like those who were circumcised for the purpose of justification. This is going to produce anger beyond what you could possibly believe. I know people who have tithed to the penny every since they were children. We, as Baptists, were taught from the moment I ever knew anything, that of a dollar once was supposed to tithe. I know people that have observed that for forty, fifty years and they are as broke today as they were when they first began to observe it. Where has the power of Christ gone? I believe that there is one main stronghold that must be brought down in the church. It is the observance of the law of tithing. The same thing that killed the power of God from being effective (Romans 4:14) in the lives of some who were in the early church, which was the observance of the law of circumcision, is also true of tithing (required giving in order to be blessed). Both were Abrahamic observances, but became law. Galatians 5:3,4 "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law...You have fallen from grace." Hmm. I realize that what I have said to you is very straight forward, but I believe with all of my heart that it is not your shortcomings and your failures that have blocked the power of God, in coming to the church, but putting a trust in the observance of a rule, law or commandment that you have been freed from. Especially those items of rules, laws or commandments that were instilled before the Mosaic Law came. Those seem to be the ones that bring people into the greatest bondage. How much bondage did the one observance of circumcision bring the early church into? Complete bondage. And I say this with all due respect with the Seventh-day Adventists, that the observance of the Sabbath puts them in complete bondage to the whole law. The observance of tithing, by their own admission, is totally in the same category. Tithing is as devastating to the church as the observance to the Sabbath and the observance of circumcision was to the early church. All of us have tried to figure out why the power of God is not in the church. We have pointed to your weaknesses, your faults and your failures. I am afraid it is our preaching that has robbed you of really knowing Him and the power of His resurrection: Philippians 3:10 "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection...". I believe that if we took the instructions of Paul to any local church, that local church would become one of the best giving churches in any community. Most people do not start giving, because ten percent to many is something that they just barely manage. I believe that it would be a very powerful thing for any local church, of its members, to believe in free giving from the heart. The instruction in the New Testament is to just purpose in your heart what you are to do. Let me share what I would do if I were a pastor of a church. It doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. It doesn't mean it is the best thing to do. It is what I would do from my understanding of the closing of the old covenant and the opening of the new and the instructions of Paul's letters about giving, of an equal sharing of the burden. Let us say that everyone were members of this local congregation. This is where you were coming. This is not the storehouse. This is simply a meeting of the believers in the Lord Emmanuel the Christ. You are not just meeting. You are promoting the gospel of Emmanuel the Christ. Paul said let every one purpose in his heart what he is going to give. Your heart rejects anything not of grace because there is no truth there (John 1:14,17) and because grace that lives there. You know there is something wrong with what churches have been espousing. You haven't been able to put your finger on it but you know that somebody demanding ten percent of your income so that you can have God's favour, something is wrong with that. You may not have ever known what it was, but I pray to God that you will know what is wrong with it. Folks there is not just something wrong with that, but something deadly wrong with it. We would not have equal giving in the church, but equal sharing of the burden is what's important in reaching others. I say this once more in closing.  |