Please turn to Malachi chapter 3. It's the last book of the Old Testament. I will finish it the book next week.
As we've gone through Malachi these last three weeks, we've seen that the people who Malachi was preaching to, they were marked by three things.
First of all, it was an age of questioning and doubt. Malachi is full of questions, isn't he?
I don't know whether you noticed that as you've read through the book. There are question marks everywhere.
You can almost tell the character of the book by the punctuation.
Again and again, the people are asking questions.
You have not loved, where have you loved us, they say to God, when God says I've loved you.
In the passage that was read, how have we robbed you? How can we return to you?
There's 26 questions in the book of Malachi.
They are asking questions of God and God is asking questions of them.
Their questions were one of doubt.
It was also an age of carelessness and casualness.
The people of God, they found themselves, when it came to sacrifices, when it came to gathering with the people of God,
they looked for a lame animal and they looked for a blemish offering, something that was on offer.
The principle was really simple but actually very frightening.
It was that anything will do for God.
That's really what they were saying.
Anything will do for God.
God is lucky to have us turning up.
The third thing was, it was a stage of infidelity and instability.
In their family lives and in their human relationships, lots of them just didn't last.
They gave themselves to someone really quickly but they grew tired very quickly.
How they treated each other with unfaithfulness was how they were treating God.
It was one of the great characteristics of that generation.
Amongst God's people, there are these three characteristics.
Their arrogance in questioning God.
How have we robbed you?
You can almost see their chin in the air held high in defiance.
Secondly, shabby sacrifices presented to God.
And thirdly, a shallow commitment to God.
Nothing went deep with these people.
And God is pleading with Israel.
And he's pleading with these people and he's warning them about their lives.
That they are in a really critical condition.
But the great tragedy was they didn't understand that.
They were willfully blind to the truth.
They refused to see the truth about themselves.
And so God comes again and again and again to them.
And he gives them opportunity to repent, to change, to turn.
And so you find that in our passage, don't you?
Where God says, return to me, in verse 7.
Return to me.
It's been the message of the book, clearly.
Return to me.
But Malachi is preaching to a people that refuse to listen to him.
Daniel Defoe wrote, Robert C. Crusoe, he's got this line in it of a people who are not ashamed to sin, but too ashamed to repent.
Not ashamed to sin, but too ashamed to repent.
That's the people of Malachi's day.
And in the passage that was read to us from verse 6 to 12, there are three scenarios.
And again, the focus is on God and his relationship with his people.
And so, first of all, we see, don't we, in verse 6, a changeless God and an unchanging people.
And let me explain what I mean.
Look at the first half of verse 6.
For I, the Lord, do not change.
God is simply proclaiming to his people and he's declaring this glorious truth,
which is, in many ways, the basis on which we as believers live and pray.
It's that God is different to us.
He is unchanging.
Six words.
I, the Lord, do not change.
Six life-changing words.
That's the message of the Bible.
It is one of the essential elements of the character of God.
I, the Lord, do not change.
So, from generation to generation, he is the same.
His love every morning is steadfast.
It doesn't go and disappear with the morning mist.
His mercies, they are new every morning.
Greater to your faithfulness, they say to God, because God is unchanging.
He is, as James reminds us, he's the father of lights,
with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change.
And one of the things that the Christian church has always gloried in,
and that Christian believers glory in today,
is that God does not change.
It's one of the things that Christians discover early on in their Christian life,
about the character of God,
that his love does not change.
Even though my love for him changes a lot.
That unlike human love,
God's love is not a response to what he finds in me.
He is like a steadfast rock.
A rock of ages that never changes.
And the fact that God does not change
is the foundation of everything in our Christian living.
He is an anchor for our souls.
He is a rock to stand on.
But notice the second half of the verse.
Verse 6.
Jacob was a great schemer.
I'm not consumed.
Because you, God, are unchanging,
we're not destroyed.
You see, his love to them, his mercy,
his patience with them is unchanging.
No matter how long they go on refusing
and refusing to return to the Lord,
he stretches out his hands in mercy.
Now, you can understand it in that way,
but I think actually the context is
there's a greater depth to it than that.
There's another way of translating this.
There's another way of seeing it.
I, the Lord, do not change,
but you, O sons of Jacob,
you've not changed either.
That's particularly brought out in verse 7, isn't it?
He's saying this very simple truth.
I, the Lord, do not change,
but actually, you're sons of Jacob.
There's very little change in you.
I think the parallelism is there, isn't it?
Verse 7.
I, the Lord, do not change.
Are you still the sons of Jacob?
That twister.
With all the characteristics of Jacob in your heart.
Ever since then, you've been exactly the same.
You've turned away from my decrees.
You've not kept on going with obedience.
You're always the same.
You've gone on being a twisted people like Jacob was.
Right from the beginning.
So he says,
I, the Lord, do not change.
And in a totally different sense,
you haven't changed either.
People of God, you've still got the same arrogant attitude.
The same shabby sacrifices.
The same shallow commitment.
And then he pleads with them, doesn't he?
As if he holds on his arms and God says,
return to me.
And I will return to you.
This, this lack of change,
this kind of spiritual stagnation or falling back,
or the absence of progress,
that is a really serious thing in a Christian's life.
And the eternal God comes to us this morning
over whom he has wept and broken his heart
and yearned and longed for.
Over whom he shed mountains of love in Jesus Christ,
and yet he looks about us,
and maybe he says,
and actually you've not really changed.
One little bit.
The same questioning.
The same shabby sacrifice.
The same shallow commitment.
But here's the words.
Return to me.
And I will return to you.
It's a bridge into the next section.
The unchanging God and a people who refuse to change.
And then from verse 7,
you find the grieved God,
and an insensitive people.
It's as if they've been anesthetized
to his voice.
You know, you go to the dentist
and he gives you those injections.
He waits five minutes.
And then he says,
can you feel anything?
And you can't feel a thing.
It becomes more apparent, doesn't it,
in the book of Malachi,
that this really does describe the truths
about the relationship between God and his people.
God is grieved, distressed,
in his heart about them,
and they did not know it.
They heard God's voice speaking to them,
and they wondered,
what are you going on about?
What is all the fuss over?
And he comes and he addresses them,
and he says this.
He says,
verse 8,
will man rob God?
Will a man rob God?
Return to me,
and I will return to you.
And then they say,
well, how are we to return?
Where are we to return from?
What is it that you're saying is wrong with us?
Do you see the problem?
The problem is,
they don't recognize there is any problem.
They thought everything is going really fine
in their spiritual lives,
and they're blinded to the truth about themselves.
In fact,
they're blinded about two things,
aren't they?
They're blind to the fact
that they've drifted away from God.
You know what it's like
if you go swimming in the sea,
and you swim in the sea,
and you're in for a little bit,
and you suddenly realize
just how far you've drifted.
You get out of the water,
and you're half a mile
from where your stuff is,
because the water has pulled you away.
You didn't even realize it
when you were in the sea.
You've drifted.
You've got no idea
that you were drifting,
and God says,
return to me.
Return to me.
And they'd not even realized
they'd drifted away.
They had no awareness
of spiritually drifting away from God.
Well, they were unaware,
and this is even more serious,
of the absence of God.
You see how God says,
return to me,
and I will return to you.
They're unaware
of the fact that
God has withdrawn
himself from them.
They assumed,
we turn up
every Sabbath,
we're there.
We're there in your gatherings.
We gather in your name,
but he's absent.
Do you realize
that's possible?
the absence of God
for blessing.
The absence of God
for blessing.
Do you ever think about that?
To cherish
the presence of God
and that it might have
something to do
with your spiritual condition.
Do you think it's possible
for people,
for a church,
to have experienced
the presence
and the blessing of God
and for
the glory of God
to depart?
Do you think that's possible?
Go around healing.
Go and see the churches
that once preached
the gospel,
that once proclaimed
Jesus Christ,
that knew something
of his blessing
and now they are
Hindu temples,
Kasha rooms.
So doubt that that happens,
isn't it?
It could happen here.
But God says,
return to me
and I will return to you,
says the Lord.
The people still came,
they went through
the outward sacrifices,
they offered shabby sacrifices
to God,
but they kept up
the sacrifices.
And God says,
it's only
when you return to me
that I will return to you.
He is an aggrieved God
and they are
an insensitive people.
And they're unaware
of how
the heart of God
is broken
by their sinfulness.
They come back to God,
don't they?
They hold their chin up,
they come back again
and they say,
verse 7,
you say,
how shall we return?
And God puts his finger
on what they're least,
what they're most likely
to notice.
They wouldn't have noticed
some theological issue
or some profound issue,
but do you understand
what God puts his finger on?
He says,
you've been robbing me.
I think they understood
the language of robbery.
Will a man rob God?
Yet you,
and before he
got it out,
you can imagine
responding,
will a man rob God?
Never.
Well,
he says,
I know you've been robbing me.
I don't know
whether you know
what it's like
to be robbed.
Undoubtedly,
most of you will.
About two years ago,
it was a Saturday afternoon,
we were watching a film
and we heard noises
in our front garden.
And I,
Claire got up
and looked out the window
and said,
someone is stealing,
someone is stealing
Noah's bike.
And as I looked up,
I saw this guy
riding off down the road
with Noah's bike.
So I ran out of the house,
jumped in my car,
drove as fast as I could
down the road,
overtook the man,
didn't,
kind of handbrake turn,
but stopped the car,
got out,
and grabbed the bike
and said to the man,
get off my bike.
Which he did.
He then proceeded
to walk down the road
and I shouted
some things at him,
which I won't repeat here.
I was so angry.
As a preacher,
never tell a story
where you're the hero
of the story,
apart from this kind
of story,
all right?
My heart was pounding.
I was so angry.
I was so furious.
Really,
really angry.
I'm sure you've
experienced that.
That somebody
had a temerity
to steal something
from you,
to rob.
It makes us
rightfully angry,
doesn't it?
Will a man rob
another man?
Well,
sure,
yeah.
Will a man rob
God?
And do you begin
to understand
what it means
to rob God?
What is it?
It is to take
what belongs
to him.
It is to take
what belongs
to him,
what he has
formed,
and what he
has created,
and above all,
what he has
redeemed at the
price of the
blood of his
only son,
and it's stolen
from him,
and God is
furious about it.
And when they
say to him,
come on now,
how do we rob
you?
He puts his
finger,
doesn't he,
on this most
obvious thing.
He says,
in your tithes
and your
offerings.
And you are
under a curse,
the whole nation,
because you are
robbing me.
And of course,
what he's speaking
about is their
material possessions.
Tithing in the
Bible has very
deep roots.
The person who
gave tithes
usually gives
tithes to a
superior.
So,
you have,
we learn that
from Abraham
giving tithes
to Melchizedek,
they were from
the inferior
to the superior.
And God
had commanded
that his
people were
to recognize
that he had
given everything
that they had
by giving
tithes to God
because he
commanded it.
The tithes
were to be
given to
the Levites
for the
service of
the temple
and for the
worship of
God and for
the functioning
of the people
of God.
And it was
really a picture,
it was a picture
to tell the
people of Israel
that all
the resources
that they
had belonged
to God.
Everything
that they
had belonged
to the
Lord.
Not just
the first
tenth,
but the
other nine
tenths.
In fact,
when you look
at the Old
Testament,
the tithe
was nearer,
about 23
or 24%.
But the
principle was
that God
first had
his call
on me.
And God's
principles of
generosity
are not
lesser,
are they,
in the
New Testament.
God has
first call
on me,
on my
money,
on my
resources,
on my
energy,
on my
time,
on my
love,
on my
affection,
my
mental
powers,
everything
I have
and do,
God gave
me,
and God
has first
call on
it.
And God
says to the
people of
Israel in
those days,
you're robbing
me,
because of
the way
that you
deal with
those things.
I enjoy
biographies,
like you
do,
I'm sure.
And I
read a
really
interesting
thing about
someone who
was writing
a biography,
they were
researching
for a
biography.
And people
research for
a biography
of someone
at a
great length,
don't they,
and great
cost in
time and
energy.
You've
got to do
all the
research
writing.
And they
asked the
guy who
was writing
the biography,
where did
you learn
most about
the man?
And he
said,
really
interestingly,
he said,
from the
stubs of
his check
book.
Let me
explain to
you what
a check
book is.
You get
it sometimes
from old
people at
your
birthdays.
Let me
put it
another way.
I learned
most about
the man
from his
bank
statement.
He went
through his
bank statement
and he
could tell
what was
important to
the man.
He could
tell from
the bank
statement
what was
his
priority.
It's just
what Jesus
says,
where your
treasure is,
there your
heart is
also.
So let
me ask
myself,
let me ask
you,
what does
your bank
statement
say about
your relationship
with God?
God
says,
you rob
me.
You rob
me in
tithes and
offerings.
robbing
God means
making my
own and
using for
myself what
belongs rightly
to him.
And that is
absolutely
everything.
So for the
Christian believer,
God has
given you
absolutely
everything and
everything belongs
to him.
What do you
have that you
have not
received?
Paul says.
And you
say,
well,
if you're
going to
live that
way,
that's
pretty
extreme,
isn't
it?
That must
be the
very
exceptional
kind of
missionary
type of
Christian.
Let me
tell you,
that is
plain,
ordinary,
basic
Christianity.
It's
Christian
living at
its most
basic.
My dad
went to
speak at a
Christian
union
meeting
of students
back in
the 80s.
and they
had a
quiz before
he got
up to
speak.
With an
overhead
projector and
acetates on
the wall,
remember those?
And it
was a
true or
false
quiz.
And the
aim of
the quiz
was that
it would
show us
something about
ourselves.
So they
put these
true and
false
questions
up.
And so
you had
a shout
out.
Was
Abraham
Sarah's
husband
true or
false?
And all
the students
shouted
true.
There's
loads of
them there.
was
Jacob
Isaac's
father?
True or
false?
They all
kind of
thundered out
their answer.
Was
Jesus
born in
Nazareth?
True or
false?
And they
all thundered
out
false.
And it
went on
something
true,
something
false.
And then
the slide
was put up
on the
screen.
Take
my
silver
and my
gold,
not a
mite
would I
withhold.
True or
false?
False.
false.
And they
all shouted
out earlier
on.
Was
Abraham
Sarah's
husband
true?
But when
it came to
that last
slide,
take my
silver and
my gold,
not a
mite
would I
withhold.
There was
silence.
True or
false?
you have
robbed me,
says the
Lord.
And they
were totally
unaware of
it.
I can
leave it
there and
you would
feel really
uncomfortable
a little bit
at the
moment,
but then
you'd
thank me
for it.
But I
want to
speak to
the members
of this
church.
There are
really,
really
encouraging
things about
church life
at the
moment,
really
wonderfully
encouraging
things.
The Lord
is growing
the church
and we're
really
blessed in
that way.
We're seeing
people become
more like
the Lord
Jesus.
That is a
really,
really
encouraging
thing.
The
ministries
are growing,
aren't they?
Really,
really
encouraging.
But what
isn't
encouraging
and what
is quite
discouraging
is how
very few
of us
are
sacrificially
giving.
I don't
know who
gives what.
Please don't
think I
know that.
I can
barely
understand
the
balance
sheet.
But I
do understand
this,
that there
are very
few of us
who are
tithing.
And there
are very
few of us
who are
giving
sacrificially.
And I
wonder,
does God
say to us
this morning,
are you
robbing God?
God, you
say to me,
Paul, we
live in
one of the
most expensive
cities in
the world.
How dare
you talk
like this?
And I
think God
would answer
back, all
that you
have is
from me.
What
does your
bank
statement
say about
your relationship
with the
Lord?
God?
And I
changed
God,
and I
have
changed
people,
and I
grieved
God,
and I
have
insensitive
people.
And then
stick with
me on
this.
Thirdly, we
see the
challenging
God,
and a
heaven-blessed
people.
So let
me give you
the reasons
why I'm
encouraging you
to tithe and
to be
generous.
Listen to
this challenge.
Look at
verse 10.
Bring the
full tithe
into the
storehouse,
that there
may be
food in
my house.
Storehouse,
there is,
it's a
picture of
the temple,
that's what
he's referring
to.
The place
where God
meets with
his people,
that there
may be
food in
my house,
and thereby
put me
to the
test,
says to
the Lord
of
house.
In
the Bible,
I'm told a
number of
times,
do not put
God to
the test.
And yet,
in Malachi 3,
you are told
this morning,
and I am
told,
put God
to the
test.
Prove me,
this day is
another way
of translating
it.
Prove me
today,
God says,
test me
today,
and see
whether I'm
true to
my word.
In your
giving,
give generously.
Bring the
whole tithe
into the
storehouse,
so there
may be
food in
my house,
the whole
thing,
everything,
everything that
you are,
everything that
you ever
hoped to
be,
everything grace
has made
you,
everything nature
has made
you,
every gift,
every ability,
every moment
of your time,
every ounce
of your energy,
bring it all,
says God.
And that's
the challenge.
It's an
amazing promise,
isn't it?
It's altogether
amazing.
Look what it
says,
it says this,
see if I will
not open the
windows of
heaven,
I don't know
whether there
are windows in
heaven,
but it's a
lovely picture,
windows of
heaven for you
and pour down
upon you a
blessing until
there is no
more need.
I'll rebuke
the devourer
for you,
that it will
not destroy
the fruits of
your soil and
your vine,
vine in the
field,
shall not
fail to
bear,
says the
Lord of
hosts.
Then all
the nations
will call
you blessed,
for you
will be a
land of
delight,
says the
Lord of
hosts.
God says,
I'll open
the windows of
heaven and I
will pour
down blessing
upon you
until there
is no
more need.
water.
You walk
by the
canal,
the
locks,
there,
and you'll
see it
when you
sometimes
by the
canal,
the locks
are holding
back the
water and
then they
open them
just a little
bit and the
water comes
pouring through.
But it's not
really like that,
it's much more
traumatic than
the Brentford
locks.
You look up
on YouTube,
there's whole
dams in
China where
the dam
bursts and
water comes
flooding over.
The flood
tides come
sweeping over.
And here's the
picture,
it's the flood
tide of the
blessing of
God and
sweeping over
a whole
community.
Just look at
that last
little phrase
in verse
10.
Three
words,
no
more
need.
I will
pour out
blessing upon
you until
no
more
need.
It
happened in
David's
date,
didn't it?
Where there
was no
more need.
And God
longs
to pour
out his
blessing
upon his
people.
And we
pray,
don't we,
for revival.
And we
pray for the
blessing of
God and
for his
kingdom to
come and
for the
church to
grow and
congregations
to be
planted.
And we
long for
that.
And God
says to
us,
what about
your giving?
What about
your giving?
One of the
things that I
want to really
encourage you
with today
is this.
If you
want a
heart for
God and
a heart for
God's
church,
give
financially.
Let's
just say
you
invested
in
Burger King.
All right?
I suspect
many of you
don't care for
Burger King.
All right?
It's to you.
You've got no
interest in
Burger King.
You don't eat
there, you
don't like it.
But you put
your money
into Burger King.
You invest
in Burger King.
Suddenly,
you follow
what Burger King's
doing.
You see
whether the
share price
is going up
or down.
You see
whether the
restaurants are
doing well
or not.
You suddenly
become interested
in Burger King
because you've
invested in it.
And one of the
ways that the
Bible says
that you
get a heart
for God
and you
become more
interested in
his work
and you begin
to know him
better is by
investing in
God's work.
And you say
to me,
Paul, you
sound like a
prosperity preacher.
You're right.
Tell the
masses,
Paul Levy's a
prosperity preacher.
All right?
What am I saying
to you?
I'm saying
to you,
give of
yourself.
Give to the
Lord's work.
And what is
the promise?
He will pour
out blessings
upon you.
I, the
Lord,
do not
change.
Return
to me
and I
will return
to you.
I will
open the
windows of
heaven for
you and
pour down
for you a
blessing.
until there
is no
more need.
Then all
the nations
will call you
blessed and
you will be a
land of
delight,
says the
Lord of
hosts.
Let's
pray.