[0:00] If you guys have your Bibles, I'd like to ask you to turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 31. 2 Chronicles chapter 31. Anytime I preach the Old Testament, I get kind of nervous because I don't want to teach heresy. And so today I'm kind of nervous.
[0:12] And we're in 2 Chronicles, and I'm trying to think, you know, I'm trying to rack my brain. I'm like, hey, what in the world are you saying here, God? What are you saying to us? And so I want to give you a quick rendition, just like an Old Testament survey real quick, just so you get an idea of what's going on here.
[0:25] Because I think it's really important to get the idea, the overview of what's going on, to get the context of inside the Scripture. Just a quick question for you guys out there. Does anybody know when the Jews wrote the Old Testament, and they put it together, and they gave it to people, and when the first church had the Old Testament, do you know what the last book in the Old Testament was?
[0:46] Or the last books in the Old Testament? Someone take a quick guess. Yes, Jens? Yes, that's right. 1 and 2 Chronicles. 1 and 2 Chronicles was supposedly the last book written in the Old Testament.
[0:57] And I'm going to tell you why, and we're going to see some things real quick. If you have your Bibles, we're in 2 Chronicles chapter 31, but I'm going to talk to you about what happened before that. In Exodus chapter 19, Moses leads the people to Mount Sinai.
[1:09] And while they're at Mount Sinai, God comes down from heaven. He comes down to this mountain, and he actually speaks. There's an encounter with Moses and the children of Israel. During that time, God makes this promise, this pact.
[1:19] He says, Israel, I'm going to make you a special nation. I'm going to make you a peculiar treasure. You're going to be my special people, and I will be your God. And during that time, Israel said, okay, that sounds good.
[1:30] Moses goes up there, and Moses gets the commandments from God. And in Exodus chapter 28, verses 3, or 24, verses 3, this is what the Bible says. It says, Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.
[1:44] And the people answered with one voice and said, all the words of the Lord, all the words which the Lord hath said we will do. Israel makes this pact with God, and they say they actually end up killing an animal.
[1:58] They make an altar. He puts half the blood on the altar. He goes out there, and he begins to sprinkle the blood on the book. Verse number 6. And Moses took half the blood and put it into the basin, Exodus 24, 6.
[2:09] And half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar, and he took the book of the covenant, and he read it in the audience of the people. And they said, all the Lord has said we will do, and we'll be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and he sprinkled it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord made with you concerning all these words.
[2:25] God makes this pact, this agreement, this promise with Israel. He says, this is what I want you to do. And Israel says, we'll do that. And so they make this blood covenant with God and Israel. But you guys know the story, right?
[2:36] What happens in this story? What do they do 40 days later after Moses goes back and he sends it up into the mountain? What happens? Aaron messes up big time, right? He messes up real big.
[2:47] He ends up making a molten calf, and the Israelites break the covenant. This is very important. They break the covenant that they just made like 40 days ago. What in the world?
[2:57] What in the world is up with these people? Well, Exodus 34, they make this renewed covenant. Then you get to Deuteronomy where it's known as the second giving of the law. The old generation has died off.
[3:08] The new generation's up. And in Deuteronomy chapter 29, verses 1, God renews the covenant with a new generation. He renews a covenant with a new generation.
[3:20] Verse 29, chapter 29, verse 1. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel. Get this, in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them at Oreb.
[3:34] These people, once again, make a pact. It's time for a new generation, before they go into Israel, before they go into Canaan land, to make a pact with God. And listen to who this covenant entails.
[3:49] Who does it entail? Look in Deuteronomy 29, verses 10. He says this. Moses is speaking. Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 29, verse 10.
[4:01] Your captains, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy strangers that is in thy camp, from the hewers of wood and thy water, that thou shouldest enter into a what?
[4:14] A covenant with the Lord thy God, which the Lord maketh with thee this day, that he may establish thee today for a people unto himself.
[4:26] He says, I make a promise. You guys, we're making this deal. You're going to be my people to myself, that he may be a God to thee, and as he has sworn to his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[4:38] Get this, number of verse 14, just so we can see who it all encompasses. I don't know how you say that word, but you guys get the idea, okay? Verse 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath.
[4:52] Verse 15, he says this. But with him that standeth here with us this day, before the Lord, also and also with him that is not here this day. God makes this covenant, not just with that generation, but with the people that come after him.
[5:06] And he's telling them what? What does he want? Well, Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 15 tells us. He says this. He says, see, in Deuteronomy 30, 15, if you've got your Bibles, you just flip over a couple, just like one page.
[5:18] See, I have set before you this day good, the day, life and good, death and evil. Verse 16. In that I command you this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments and his statutes.
[5:35] Why? That you may live and multiply. That thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord God will bless you in the land where thou goest to possess it.
[5:46] God says, I'm making this pact, this covenant with you guys. And this is very important whenever you read your Old Testament. You've got to understand this. Before Israel goes into Israel, before they go into Canaan, God makes this agreement.
[5:58] He says, if you guys are going to walk in my ways, if you guys are going to obey my judgments, then you get to stay in the land. It's like lease. That's the payment there, okay? God's the landlord. He says, if you walk in my ways and you obey my commandments, then you get to stay in the land.
[6:13] But if you don't, bad things are going to happen. They're kicking you out. And if you read the old prophets and you're like, I have no clue what he's talking about.
[6:24] It's all because God's saying, you guys didn't keep your end of the covenant. You guys failed to keep the judgments. And we're in 2 Chronicles. We're like, what in the world does this mean? Is this stuff for us? How are we supposed to read this?
[6:35] Well, you guys know what happens in the story, right? Israel's kicked out of Israel, right? Judah's kicked out of Judah, the land of Judah. They go to Babylon, just like God said, for 70 years. They come back after their captivity.
[6:48] And what happens? What happens? The temple is just gone. Their city has been laid to waste. Everything God said, everything is like, they're like, God, what do you do? What have you done?
[6:58] How can we trust you? God's like, it's your fault. You failed to keep the end of the bargain. But in that, we all know, I'm getting maybe too deep, that God, one day, he brings back Israel.
[7:11] He puts the law in their hearts, and they just keep it because he does it all. Because man always fails. That's where we say, amen. And God is always good. That's where we say, amen. And that's what God's going to do.
[7:23] And so in this story, in this story, as you read through Chronicles, I want you to think, these people that first read this book, these are people that have lived in captivity.
[7:34] And now are brought back. And the temple's not like what their great granddads used to talk about. The wall has just been built up. It's like a makeshift wall. Everyone's done their own part, right? Jerusalem was a pasture field.
[7:48] Why? Why? Why was Jerusalem, why was Israel wiped out? Why were they taken away from their land? Why were they, why was the temple destroyed? Why was Jerusalem turned into like a sheep field?
[7:59] Because they failed to keep the covenant. They failed to do their part. They failed to obey his voice.
[8:10] That is very, very important. That's something you have to understand. And so as you're going through Chronicles, I want you to think, man, these people are probably struggling.
[8:22] They're wondering, how did he keep his commandments? Why didn't he do that? These people, after they return from their captivity, they're living in sin.
[8:36] But yet they possess Jerusalem. So how can they find motivation to do what's right? How can they find motivation to do what's right? They've got to go back and see what God has done in the past.
[8:49] And so God had a scribe and he wrote out Chronicles so the people could have some motivation to see how they are supposed to live. Does that make sense? You guys follow along with me? And today I would like to talk to you about this.
[9:01] The necessity of giving. The necessity of giving. Before Hezekiah was king of Judah.
[9:11] That's the king that we've been going through. Before he was the king of Judah, Ahaz ruled and he did not do right in the sight of the Lord. He wasn't like King David. Ahab was a wicked king.
[9:24] Ahaz made images, which God told him not to do, right? He made images for Baal. He burnt incense in the valleys of the son of Hinnom. Ahaz burnt his children in the fire just like the nations that were before Joshua did.
[9:39] Ahaz sacrificed in high places and hills and under every green tree, the Bible says. Ahaz was a wicked king. Ahaz brought upon Judah.
[9:51] God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Syria. God abased, made Judah real low. Why? Because God was very angry with the wickedness.
[10:05] Ahaz thought that he could get this, align himself with other nations and maybe hire some mercenaries to help him out. And in 2 Chronicles 28, verse 21, we see what Ahaz does.
[10:16] Look what it says in 2 Chronicles. If you jump back to 2 Chronicles, look what Ahaz does. Ahaz took away the portion, a portion. Where from?
[10:28] Out of the house of the Lord. Ahab robbed God's house. Ahaz. Verse 28, or chapter 28, verse 24, this is what the scripture says.
[10:41] And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God. And he cut them into pieces. The vessels of the house of God.
[10:53] God's house was plundered, looted, and then after that it was shut up. Nobody went in there. But then a new king comes onto the scene.
[11:04] His name was Hezekiah, right? A different reign, a different ruler. The guy that we've been talking about the last couple weeks. Hezekiah, he cleans up the temple. He repairs it. Look in 2 Chronicles 29, verses 3. This is what the scripture says.
[11:15] And in his first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and he repaired them. He says, okay, it's enough with all this junk that's going on. It's time to do some reformation.
[11:27] It's time to change, right? He says, okay, it's time to fix God's house. We're opening those doors. We're repairing it. And he brought the priests and the Levites. And he gathered them together into the east street. And he said unto them, hear me, ye Levites.
[11:40] Sanctify now yourselves. And get this, get this. Sanctify the house of the Lord your God, your fathers. And carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. Clean out my temple.
[11:54] Clean out God's temple. Clean out what Ahaz had done. Worship had been renewed. Worship had been renewed in the house of the Lord. We talked about it Sunday night, right?
[12:05] How there was the Passover now in Israel and people were rejoicing, right? Get this. In 2 Chronicles 29 verses 20. This blows my mind. Hezekiah rose. The king rose early and he gathered together the city and they went up to the house of the Lord.
[12:20] They held the Passover in their last sermon. Joy was now back in Jerusalem. Things were being corrected. And now we're in 2 Chronicles chapter 31 to see what happens.
[12:33] After the time of the Passover, the celebration. You guys remember what we talked about last Sunday? They prolonged it another seven days. They're like, this is so good.
[12:43] We got to go another seven days. They went for another seven days. A time that Jerusalem hasn't seen so much joy since the time of Solomon. A time of blessings and prayers. Get this.
[12:54] Their prayers were heard clear in the holy place, even to the heavens. This is like, I don't know if we understand this, okay? Israel was supposed to be God's people, right?
[13:06] But they left them because they look at king, right? He shut up the doors of worship. But now a new king comes up. He cleans house, right? And look what God does because of this. Look what God does because of this.
[13:16] 2 Chronicles 30 verse 27. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and they blessed the people. And their voice was heard. And get this. Their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.
[13:30] God's listening again. They're following in line the way God told them to. They're obeying the statutes. They're obeying the laws. They're obeying. They're doing what they committed to do several hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago.
[13:42] They're following in line. They're doing right. Israel was on a high, but it just didn't stop. Get this. It just didn't stop with the corporal worship. Israel's worship just didn't stop in the house.
[13:53] When everybody was collectively together, it just didn't stop there. It continued. Look what happens. During the rain, this rain, Judah's worship wasn't just limited when they had feasts.
[14:04] It wasn't on the high pinnacle tops. Look what happens in 2 Chronicles 31 verses 1. Look at the first phrase. Now when all this was what? Finished.
[14:16] After the Passover. After the feast. After the high mountaintop. After this was finished. What did the people do? They go home and just start over again? Look what it says.
[14:27] Look what he says in verse number 1. After this was finished. All Israel that was present went out into the cities of Judah. And they break the images in pieces. And they cut down the groves.
[14:38] And they threw down the high places. And the altars of all Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim. Also in Manasseh. Until they had utterly destroyed what? Them all. This wasn't just like what they call it.
[14:49] Prison revival. That stuff that you just get for a moment and just flees away. That's not what's happening here. This is after the high. This is after the emotions. They go out there and they begin to cut down everything.
[15:00] They begin to cut down and destroy it. The people of Judah were destroying what old Ahaz had set up. They were on a roll. Idol destruction happened after the feast days were finished.
[15:13] But it didn't stop there. These people like revival was coming forth. Reformation was happening in the country. And it just didn't stop with I'm going to go praise God.
[15:24] I'm going to listen to some music. We're going to throw down the idols. Guess what happens? It hits their wallet too. We like to think worship is what? Oh, it's our praise, right?
[15:36] We like to think that worship is praise. We like to think worship is man. And we went to this place. Man, we were just on such a high. But it didn't stop there with Israel, man. It went through their giving.
[15:47] It went through their giving. I hope you guys realize that. I hope you realize how important giving is. We just don't have offering devotions every Sunday. We just don't take up offerings, all services that we have.
[15:58] Just because we think it's really important, we just really want your money. It's part of worship. 2 Chronicles 31 verses 2. This is what the scripture says. Hezekiah.
[16:09] And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses. Like, what in the world? Hezekiah divides out what the Levites' portions should be.
[16:20] Okay? Okay? Every man according to his servants. The priests and the Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings to minister, to serve, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents.
[16:31] Verse number 3. He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offering. To wit, for the morning and evening burnt offering, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbath, and the moons, and the feasts, and for the set feasts.
[16:46] As it is written where? Where? Hezekiah and Israel, or Judah, are now on, man, a high. They are restoring Israel the way it's supposed to be.
[16:58] They are making Israel great again. Literally. This is what's going on here. Okay? You guys see what's going on here? And so they begin to, hey, we got to watch the Passover. We got to get joy back in Jerusalem like it's never been before.
[17:10] But it just doesn't stop there. They're like, we got to tear down them idols. But it just doesn't stop there. What else did it? Hezekiah says, man, I got to. I'm not doing what the scripture tells me to do.
[17:23] I'm supposed to give. I'm supposed to give. Can I tell you, giving, giving is way more important than you can ever imagine. You don't believe me?
[17:33] Read the book of Malachi. For Israel, it was extremely important. Why? Because they had made a pact with God. And God says, I want your giving.
[17:45] And so Hezekiah reads it. He sees it as it was written where? In the law of the Lord. In the law of the Lord. Hezekiah realizes that his giving was in obedience to keep the law of the Lord.
[17:58] The law of the Lord. What do you give for? That's a question we all need to ask. Why am I giving? What's the purpose behind my giving?
[18:09] In Hezekiah and his journey back to following the word of the Lord. It came across a crucial step. It came across something that was so crucial for the success of Israel.
[18:22] And that was giving. He saw that he was to give. Hezekiah not only brought order back to the house of the Lord.
[18:35] And not just order, but he brought his own portions to be offered. Do you get that? Do you? It's not just coming here and just singing some wonderful songs and praising a wonderful God.
[18:49] That's easy. It's got to cost you. And Hezekiah realized. 16 years Ahaz has been on the throne.
[19:03] Closed the house. He robbed God. And everything I own is his. I'm giving back to him. I'm giving back because his word says so.
[19:15] He brought his own portions. He saw that there was no burnt offerings going on. Nothing in the morning. Nothing in the evening. So Hezekiah provided the offerings for the Sabbath, the new moons, the feast.
[19:26] Whatever the law of the Lord spoke. Hezekiah knew he was supposed to give. But it didn't stop there. Why did Hezekiah give?
[19:40] What was the purpose? How did he do it like? As it was written in the law of the what? Not because somebody preached and said, you got to give. You know what I mean? Help me get my $60 million jet.
[19:53] Because God's going to bless you. That's not what he did. That's not his motivation. That was not the reason for giving. Does it make sense? You guys getting this? What is your reason? What is your motivation?
[20:03] What is your guideline in life? Is it as it was written in the law of the Lord? For Hezekiah it was. And Hezekiah just didn't stop with himself. But look what he does.
[20:14] He makes a commandment for all the people that live in Jerusalem. Pretty audacious to make a commandment. But He is the king, right? So this is what He says.
[20:28] 2 Chronicles 31, verses 4. Moreover, He commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites.
[20:41] Why? That they might be encouraged. Where? In the law of the Lord. Citizens of Jerusalem were to give to the priests.
[20:53] Could you imagine being those people that live in Jerusalem? You just came off like a 16 year stint. Where wickedness ruled. You didn't have to give. The house of God was closed up. God's portion was removed.
[21:04] Now what in the world? This new king is telling me I have to give to these Levites. You think there were bad attitudes back then? You think there was the skeptics wondering, I wonder what those Levites are going to do with that offering.
[21:20] I don't know. Because the Bible doesn't really tell us in that passage. But this is what he does say. This is what the Bible does say. People. This is what Hezekiah says to the people. People. You are commanded to give to the priest.
[21:32] You are commanded to give to the Levites. Why? So they will be strong in the Lord. In the law of the Lord. Hezekiah was a smart man here, guys.
[21:42] He was such a smart man. The Lord was really working in him. He knew that if he was supposed to give these offerings, but it wasn't just for him. It was for everybody in the land, right? It was for everyone.
[21:53] Why? So they could see men devoted to the word. They had freedom to study the law.
[22:06] This wasn't just an academic thing that was going on here, guys. This wasn't academic for leisure for the priest. It was crucial. It was crucial. It was crucial for the well-being of the whole nation that the Levites and the priest understood what God required.
[22:24] You don't believe me? Take your Bibles. Turn with me to Malachi. Malachi is at the end of the Old Testament. End of the Old Testament. Malachi writes this book during the time of Nehemiah, and he's making a sad indictment about these priests.
[22:36] And look what he says about these priests in chapter 2, verses 6. This is what the scripture says. Malachi 2, 6. The law of truth was not in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips.
[22:48] He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should what? Keep knowledge. They should seek the law at his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts.
[23:03] But you know what happened to Malachi? They didn't do that. Verse 8. 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.
[23:19] You know what other indictment God sends out on Israel through Malachi? In Malachi chapter 3, verses 8? They rob his house. Will a man rob God?
[23:32] Yet ye have robbed me. I say, where have you robbed me? I tell you, in tithes and offerings. Hezekiah realized, if I don't take care of the Levites and the priests, this whole thing's going down.
[23:45] That's what the scripture's saying. That they may what? Encourage them. That they may encourage them on what? In the law of the Lord. These priests, they need to be studying.
[23:57] These priests need to be knowing what God wants. I don't know if you really believe that. I hope you do. I hope you see it. I hope you see it. Today, the church, and this church does a wonderful job.
[24:10] I get so passionate about the scripture because I just love it so much. But you guys do such a wonderful job with the staff, just saying that for myself. But today, have you ever seen a church that's dying and eroding and going away?
[24:23] You ever look at the pastor? You ever wonder what's going on in the pastor's life? Is he just barely holding on? He suffers.
[24:35] Because he's withheld what is duly given to him, what is in his right, Paul says. The power, my power, my right. Those that preach the gospel should what?
[24:47] Live of the gospel. They've withheld that, and they suffer. Hezekiah knew that for Israel. Hezekiah knew that for Israel. Hezekiah restored the systems of offering that supported the priests and the Levites, which Ahaz had stopped.
[25:02] But these offerings were neglected, too, after Israel's return to captivity. In Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 10, this is what Nehemiah says.
[25:14] And he said, I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. For the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled everyone to his field. Then I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken?
[25:29] That's harsh, isn't it? They forsook the Levites and the priests, and they didn't give them what they needed. They were out in the fields, and Nehemiah says, Why have you guys forsaken the house of God?
[25:46] God wants the offerings. He wants Hezekiah to care for the priests and the Levites. They needed to encourage these men to study the word.
[25:59] So how did the people respond to this? How did the people respond to this? I think they responded to it. Look what it says in the scripture. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought, guess what?
[26:12] In what? In abundance. They had been so destitute of God's word. They had been so destitute of worship.
[26:24] 2 Chronicles chapter 30 and verse 26, he says, So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, there was not like it in Israel or Jerusalem.
[26:37] They had not seen a day like they just experienced in the Passover since the time of Solomon. This was years and years that they had gone without that joy.
[26:48] And now God brings it back. And these people are like, You're telling me I need to give to make this thing keep on going? I'm in. I'm giving what? I'm giving abundance. You're telling me God wants that done according to the law?
[27:00] You can tell me God wants that? I'm in. I'm giving in abundance. They gave in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, oil, and honey, and all the increase of their field, and the tithe of all the things.
[27:11] Get this. Brought they in what? Abundantly. And concerning the children of Israel. What? Hezekiah was king of the who?
[27:21] Of what? What area? Judah. Israel's like their nemesis, right? Even people where? You're telling me people in Israel? That's what it says. Look what it says. Look what it says in the scripture. And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, which dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithes of ox and sheep, and tithes of the holy things which were consecrated to God, and they laid them by what?
[27:47] Heaps. This thing goes on for four months. In the third month, they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and they finished them in the seventh month.
[28:00] Brother John, how awesome would that be? You go up there and you preach the offering devotion. Would that not be incredible? Four months, they're still laying it down. You know what I'm saying? And they're just, it's not just like, oh, there's the offering plate. You know what I mean? It's a heap.
[28:10] That's what the scripture says. It's a heap. There were heaps of offering. And it wasn't just the people of Jerusalem that gave, but people outside of Judah. It was like a free-for-all. It seemed like the people were hungry to what?
[28:23] To give. Could you imagine being there in that day, and you're like the money counter? You're the deacon, and you're putting them up, and you're like, could you put that on that big, huge pile over there?
[28:35] Thank you for bringing that, okay? We'll get around to it. Put it over there on that heap over there. This offering was so big that they had to build chambers.
[28:47] They had to build rooms. And not only that, they had to put overseers over the offering. We got, was it Brother Jet Mize? Brother, two people that oversee our offering, right? They had 12 full-time job.
[29:00] 12 people to look over this offering. This chapter is all about what? It's all about giving. It's all about giving. 12 men, read it, verses 12 through 13. I don't have time to go there. Check and see if I'm right.
[29:12] And then they have just about another six people, six people to help divvy out the offering to the Levites. And they give it to every, just about every child, every boy from three years old and up.
[29:23] Keep on reading through that chapter. What a stinking offering. And when Hezekiah comes and he questions the Levites and the priests, he comes and asks them about this.
[29:34] Look at what's said. 2 Chronicles 31, verses 9. Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings in the house, we've had enough to eat.
[29:51] And have what? We've got a whole bunch more stuff in here. For the Lord hath blessed His people, and that which is left is what? Is this great store.
[30:03] What an opportunity. What a great example these people did. But I want you to see something that's very important to our giving. I want you to see the response. I want you to see the response.
[30:15] Look at Hezekiah's response to the offering that was given. Verse 8, chapter 31. And when Hezekiah and the princes, get this, came and saw the heaps.
[30:33] You are incredible, God. Praise your name. Change is coming in our people. We've waited so long.
[30:47] Praise you. Glorify you, God. You are wonderful. The Lord was glorified. The people praised.
[31:01] Hezekiah and the princes praised when the people gave. What a different way of looking at offerings and giving. What a different way. They had just spent time under a wicked king.
[31:13] Previously, the king's house and the prince's house and the Lord's house. It was all looted to give away to the wicked king of Assyria. They were all given God's house.
[31:24] Stuff that was in God's house was taken out and given to a mercenary. And now, get the change. Because of one man. The house was full. Not just full. They're like, we need to build some more warehouses out in the back.
[31:37] We've got like, we need at least 12 people to oversee this thing. His word. He saw the need of the word.
[31:52] As it was written, he saw the need to give. And the people reacted with an incredible offering over the space of four months. And when the king saw those offering baskets, his response was, praise you Jesus.
[32:06] God glorified. Israel could now follow through with obeying what God had set them up to do. What God had ordained them to do.
[32:19] The people followed. And look what the Lord said. Look what happens. What does the Lord do to these people? Look what God did to these people. Verse 10. Nazariah, the chief priest of the house of Zai, answered.
[32:33] He's talking to Hezekiah. He says, since the people began to bring these offerings into the house of the Lord, we've had enough to eat and plenty. And look what God did to these people. He's blessing his people again.
[32:45] For the Lord hath blessed his people. Moses, you tell those people. Keep my commandments. To obey my statutes.
[32:56] And as long as they obey and as long as they follow through, I will bless them. Israel comes and Judah comes with this huge offering.
[33:08] And the priest's like, God's taking care of his people. He's blessing them. Just like he told them back in the beginning. Just like he told them back in the beginning. But look what God did through Hezekiah. In 2 Chronicles 31 verses 20.
[33:20] And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah. And wrought that which is good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house and in the law and in the commandments.
[33:36] Why was he doing all this? To seek his God. He did it with all his heart. And what? Prosper.
[33:47] Now, how does this apply to us? Will God bless if we give like Israel gave? Let me start by saying something.
[33:57] You don't have a covenant with God like Israel was. You have no curses. He was put on a tree. He took your curses.
[34:10] He died on a tree. Cursed any man that hangs on a tree. Galatians. He took your curses. And He gave you grace. He gave us new life.
[34:26] So we don't have to live in fear. But we get to live in a new desire. Christ was a giver. He told us that is more blessed to what?
[34:42] To give than to receive. Let us remember that. Let us remember that. We don't have anything heavy over us.
[34:54] We get to. Because He took our curses. Also in the scripture, I'd be not telling you the truth. But you realize we have an obligation.
[35:07] To take care of those who preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9.13. This is what the scripture says. Don't you know? Do you not know? That they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the temple.
[35:20] Don't you realize the Levites are supposed to live of the offerings? Don't you guys realize that? And they which wait on the altar are partakers of the altar. Verse 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which, what?
[35:34] Preach the gospel should, what? Live of the gospel. Those that labor in doctrine and the word are worthy of double honor. Because He said it in the Old Testament that the laborer is worthy of His hire.
[35:46] You shouldn't muzzle the ox. So, as a laborer of spiritual things, we are supposed to take care of them. You are a church and you are a group of missionaries that have gone above and beyond.
[36:01] And I know this personally. I want to say thank you. You guys have been such a giving church. But never forget that we are to give.
[36:14] And our giving can glorify Him. And it can bless them others. Thank you. Thank you.
[36:29] Thank you.