Malachi 3

Malachi 3:1-18

MALACHI—OR A MINOR PROPHET’S MESSAGE TO MODERN Malachi 1:1 to Malachi 4:6. IN discussing the Book of Malachi, I do not propose to give special time to the two subjects which students of this Book have made the occasion of much dispute, namely, the authorship, and the time of its origin. Suffice it to say that the so-called advanced critics, with a few notable exceptions, believe that no such person as Malachi lived, that the volume is anonymous, and the name came from the words, “Behold, I will send My messenger” where “malĕ ?’-akhi” was the term chosen at a later time for the title. While the more conservative students, with a few exceptions, believe that Malachi was not only the name of a Prophet, but also of that Prophet who gave the world this Book. And these latter fix the dates for his work as between 436 and 347 B. C. In passing, permit me to remark that I believe that Malachi was a man, the last of the Minor Prophets, God’s messenger indeed to Israel, and also to us; and that this volume was his message.While it does not make mention of him, there are in the Book internal evidences that his ministry practically coincided with Nehemiah’s administration.

Dr. Angus, in his “Bible Handbook” calls attention to what a good student of this Prophet would see, namely, that the second Temple was now built, and the services of the altar, with the sacrifices and offerings were established. And the very evils which Nehemiah, in the thirteenth chapter of his volume, so vigorously condemns, Malachi excoriates. The definite purpose of the volume seems to be the correction of Israel who had lapsed into a practical infidelity, and whose continued forms and ceremonies were in flagrant violation alike of the letter and the spirit of God’s Law, and therefore an offense unto Him! This apostasy had so far proceeded that even the priests of the Temple were putrid, and the people polluted and polluting.God’s Prophet would have sung his song in a minor key, but for the single circumstance that prophets are also seers; and, distant as was “the day of the Lord” from where Malachi stood, a vision of the same was yet vouchsafed him, and he finishes with a forthsetting of its beauty, and victory for its banners.Now shall we search the Book and see what Malachi had to say, and how much of this minor Prophet’s message is applicable to moderns.The volume opens with a discussion ofTHE OF ISRAEL“The burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us”? (Malachi 1:1-2). That infidelity then expresses itself in the first instance by questioning God’s love. “Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us”? The remaining text to verse five included God’s answer and argument in proof of His demonstrated affection for them. He had made a distinction between Jacob and Esau and all His favors had gone to the former— the father of this people; yea, to this people themselves, for were they not Israeli sons and daughters —Israelites? It is bad enough when the unregenerate are infidel and in their folly say, “There is no God”. It is vastly worse when those who have once had a true knowledge of God turn away from the same. Hear Paul speak of the fate of such— “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame”.

I do not profess to understand the full meaning of these words of the Apostle, but I have found that when a man who has once counted himself a child of the King, becomes a scoffer, it is easier to win a thousand sinners to the Saviour than to convert him from the error of his way. There is something so unnatural in his infidelity; something so strange in his skepticism that neither reason nor revelation seem to reach his heart.Have you not noticed that the greatest ingratitude is sometimes shown by those who have received the most signal favors?

There is a man who was bankrupt and you went and stood at his side and gave him your sympathy, and freely offered your silver and gold; joined with him in his struggle and never left off until he was lifted up and prosperity came instead of poverty, and singing instead of sighing. And yet he soon forgot the favor and if one so much as makes mention of it he meets that mention with these questions—“Wherein did you ever love me? What did you ever do for me? What kindness did you ever show me?” Such is the ingratitude born of the spirit of infidelity! And such is Israel’s state of mind when Malachi— God’s messenger—flashes the searchlight of newborn Scripture into her unbelieving bosom. But what man ever laid his fellow under such obligation as God has put every living soul?

And yet they say, “Wherein hast Thou loved us?”Again, that infidelity was evidenced in the transgression of God’s Law. He had said concerning the offerings,“All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. “Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. “And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 15:19-21). But, despising that plain statement and “the Name of Him” who made it, He says,“Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar: and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee?” “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person”? Again, God had His Law concerning marriage. They were not to take a wife from strangers, nor to put one away save they had found some uncleanness in her. But here they have divorced the wives of their youth, against whom they had dealt treacherously—the companions of covenant, whom God had made to be one with them; and taken unto themselves wives from the mixed nations round about, that they might gratify at once “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”.When Israel was carried captive to Babylon some of the weakest and least favored of her fold were left in the land. Cut off from their fellows in the faith, widely scattered among the heathen, they soon accepted the adage of doing as the Romans about them, and amalgamated with the nations. They possessed much land, were well regarded socially, and really seemed a superior class to that Israel which was now recovered from the long captivity. And so God’s people saw an opportunity in such alliances to wealth and political influence, and defended the step by reminding themselves that these Samaritans were, after all, their forty-second cousins.

The consequence was easy divorce, domestic disorder, and Divine offense.It is perfectly apparent also from the text that the priests of the time had sanctioned and participated in these sins, and had attempted to supplant the spirit of service with mongrel ceremonies. It is little wonder that Malachi exposes this transgression!

It is a true picture of ancient Israel; it is a clean-cut portrait of the modern church. We sometimes read from Genesis the words, “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose”, to imagine that that speech is centuries old. And so it is,—the old is often new. It is just what is being done today—the sons of God are forming alliances with the daughters of men. The children of the church, while wearing the Name of Christ, are being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And the mongrel society,—in the church and out,—silence every prophet who would dare speak against this agreeable and profitable arrangement.

But let it be remembered that if the last John the Baptist was beheaded, the Book of God would remain, and every professed Christian man, and every professed Christian woman consorting with the world, or sending their children to do the same, must either leave it unstudied, or open it to read the condemnation of their conduct.And yet again,—the infidelity of Israel is expressed in that—They are withholding God’s offering. We learn in chapter one, verses seven and eight, that they brought “the lame and sick” instead of the “firstlings of the flock, healthy and without blemish.” We learn by referring to verses twelve to fourteen of this same chapter, that they even defended the practice by saying, “The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible” (Malachi 1:12).

And so the torn, and the lame, will suffice, while they kept back the male of the flock and offered in sacrifice a corrupt thing.Beloved, here God’s minor Prophet presents again a message of which the so-called church of Christ stands in sore need. We may profess whatever faith we will, but we will never believe in our own profession, nor convince the world of our serious convictions while we treat the treasury of the Lord with neglect or contempt. The crucible for a good profession of faith is the contribution box. The man who is hunting for a church where no offering will be made, no sacrifice expected, or where, instead of giving the most, he may give the least to God, is hunting for an institution from which God’s Spirit has long since departed, and is himself controlled by an idea that crucifies Christ, who “Being rich, yet for our sakes became poor,” and sets up in His stead an image to covetousness.Such was the infidelity of Israel! To question God’s love; to transgress God’s Law; to keep back God’s offering! The infidelity of this hour will repeat these processes! And its existence makes Malachi’s prophecy a reminder to the Church of our century.Passing on in our study I call your attention to another fact, namely, IN NATURAL EFFECTS It is painfully and yet extremely interesting to follow these lines of infidelity in Israel to see what fruits they bring forth. The Apostle Paul might have been thinking of the Minor Prophet’s message when he said, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. You will see that the judgments made against Israel were according to natural law in the spiritual world.His love was given to others. Seeing that they would not serve Him He said,“I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 1:10-11). Beloved, is God to be blamed?A few years since the newspapers narrated the history of a woman to whom one of our noblest presidents proffered his hand in marriage while they were yet young. She rejected it. He grieved over the refusal, and went his way to woo and win another. When the time came that this second choice shared with him the first place in the land, and his first love found herself without property or position, no one thought to complain against the great man.I have sometimes wondered if the Jews of the world, scattered and persecuted as they are, were not patient in their sufferings because they knew that they were without a cause of complaint, having rejected God, whose first choice they were, to see the Gentiles come into the Father’s fellowship and enjoy the Divine favor of centuries.Let us not be blind to parallelisms. History is repeating in substance the very suggestion of the above quoted text. The great denominations of the past have fallen from their favored heights; and humble, despised folk have been exalted above them.There was a day when Romanism looked with contempt upon Luther’s movement.

The great hierarchy with its head beside the Tiber was confident that it was the chosen of the Lord. But its very conduct was so much akin to that of this Israel to whom Malachi delivers his message that God could not remain their Friend, but turned rather to Luther and his humble followers, and made His Name great among them.There was a time when the established Church of England scorned the pretentions of John Wesley and the ragged crowd who walked in his wake.But the infidelity of the Establishment contrasted the fidelity of the Wesleyans, and “Ichabod” was written for the Church of England, and the words, “Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” expressed at once God’s command and commendation of the plain Methodist brethren.Beloved, do you know the biggest fear that finds a place in my heart today? It is that these denominations of ours that number now over millions, should be puffed up with pride and become Laodicean indeed,—lukewarm in love, insane in selfesteem, saying, “We are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!” Lost, except they repent and invite into their lives and labors Him who stands at the door and knocks, saying, “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”.It is not a strange circumstance that the Christian Alliance movement, originating but a little more than fifteen years ago, should have enjoyed such a growth and proven itself such a world-missionary power. God’s love and God’s great power are alike the heritage of them that humble themselves before Him, and undertake for Him.He expressed contempt for their ceremonies.“But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the Law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of Hosts. “Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept My ways, but have been partial in the Law” (Malachi 2:8-9). Few things are more offensive to God, the Father, than ceremonies when they have no spirit of service in them. Before Malachi’s day the Lord had said by Isaiah’s lips concerning this custom, “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men” (Isaiah 29:13).And Ezekiel had also declared “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness” (Ezekiel 33:31).One of the most difficult things in the Christian life is to keep form from displacing affection; and ceremony from killing the spirit. It is so much easier to bend the knee than to bow the heart, and to say prayers than to pray; to sing songs than to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord”; and to look pious while the offering passes than to part with our substance. Did I say it was much easier? No! It only seems to be!

It is much harder! The man whose religion troubles him most is the one whose true spirit amounts to the least.

It is better to have none than not enough. The out and out unbelievers of Christ’s time never incited His criticism as did the pious pretenders.In Dr. Pierson’s volume on Gordon’s dream, “How Christ Came to Church” he tells the story of an aged and venerable clergyman whose son had gone over to the extreme of Roman ritualism. The boy importuned the father to come and preach in his “chapel of ease.” He finally yielded, but startled the congregation by choosing as his text,— “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatick”.And then he proceeded to show the utter insanity of the modern methods which had robbed us of simplicity and given place to elaborate ceremonials. We may question the propriety of the father’s procedure, and yet, we cannot rid ourselves of the Saviour’s declaration concerning the ceremonials of His time, “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”.And yet again,—This judgment expresses itself in the failure of the fruits of earth. Mark you here, God is following natural law again.

They withheld from Him, and shortly they had nothing to give. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).“Will a man rob God”? Yes, and without knowing it rob himself at the same time by severing himself from the source of all good. “But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee”?

He answers,“In tithes and offerings. “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine House, and prove Me now herewith, saith 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. “And I 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” (Malachi 3:8-11). Beloved, I often wonder how much of our poverty is self-imposed? I often question whether the Church of Jesus Christ has not shorn herself by covetousness? And often have I wondered whether many of the deserts of earth would not long since have “rejoiced and blossomed as the rose” in fair fruitfulness, had men cheerfully contributed to every call of Him who is the Giver of every “good and perfect gift”.David M. Torrey says, “Having found God my Saviour, I thought I would try Him in temporal things, as I was out of business. The first day He allowed me to make 85¢.” Then Mr. Torrey continues by telling how he went on tithing and God went on blessing, until thousands of dollars were poured into his lap.The history of Wm.

Colgate reads like a romance. His gifts were munificent, sacrificial; but God’s gifts to him were greater still, illustrating the words of Jesus, “Give, and it shall be given unto you”.In the study of this Book I am profoundly impressed by a single verse in it, and believe it to contain a suggestion worthy definite notice, namely,THE OF THE To me there are two beautiful touches in this Book of Malachi, aside from the bright prospect shown in the last chapter. One is the picture of an ideal priest, Malachi 2:7,—“The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts”. The other is the verse referred to, and compasses the fellowship of the saints,—Malachi 3:16-17,—“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. 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”.It is a blessed fact that the Lord is never without true followers. No matter how many speak against Him there are those to speak for Him. When Elijah, in his dejection, supposed himself to be left alone of all God’s followers, he was corrected by the assertion of the Divine One, “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”.

And you will find that when the time of the antichrist comes, and that enemy of our God rules in all the world, there will be knees that will not bow to him; hands and foreheads that will refuse his mark. In the day of Malachi, miserable as was the situation of Israel, there were some saints, and “they spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it”.They must have received strength by exchange of sympathy.

Did you ever try to picture what it surely meant to the early disciples of Jesus at the time when they were enduring cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonments; when they were sawn asunder, tempted and slain; when they wandered about in sheepskins and were destitute, afflicted and tormented, living in deserts and in caves of the earth? What strength they got from speaking often one to another; from exchange of sympathy! It is difficult to serve God alone. The very desolation of it incites despair. But to meet with kindred spirits and listen to their story of suffering or recitations of victory, and to know that they have learned the fellowship of Christ’s suffering! Ah, who is not made strong by that exchange? “If you have a friend worth loving Love him,—yes, and let him know That you love him, ere life’s evening Tinge his brow with sunset glow. Why should good words ne’er be said Of a friend till he is dead?

“If you see the hot tears falling, Falling from a brother’s eyes, Share them—and thus by the sharing Own your kinship with the skies. Why should any one be glad When a brother’s heart is sad?” Courage also would come out of this conference of believers. Do you not suppose that is why Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out two by two? Have you not had hours when your heart sank within you; when you felt baffled, defeated; when you said, “I am undone!” when the coming of some Christian friend, and the converse that followed, filled you with fresh spirit, and caused you to stand forth again, saying, “I can, and, God helping me, I will”? Where one can “chase a thousand, two can put ten thousand to flight.”Here again in this verse,—The communion of the saints called the Lord into the company.“And the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a hook of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. “And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:16-17). We have long been accustomed to the thought that when the knees of two were bowed together in prayer God was there to hearken to the petition and to grant the request according to His promise.Have we also forgotten His pledge that where “two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them”? Did it ever occur to you to ask why Jesus appeared to the two on the way to Eramaus? It was because of the subject which engaged them in conversation. And I do not believe that His saints ever assemble anywhere and talk of high and holy things, but there sitting in the midst of them, is the Saviour Himself, taking note of all that is said and standing ready, when we have finished our conversation, to reveal Himself as He did to the two in the way, and teach us truths that no mortal tongue could ever tell. I know not what the fellowship of the saints may have meant to others but to me it has been strength, and courage, and holy communion, and Divine instruction!But to finish the study of this Book, let me call attention to the fourth lesson.THE FUTURE OF FIRE AND FAVOR“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall bum as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall bum them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. “But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts. “Remember ye the Law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:1-6). Fire is God’s symbol of separation. That is taught not alone in this passage where “all that do wickedly, shall be stubble”: “torn up root and branch, and trodden like ashes under the feet of God’s children,” but many other Scriptures suggest the same thought. In Daniel it was fire that slew those men that took up Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-nego to cast them into the burning fiery furnace; but God’s servants it preserved instead, and they walked in it without hurt, attended by the Son of God Himself.There is an interesting passage in Isaiah 33:13-15, illustrating this,“Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge My might. “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil”. And this illustration is not unnatural, it is the action of fire. When gold goes into fire it comes out refined, having lost nothing of its real value. When dross goes in it comes out a cinder. The very sun in the heavens is growth to the living trees, but destruction to the dead ones. When Jesus wanted to conclude His discourse of the end of the age, and declare the fate of infidel and faithful alike, He said to the latter, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”, but to the former, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”.But I will not dwell upon this imagery, with the Scripture extent of which you are familiar. It is a solemn warning against sin. And I hasten from the awful suggestion to remind you that,—Favor is God’s purpose and promise to them that fear Him.“But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall he ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 4:2-3). It is the Old Testament history; it is the New Testament teaching. When fire consumed Sodom, Lot was saved out of it only because he feared the Lord. When fallen Jericho was touched with a thousand flames, Rahab, the harlot, and hers, were preserved alive for the very same reason,—she feared the Lord. “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him”. “The fear of the Lord” is not only “the beginning of wisdom” but the secret of God’s favor forevermore.But the crowning blessing belongs here with the coming of the Son. It is when He arises “with healing in His wings” that we are to “grow up as calves of the stall”; that we are to “tread down the wicked” until they shall be as ashes under the soles of our feet.

And before the day of the Lord He shall send Elijah, the Tishbite, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”.Beloved, it is beautiful to me to see how though the Scripture conception of the end of the age is characterized by the supremacy of the antichrist, for a short time, that darkness will soon pass, as the hours of the night swiftly receive them, and, though with the rising of the Son of God,—who is the Prophet’s Sun of Righteousness,—the day of the Lord is on, and what a day it will be!It has seemed to me that Joseph Parker’s idea that this Scripture is a figure which signifies the inexpressible vigor of life, is justified by the whole text, “Grow up as calves of the stall”. Parker interprets by saying, “Ye shall be sportive, ye shall realize the idea of youthfulness; you shall be vivacious, you shall not be old, cold, dead things; ye shall be as calves of the stall, full of life, leaping because of the very redundance of vitality. There is a hint here of spiritual enthusiasm. This is not an animal vivacity, it is a spiritual impulse and ambition; it is the new and deeper magnetism, it is the effect of being in touch with God.”But when one comes to believe, even this familiar language seems limited. Whose imagination can ascend with Prophet and Apostle to the heights of glory depicted for the “day of the Lord”, or sound the depths of its joy? All that one can do is to rejoice with the Prophet, and sing with the poet, the prayer:— “Thou, glorious Sun of Righteousness, On this day risen to set no more, Shine on me now to heal, to bless, With brighter beams than e’er before. Shine on, shine on, eternal Sun! Pour richer floods of life and light, Till that bright Sabbath be begun, That glorious day which knows no night.”

Malachi 3:6-18

THE DIVINE Malachi 3:6-18. WE come this morning to a note-worthy day in the history of this Church. We are assembled for an almost continuous twelve-hour service from 9:30 this morning when our Sunday School officers and teachers were on their knees in prayer, until 9:30 tonight when we shall be turning our faces to our individual homes. The occasion of these appointed services exists in the eightieth anniversary of the founding of this Church, organized as it was on March 5, 1853, and the thirty-sixth anniversary of my pastorate beginning as it did, March 1, 1897.The occasion itself is born of the circumstance that the opening sentence of our Scripture lesson is true, “The Lord changeth not.” The continued existence of this body of believers, and the exceptional history which it has made, find their only “adequate explanation in that fact. The buildings have changed, the membership has changed again and again, pastors have come and gone, but God abides, and whatever fruitfulness has been found in this body is due to His faithfulness; and as in the instance of Jacob, so doubtless in ours, we live as a Church and continue making Ecclesiastical history on that account; for there are many points of parallelism between the Jacob of old and our organized fellowship.What we have to say today touches upon those points, and they are four: An Appeal for Return, A Promise of Reward, A Justifiable Rebuke, and A Faithful Record.THE APPEAL FOR RETURN “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” (Malachi 3:7). Doubtless Jacob, or Israel thought well of themselves, and by comparison with the people round about them, were encouraged in that conceit.The fact seems to be fairly clear however thatThey had defaulted on God. They had forgotten His ordinances; they had failed to discern and accomplish His will; they had turned back upon Him and sadly departed from Him. Where is the church of this present hour of which this could not be said speaking in the large, and concerning a considerable portion of whom at least it is not sadly true?You would be glad, as my people, and I would be glad, as your pastor, if no such charge was true as applied to us, but in confusion of face we have to consent to the Spirit’s indictment.Philip Doddridge once addressed this appeal to God’s people, the people of his personal affection:“Why will ye waste on trifling caresThat life which God’s compassion spares;While, in the various range of thought,The one thing needful is forgot?“Shall God invite you from above?Shall Jesus urge His dying love?Shall troubled conscience give you pain,And all these pleas unite in vain? ‘Not so your eyes will always viewThese objects which you now pursue;Not so will Heaven and hell appear,When death’s decisive hour is near. “Almighty God, Thy grace impart;Fix deep conviction on each heart;Nor let us waste on trifling cares That life which Thy compassion spares.”Their protested ignorance was a poor defense.“But ye said, Wherein shall we return? “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee”? God’s answer is “In tithes and offerings”. And His further declaration is to that effect, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation”.How true that is of our nation, and who can tell to what extent the present depression is the judgment of such conduct?Prof. A. Caswell Ellis of the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, speaking before a group meeting of the department’s annual convention, of 1933 N.E.A. said,“I can see little hope for a lasting, wholesome civilization, as long as so large a percentage of supposedly educated men and women are content to drive themselves to exhaustion in pursuit of wealth, and then seek release and recreation in cocktails, courtesans, gambling, gluttony and competitivie ostentation in clothing, motor cars and extravagant homes.”James, in that marvelously plain and practical Epistle, says to some of his own Christian brethren, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).If there ever was a nation that had been doubly guilty at this point it was not so much the ancient Jacob as the present America; and, as is always the case, the Church of God is infected by the worldly atmosphere in which she lives. A great multitude of her members have in the day of prosperity purloined a whole or a part of that portion, “a tenth”, which by His own ordinance is “Holy unto the Lord”.You will bear me witness that I have striven to be faithful as pastor in this particular matter, and that by both precept and example, I have pleaded against “God-robbery,” and yet you know from repeated statements made from this pulpit, and on the testimony of our treasurer’s books, 50% of our membership have been utterly indifferent to God’s claim upon any part of their income, and that the work of the Church has been hampered and crippled by that circumstance.The souvenir folder placed in your hands as you entered this house carries one of the most remarkable financial records made by any Christian church on the American continent, in this century; and yet, these accomplishments do not cover more than one-half of what might have been our record had that 50% of indifferent been alive and responsive to the Divine demand, and for these thirty-six years computed their income and sacredly kept out one-tenth of it as “Holy unto the Lord”, investing the same in those great enterprises which our own brethren and sisters, in our own organization, have conceived and carried forward.One hundred thousand dollars sounds large to the most of us—in fact it almost looks to us, at this moment, like a colossal fortune. It takes ten of these to make a million, and it takes thirty-two of them to make $3,200,000.00, or to equal what the faithful 50%, aided by sympathetic friends about the country, have laid on the altar of our church and school work in love. It is a superb accomplishment, but it is doubtless less than one-half of what our record would have been had not so many members of this body of Christ, known as the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, been robbers of God.I am saying these things to pave the way for a further remark, and one borne out and justified by our text, namely,Repentance in this matter is the only proof of reform.“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine House”. That is God’s demand! That is not the expressed will of the pastor; that is the voice from on High. That is not the appeal of some money beggar; that is the demand of the Divine Creator, of the One who owns “the cattle upon a thousand hills”, whose is “the silver and gold,” and from whom all men have received all temporal good.According to a report rendered in October, 1931, and published in several of the religious journals of the country, the highest per capita gifts known to the American continent for that year were made by Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, an average of $40.10 per member for all causes.Our report for even this most financially depressing of years, and for an entire membership, 50% of whom give nothing, will be practically identical or $40.00 per capita, which means $80.00 per capita for those who do give. That fact carries with it both gratification and grief,—gratification for those who regard God and respond to His appeals, and grief for those who disregard His law; and so proves His Word, “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty”.A writer to the “Missionary Review of the World” said, “I am interested in Christian stewardship as the only road I can see to a new economic order. Never has there been a time when membership in a church dedicated to the establishment of the Kingdom of God among men has involved greater responsibilities.”Without stopping to remark on the unfortunate phraseology of the sentence, let us admit its intent and remember how God has repeatedly and signally favored those who were faithful to Him.William Colgate left home because his father could not afford to keep him. When he embarked upon business, he took God into partnership and shared with Him his income, and his fortune became the envy of many.Albert Hyde was $50.00 in debt when he read Jacob’s solemn vow, “All that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee”.

On a beginning a bit below nothing, he rose to wealth, and all along the way he honored God. This was attested by his mission in Wichita, his missionary steamboat in Africa, three full-time missionaries in China, one in Japan, one ip India, and seven in the United States, not to speak of numerous philanthropies in which he invested.There seems to be something, yea, much, in the promise “Give, and it shall be given unto you; full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over”, all of which leads to thePROMISED REWARD “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may he meat in Mine House, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not he room enough to receive it, “And I 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, “And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts”. (Malachi 3:10-12). God’s Heaven is the source of adequate supply.It is within His power, and His alone, to open the windows thereof. He sends the sunshine and the rain. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights”.I am not intending, however, to limit the Divine favors to money returns or even mere material blessings. I believe with Henry Van Dyke that when Christ descended to this earth ‘Tike a prince in progress, He conferred inestimable gifts and blessings in the outer circles of human existence. The doctrine of Jesus has widened the thoughts of men. The example of Jesus has crystallized the moral aspirations of men into a flawless and imperishable ideal. The precept of Jesus has struck the keynote for a new harmony of human fellowship.

The influence of Jesus has given inspiration and guidance to philosophy and literature and the fine arts.”However, He does propose to defend the earthly possessions of His own. He says,“I 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” (Malachi 3:11). Sometime since I received a letter from a prominent Christian man in St. Paul, asking me whether I could, at my time of life, say truthfully and candidly with the Psalmist“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”.At the time he sent me that letter he addressed a similar one to a large number of Christian leaders. Since returning from the recent Eastern and Southern trip, I had a letter from him saying the replies were practically of one tenor. The testimony is uniform that God careth for His own, and while at times He permits them to be subjected to hardships, and on occasions even disciplines them through the pressure of poverty, He never forsakes them nor refuses them bread.George Neumark wrote: “If thou but suffer God to guide thee, And hope in Him through all thy ways, He’ll give thee strength whate’er betide thee, And bear thee through the evil days. Who trusts in God’s unchanging love, Builds on the Rock that cannot move.

“Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving, So do thine own part faithfully, And trust His Word, though undeserving, Thou yet shall find it true for thee; God never yet forsook at need The soul that trusted Him indeed.” His further favor is the promise of international approval.“All nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts”.Mark you, this promise was connected with a condition that they repent and return unto the Lord, reform their conduct, and discharge their solemn obligations.America is to be congratulated on the circumstance that for years Roger Babson has been its financial adviser. Had his words been heeded, the present business debacle might have been escaped, in its larger part.In August, 1931, the newspapers carried his declaration, “The people today lack the faith which is essential to personal or national progress. Accompanying this lack of faith is a disrespect for law, order, and experience. Faith to be effective must be backed up by righteousness. Faith must be acquired slowly before it is needed, and it comes through patient devotion, right living, and service to others. The great mass of wage earners, executives, and young business people have never before witnessed a severe business depression.

The steady work and easy profits of other days brought this generation to feel sufficient in itself. Sabbath Schools and churches have been neglected; family prayers have been given up, and Sundays have been made a common holiday.

While employed in making money, the people did nothing to store up spiritual reserve, hence they have none to draw upon now that employment and profits have vanished. The solution of Britain’s economic situation, will come, as in the past, when a great revival sweeps the nation. I expect to see such a revival sweep Europe and America during the next decade.”Mr. Babson’s reasoning is sound up to a certain point, but that point of soundness is reached when he ignores prophecy. I am not at all certain that that revival is coming. In this particular depression there are signs of “the last days”, the end of the epoch, the final test of true faith and the approaching judgment of mental and moral infidelity.That God is not an invertebrate judge is straightway voiced by our text, for in verses thirteen to fifteen we haveTHE REBUKE “Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord: yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? “Ye have said, It is 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? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” (Malachi 3:13-15). He here charges them with having been disloyal to Him, indifferent to the Divine will, and insulting in speech.Their disloyalty was voiced in stout words.“Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord”. From time immemorial men have spoken against God, but the present century has strengthened that speech. For almost the first time in two thousand years, His Son, Jesus Christ, has been anathematized, and the Communistic propaganda of Russia absolutely proposes to defy the Name of God, and plans to destroy that Name from the lips of men.But this has been the conduct of infidels, agnostics, and atheists, and from such source we would expect nothing better. Infidelity, like immorality, hates God and delights to hiss His Name. If it were within the power of infidels they would carry out the threat of the Russian Soviets, the threat that appeared in the form of a cartoon that was published in their official paper a few years since.It presented God in the form of an aged and long-whiskered man, and standing full before Him was a brawny communist, bigger and more powerful in appearance than God Himself, holding a club in his right hand, drawn up and ready to strike. The subscription read, “We have killed the Czars; and now, damn you, we will brain you!”It is doubtful if such brazen impiety and defiant atheism ever cursed the earth as exists in it now!But there is a modified form of infidelity which finds a further expression here and is sometimes voiced by the lips of Christ-professed followers, namely,The charge of Divine indifference to moral worth.“Ye have said, It is 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”? (Malachi 3:14). Let us face the fact this morning that that is an imminent danger for the present-day professors of Christ. The hard experience through which some of them are passing, through their own fault, or through the fault of their fellows, tempts to bitterness and raises the question, “Does God care?”More than once have I heard men, whose names were on the church membership list, raise this question. When the sun is shining, and the birds are singing, and nature has a perfumed breath, and our present blessings are abundant, we speak complimentary of God; but when the storm comes, and the lightning flash blinds us, and the deep tones of thunder fill us with alarm, and life is hard, the income small, and even the very body itself is bruised, that is the testing time.God is just as certainly in the rain as in the sunshine, just as certainly in the sound of thunder as in the song of birds, and just as certainly with us in the dark night as at the noonday, just as certainly with us, when like Jesus we hang on Calvary’s Cross as when, like the Risen Lord, we walk the earth, victors. To believe it and to act it, in the dark day—that is the true test of one’s profession.“A jeweler gives, as one of the surest tests for diamonds, the water test. He says: ‘An imitation diamond is never so brilliant as a genuine stone. If your eye is not experienced enough to detect the difference, a simple test is to place the stone under water.

The imitation diamond is practically extinguished, while a genuine diamond sparkles even under water, and is distinctly visible. If a genuine stone be placed beside an imitation one under water, the contrast will be apparent to the least experienced eye.’“There are some who seem confident of their faith so long as they have no trials, but when the waters of sorrow overflow them, their faith loses all its brilliancy. It is then that the true servants of God, like Job, shine forth as genuine jewels for the King.”—The Sunday at Home Magazine.Fannie Crosby’s faith did not fail when her eyes went from her.Helen Keller’s faith was not lacking because three of her five senses were taken from her. Christ Himself has gone before us here, and out of the blackness that shrouded Him, when He hung on Calvary’s Cross, He was finally able to cry out in the sentence of victory, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit”.But there are those who invite further rebuke, and, sometimes, they also are of the Church. I speak now of those who insinuate,That God’s greatest favor goes to sinners.“We call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” (Malachi 3” 15). How often have I heard this said, (for some of my brethren in the faith have fallen into this false philosophy;) “Look at yon wicked man! Everything he touches prospers. He destroys God’s moral laws and tramples the interest of his fellows beneath his swinish feet. Like a great leviathan he delights to swallow up his smaller fellows and thereby add fat to his own flesh; and see how God favors him!”Better not pronounce judgment too soon. I could at one time have been very jealous of my neighbor on the boulevard side in the block in which I lived in Chicago. He was reputed to be worth $150,000,000.00, and it looked indeed as though God’s favor were far more upon him than on the humble righteous saints on the other side of the block, the Wabash side.

But time moved on, and for 150 consecutive days my neighbor lost a million dollars a day, and during the last year of his life had an income so small that no income tax was required of him. The anguish through which he passed in that time, what tongue can tell!A few days since, a friend of mine told me the story of another man of plethoric purse,—how his wife had long coveted the neighbor’s house and how he maneuvered to get a mortgage on it, closed the same, and took possession, driving his fellow to a heart-broken condition of practical insanity; and until now that man, who has crushed many another, moves on under apparent blessing, and some might say Divine favor: but it is too soon to judge! David wrote,“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. “Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalms 37:35-37). These are days when the saints of God are tempted along this line. Thousands of them have invested their little “all” with designing men, and it is gone. Sitting now on the hard bench of poverty, possibly on the rough log of actual want, they ponder the ways of the righteous and wicked and wonder whether there is a God over all, and if so, whether His ways are equal; but time will teach, and the final instruction will be to this effect,“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever” (Psalms 37:16-18). Far better, yea, ten thousand times better, to be an heir of Divine grace and know that Heaven holds for one a mansion in which eternal felicity shall be experienced than to have a title to much gold for a brief time, and then find one’s self possessed of no more earthly ground than is occupied by the beggar, and in soul, impoverished for eternity!But our study carries us another step:A REMNANT“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. “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. “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not” (Malachi 3:16-18). In conclusion, two or three suggestions—The faithful, then, are not forgotten. Far from it! They are the folk in whom God is really interested. When they talk, He listens, and what they say goes into the eternal record.Dear old Joseph Parker said, “No man can estimate the practical uses of religious intercourse. Take it that some men, say seven in number, pray in the city every day; they keep the city alive.” We have in the Old Testament one record to that effect. Lot preserved Sodom for some days, and had there been ten righteous men in the whole city, it would have escaped the consuming fire.A prayer meeting may be the subject of contemptuous joke to the godless passerby. The sight of the Salvation Army lads and lassies, bending their knees to the filth of the street or bearing their testimony from the sidewalk, may seem, to some, a queer craze; but the fact remains that such folk are the salt of society, the light of the world, and without them corruption and blackness would be as uniform in America and England as it is in the darkest heart of Africa or the deepest jungles of India.God will yet claim His own.“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” (Malachi 3:17). Practically all the jewels are at sometime or other lost in the filth, or at best, in the almost valueless soil of the earth. Find them, gather them out, and polish them, and by that vocation many have been made rich.The God who created all men will search out of them His own, and in that day, that special day, that day to which all human history moves, that great and notable day of the Lord, jewel His own crown, adorn Heaven itself with the same.As you know, I have just returned from a trip, three weeks of which was given to the John Wanamaker Church, Philadelphia. Not far away from it is the Tenth Presbyterian Church, now served by Donald Grey Barnhouse to whom many of you have given radio audience. Let me conclude what I am saying by quoting from that faithful and rising young minister:“During the war I was flying at one of our aviation fields on a morning that was both cloudy and foggy. Patches of mist hung so low that our horizon seemed to be drawn in very near to us. A few seconds after the ship was taken off the ground it was surrounded by the swirling gray veil.

Momentarily the green and brown fields and the drab white farm houses would flash into a view and then, in an instant, clouds would once more envelop the plane. It was rather disagreeable work, for there were times when we could scarcely distinguish the tips of the wings.

Suddenly I began to wonder how high the clouds extended and a second later we started on a small voyage of discovery and exploration. Before we had climbed more than two thousand feet everything began to get lighter and soon we skimmed out above the fog and clouds and saw a blue and sunny world about us. I was about to say that there was not a cloud in the sky, but at our feet was a great ocean of clouds whose tops were downy white. They were so reflecting the glory of tie sun that it seemed that we were entirely surrounded by heaven, and that nowhere in the universe could there be a world of gray mist.”It is a parable of what I am trying to put before you this morning. The clouds are hanging low just now, and the darkness deepens as a blinding mist above men. Making our way through it is both disagreeable and dangerous, but by the grace of God, and through the guidance of His Holy Spirit, we can climb on, and climb up until by and by the clouds will be below us, and the brightness of the upper world above us, and in the reflecting glory of the same we shall meet and tell one another of the grace that brought us Home, and of the difference “between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not”.

Malachi 3:10-12

THE LORD’S TITHE Malachi 3:10-12. is a painful process; and improvement requires extended time. The gold and the silver are refined from dross only at white heat, and it is a far cry from the dirty iron ore in the ship-hold to the delicate watch-spring. Time, intense heat, intelligent treatment are all involved in the change. The accomplishment of a Christian character involves at once refinement and improvement. The first is commonly a process of pain; the second, a result of many seasons. A man does not conquer his selfishness in a day; nor does he get his victory against it without suffering. The minister of God must regard these facts. Whatever his personal conception or custom, it is hardly to be expected that an entire people will instantly rise to the one or adopt the other. For nearly thirty-six full years I have sought by precept and practice to inspire this people in giving. The improvement marked by the years is a sufficient reward for the pastor’s pains. I am fully persuaded, however, that the time has come for this church to take higher ground on the whole subject of giving. I beg you to mark the phrase, “higher ground.” Tithing is not the highest ground. It is living up to the Law in the letter; and, if one does it willingly, in the spirit, also. “Will a man rob God”? The Prophet answers, “Yes.” Have we robbed God; and, if so, wherein?

His reply is, “In tithes and offerings”. I fear the indictment will stand against many of even this membership.The text is the way of reparation. It involves three things:—The Lord’s Tithe: The Lord’s House: and The Lord’s Blessing.THE LORD’S TITHE “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse”. Then God has appointed a tithe. No good student of the Scriptures would ever call that into question. The language of the Law is this—“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” (Leviticus 27:30). “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32). “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” is no more an express command of God’s than is the tithing system the plain teaching of His Word. The men who deny that, or who neglect it, practically deny the Divine ownership, and thereby dispute the teaching of Scripture.“For all the earth is Mine” (Exodus 19:5). “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine” (Haggai 2:8). “For every beast of the f orest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalms 50:10). “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Psalms 24:1). Now if God is the owner of all it is His right to appoint His own rental; and with a generosity beyond that which is accustomed to characterize the conduct of men, He has asked of earth’s occupants but a small proportion of the increase of the land, namely, one tenth. The Apostles and Prophets never disputed this; nor yet did they neglect it. Whether rich or poor, they regarded God’s request and paid their tithe.As early as Cyprian’s day in the third century he excoriated those Christians who forgot their obligation,—“Some of us do not even give tithes of our patrimony, and when God commands us to sell, we purchase and amass.”Chrysostom, “the golden-mouthed,” cried, “O what a shame! that what was no great matter among the Jews should be pretended to be such among Christians. If there was danger then in omitting tithes, think how great must be the danger now!”Ambrose, in the fourth century, said, “The Lord commands our tithes to be paid every year. He has given you nine parts, but He has reserved the tenth for Himself; and if you give not the tenth part to Him, He will take from you the nine parts. Whosoever is not willing to give those tithes to God which He has kept back, fears not God and knows not what true repentance and confession means.”John Calvin declared that the heathen contributed more to their idols and to express their superstitions than Christian people are giving to the great cause of our Christ.John Knox reminds us that our Lord in the Gospels, speaking of payment of tithes to the Pharisees, said, “These ought ye to have done”.

It is only another instance of the great Apostle’s teaching that “Whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning”, and another confirmation of the fact that the Old and New Testaments are not opposing Books, but counter-parts of one great volume, and that the mandate of the one is the moral law of the other. Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, called upon the Greek converts to, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Yes, God has appointed a tithe.God has also appointed the measure of the tithe.“The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord”. It sounds like a little measure, and yet never once has it been adopted by a church without utter amazement as to results. The Wesley Chapel, Cincinnati, a part of whose people adopted the tithe system in 1895, has illustrated what it would mean, for at the end of a few years it was revealed that the tithers, in proportion to their number, had given just twenty-four times as much for every one adopting it as those who contributed by other means. As a result of their return to the Divine order, that church, located in the heart of the city regarded as dead and ready to be deserted, was suddenly and splendidly revived and became an ensample to every Methodist church in that section of the country. The Pastor, making a report at one of their conferences, uttered these remarkable words, “I have not had to devote five minutes of time to the consideration of the finances of the church during the six years of my pastorate. My time, instead of being occupied with officials, planning suppers and lectures, concerts, soliciting donations, or selling tickets, has been given wholly to the spiritual work of the church.” All merchandise has been swept out and the place for prayer and praise restored. And while the church had in it even plain, and many poor people, it had not a single pauper, illustrating the fact that God was bestowing temporal blessing upon those who. were being obedient to His Word.Permit me to say a word about what the tenth means.

That word is this,—“It means the tenth!” And the language is perfectly plain,—“A tenth of all,”—not the tenth after you have given your grandmother a Christmas present; not a tenth after you have paid your taxes; not a tenth after you have bought another forty acres; not a tenth after you have provided yourself a home; not a tenth after you have stocked up your library with books, your laboratory with instruments, paid your livery bill, or purchased an automobile, but “the tenth of ALL shall be holy unto the Lord.”I confess frankly that I never hear men talk on this tenth and witness their wriggling endeavors to charge up to God’s account their personal necessities or luxuries, without feeling shamed afresh by our modern conceptions of Christianity; and being painfully alarmed lest, after all, the reason we give so little is that we love even less.Uncle Boston Smith, when he was yet alive, told the story of the old colored man who said, “Bredren and Sisters:—I hab, after long searching found two texts ob Scripcher for to illustrate de subjic’ I am about to bring to your notis. De fust am foun’ in 2 Timothy 4:14, and de udder am in de second chapter ob Rebelations and de six’ verse.

My subjic’ am ‘Givin’ fo’ de Lawd’s Cause’, and dese texts show us dat we cain’t fool de Lawd ef we kin fool ourselves. Dis Book ob de Lawd contains dese two texts:— “Alexander de copper-smith did me much evil”—“De deeds ob de nickel-aitanes I also hate’. Now I reckon dat Mr. Alexander wuz a leadin’ business man who made lots ob money and libed in a fine house; but when de collection box came roun’ for de Lawd’s work, he put in a copper cent and de Lawd done tol’ Paul to tell de world dat man done him a heap ob evil. An’ dese nickel-aitanes what we read about in de Rebelations, must hab been members of some high-tone city chu’ch who had all de luxurees ob life,—big houses, fast hosses, and went to de summer reso’ts and spent a pile ob money on demselves,—and when de collection fo’ missions and givin’ de Bible to dem what don’t hab any come on, dey felt roun’ in deir pockits and when dey foun’ a nickel, jest drapped dat in de box, when dey ought to hab put in a hundred dollars, and some ob dem ought to hab gibben a thousan’. So de Lawd jes’ said, ‘De deeds ob de nickel-aitanes I also hate.”Remember that God appointed the amount—“one tenth”.

The man who gives one cent less than that amount robs God. Candidly I had rather rob any mortal on earth than to rob my Heavenly Father.Recently throughout the length and breadth of this land there has been a pandemonium of holdups of the black-hand sort.

Men find their lives threatened unless they put up $500, $5,000, $10,000, instantly to the one who demands it. The papers report an eighteen-year-old son having sent such a letter to his father.Whoever else I rob, may I have the grace not to hold up my Heavenly Father.God also determines the purpose of the tithe.“That there may be meat in Mine home”. The whole tabernacle service was maintained by the tithe. From it the priests were fed and clothed; and the great high priest received his proportion; and every incidental expense of the Divine worship was met. God has never departed from that original purpose. The laborer is worthy of his hire. The temple service is still dependent upon the gifts of those who worship there. The publication of the Truth to the ends of the earth can only be accomplished by Christian contributions.There are not a few people whose sympathies are capable of being stirred, but not all of these are willing to act in keeping with the Divine will.

Dr. Geo. Truett says, “I once heard that gracious philanthropist and preacher, Dr. Buckner, telling in his inimitable way the thrillingly romantic story of the Texas Orphans Home. Higher and higher rose the great tide of emotion, throughout the audience, as the preacher spoke. One man in particular sobbed with seemingly uncontrollable emotion.

All eyes were moist with tears, and then the preacher said, ‘The orphans are in need of food and clothing and better shelter. Surely you are all ready to help them.’ In one moment the sobbing brother had his emotions all under perfect control, and was quietly wending his way to the door, and, as he passed, said to the head usher, ‘It is too bad that a good meeting has to have cold water thrown on it like this.’ That man was a landholder of no small import, and had money in the bank, but he had never touched the fringe of the doctrine that he was to hold his property, not as unto himself, but as a steward for God. It was a glorious thing to this man to cry over helpless orphans, but to be asked to feed and clothe them,—that was something like taking a chill or having a tooth pulled.”Yet such is the purpose of God’s tithe. He has his needs, and “Inasmuch as ye [do] it unto one of the least of these * * ye [do] it unto Me”.THE LORD’S HOUSE “All the tithes into the storehouse?” The offerings were made at the Temple—the storehouse was in the same. The most effective tithing movements of modern times have regarded the Church of God as the Divine storehouse,—the place of offerings, the medium through which they were to be made.Three remarks concerning this ancient storehouse may be truthfully made, and each one of them applies in the New Testament Church.Its treasury was the test of Israel’s spirit. The true Israelite cried, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me”?In N. L. Rigby’s treatise entitled “Ten Cents on the Dollar—or The Tithe Terumoth” he says,— “Under the kings, when the piety of the people was far from fervent, this duty was almost wholly neglected. Dead to Deity, they were necessarily dead to every sense of indebtedness to Him.

But when their spiritual life was revived under the pungent preaching of the Prophet Hezekiah, and the God of their fathers was again made manifest in the gracious promises of His favor, one of the first duties done was to bring their tithes into His storehouse. Alive unto God, they were soon alive unto every good work.”The truth obtains no less at this moment!

One of the tests of every professed Christian and every church is the Lord’s treasury. When Christ sat over against the treasury and saw the rich people casting in much, and the poor widow casting in her all, He declared it a test of their spirit, and the woman who gave most was the one who sacrificed to the greatest extent. The one time in Israel’s history when she was most poverty-stricken, when her condition was such that God fed her with manna from Heaven and brought water out of the rock, was in her wilderness journey. And yet, when during that journey there was a call for offerings unto the erection of a Tabernacle, the people poured into the treasury until the overseer cried out, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make”. And Moses had to proclaim,—“Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary” (Exodus 36:5-6).Truly, as one has said, “The Jewish sense of indebtedness to God had reached its flood-tide, and was overflowing.How such conduct shames the Christian church in that oftentimes when men must be pleaded with to part from that which belongs to the Lord, and to give a gift in addition to that, is well-nigh impossible!A little girl had given to her a bright silver dollar. She went to her father and said, “Change this into dimes for me.” “What for, Nannie, dear?” was his reply. “So that I can give the Lord’s part to Him.” He put ten dimes into her hand and shortly walked with her to the church.

At the basket of offering she dropped in a dime, and then before her father could say aught, she dropped in another. “Why,” said her father, “I thought you gave the tenth to the Lord?” “Yes,” she answered, “that tenth belongs to Him, and I can’t give Him what is His own. So if I give Him anything I have to give Him what is mine.”Cowper writes:—“Such as our motive is, our aim must be, If this be servile, that can ne’er be free; If self employ us, whatsoe’er is wrought, We glorify that self, not Him we ought.” This treasury was the channel of Israel’s gifts. No less should the treasury of the Lord’s House now be the same. The last appeal to the Old Testament Church is this of the great Prophet Malachi that they should bring in the tithes and offerings. The first declaration regarding the New Testament body of baptized believers reads after this manner, —“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2:44-45).No man can tell what the Church of God has lost by forgetting that “The House of God” is the place of the Divine treasury. Three things have happened to our contributions in the Name of the Lord. They have been stingy, spasmodic and sporadic.

This last strikes the Church of God a blow! Practically every modern Christian movement outside of the church, such as the Associated Charities, hospital work, Y.M.C.A’s, and Y.W.C.A’s, community fund, evangelistic organizations, and all the rest, are organized and supported largely by church people.

But oftentimes the church, not being the direct channel of endeavor, not only fails of credit in the same, but is actually criticized and charged with having come short in her duty.If, at this present moment, every benevolent offering made by the membership of this church passed through its treasury, her individual members would be inspired by the amount; the outside world of nonregenerates would be profoundly impressed by the same, and her sister churches throughout the length and breadth of the land would be stimulated to higher endeavor. Let us not forget that the Lord’s House in the ancient time was the storehouse, and the channel of God’s gifts.This channel was also the medium of Israel’s opportunity. Through it she carried the priesthood and whole Israelitish system. By means of it she made her proselytes and accomplished her mission in the world. The treasury of the modern church is also the medium of its opportunity. Through it benevolences are under the Divine blessing; and by way of it missions to the ends of the earth are accomplished.I sometimes wish that men might be brought to see that to give is to get; that the practice of liberality is the privilege of life.

Nor does one need to be rich in order to enjoy the same. A writer says,—“I have been interested in a little street urchin I have met going to and from the hospital on the street car.

There was something wrong with one leg. He had met with an accident and was receiving treatment at the free clinic. He had a ticket entitling him to treatments and was never tired of praising his doctor. One day I saw him on the car with a very shabby man whose arm was in a sling. Tim nodded brightly enough, but avoided conversation. When I met him two hours later he was alone. ‘How’s the leg?’ I asked. ‘Getting along first-rate. See that fellow with me on the car? He’s got an awful arm but I know my doctor can make it all right, and I asked him if he’d give that fellow half my treatments.

He didn’t want to at first, but then he said he would, so that’s where I was taking him. Me? O, I’ll get along somehow! Why, mister, that man’s got a wife and three little girls to take care of.’ ” Think of it! The opportunity of a whole limb surrendered that another sufferer might share in his blessing!A writer says, “The good there is in riches lieth altogether in their use, like the woman’s box of ointment; if it be not broken, and its contents poured out for the refreshment of Jesus Christ, they lose their worth. He is not rich who lays up much, but he who lays out much.”God’s treasury is man’s opportunity.THE LORD’S Mark the text.It was a blessing of temporal benefits.“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine House, and prove Me now herewith, saith 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” (Malachi 3:10). Temporal benefit is God’s promise to Christian benevolence. “Come now;” I can hear some man say, “are you not in danger of degrading giving; of bringing men to believe that God barters with them, and by giving they get more?” My answer is, “Am I quoting the text correctly?” It is amazing how conscientious some men get when you speak on the subject of giving. Fellows that have robbed God for years are very anxious not to be barterers. I had rather trade with God than to trick Him out of what He has. I had rather exchange gifts for gifts than to steal His tithe. The same man who makes that objection will be on his knees tomorrow morning pleading with God to prosper his financial enterprises. Since God has offered to make good the New Testament promise “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over”, who am I to object, and what is my ministry other than to declare His whole plan and His full promise?

Men who make such arguments against the tithing system are only squirming to escape.It is related that Dr. Chalmers, the great Presbyterian preacher, once delivered a pathetic sermon on “The Christian’s Financial Relation to God.” Two of the men who heard it, being rich and very penurious, fell to talking it over and one said to the other, “Is it not too bad that a preacher should be so worldly in his preaching?”Alas for the customs of men, for their conduct,— covered over, for the attempt to make God-robbery appear humanly right!

I candidly believe that the man that gives will find God returns him double.There is a pretty legend, in the German, of a poor lad, the son of a widow, who had gathered in the woods a dish of strawberries. Returning home he was met by a venerable old man who called out, “Let me have thy full dish and take my empty one.” In pity for the old man’s weakness and inability to gather for himself the boy made the exchange. Returning to the berry patch he filled the new dish and carried it home, relating to his widowed mother what had happened. “Ah, happy are we, my son; the man has given you in exchange for your plain dish one of pure gold, and our fortune is secure.”How many men have impoverished themselves for Christ, only to find Him abundantly able to fill and enrich the life in both temporal and spiritual things!To illustrate, take the story of William Colgate. A lad of sixteen he had left home to secure his fortune. His entire belongings were in a little bundle which he carried in his right hand. Down the old towpath toward the New York city he trudged.

He met an old neighbor, the captain of a canal boat, who said, “Well, William, where are you going?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Father is too poor to keep me at home any longer, and says I must now make a living for myself.” “There’s no trouble about that,” said the captain. “Be sure you start right, and you’ll get along. What trade do you know?” The lad told him that the only trade he knew anything about was soap and candle-making. “Well,” said the old man, “let me pray with you and give you a little advice, and then I will let you go.” They knelt on the towpath and the old man prayed for William, and then said, “William, some one will soon be the leading soap maker in New York.

It can be you as well as anyone. Be a good man. Give your heart to Christ. Give to the Lord what belongs to Him of every dollar you earn. Make an honest soap. Give a full pound. I am certain you will yet be a rich and a good man.” Arriving in the great city, homeless and friendless, he remembered the old man’s parting words of advice. He was thus led to Christ and into the church.

The first dollar he made brought up the question of the old captain. By a study of the Bible he learned that the Lord requested a tenth, and instantly he adopted it. Ten cents out of every dollar he kept wholly to the Lord. A few years, and he was a partner in the business that employed him. A little longer, and he was the sole owner. He was wonderfully blessed. He then gave two-tenths. He became richer still, and gave three-tenths, and afterwards five-tenths.

He then educated his family, settled all his plans for life, and told the Lord he would give Him all his income. Schools which now wear his name are monuments to his benevolence. He gave, and the Lord gave to him. The Lord is keeping His Word.But the Prophet adds another word!The Lord’s blessing was one of national influence.“And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts”. Walter Scott never wrote more truthfully than when he said, “Teach self-denial and make its practice pleasureable, and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer.”It is possible for a people who are sufficiently devoted to God to do His will to become a blessing to the entire earth. Beyond all question Israel has been, and is destined to be, yet more. American Christianity can flood the earth with light in this generation if she desires. In 1890 we had only one-fourth the wealth that we own today, yet at that time the Protestant churches of this country had a membership of 14,000,000 and a wealth of over four billions per annum. Had they tithed it they would have contributed over four hundred million per annum; now it would be $1,600,000,000. It would turn the world upside down in a twelfth month.

No wonder that God should say, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation”.Shall it continue so? It is ours to take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

And how marvelously suggestive is this saying of Christ in Luke,—“Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations” (Luke 16:9).Think on this verse, and a vision of the future world of the redeemed, indescribable in glory, will pass before you. Many and wonderful will be the surprises connected with our giving that shall be made to us on the other side. Orphans whom we helped, but never saw, will haste to greet us, and with them will come unknown preachers whom we helped to educate, together with the army of souls converted under their preaching. And from far distant climes, where out of our poverty we sent men to preach the Gospel, even from China and India, and the dark places of Africa, and the islands of the seas, they shall press about us to thank us, and in the midst of it all may be heard the blessed words, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me”.May I conclude with a personal word.—Forty-three years ago I had a salary of $600.00. Five people were dependent upon me for support, and four of those, myself included, at school. Tithing seemed an impossibility; but after much prayer I could see no other way, and I laid aside $60.00 out of the $600.00,—sacred unto the Lord.

From that moment until this I think I have known no year in which less than the tenth of all possible incomes was put into His treasury. His blessing has been beyond my desert.

Under no circumstances could I be persuaded to turn back from this Divine order and deny myself this blessed privilege. Will you join with me today in the Tithers’ League of the First Baptist Church?