Honor the LORD with Thy Substance

Introduction: The Duty to Honor the Lord with Substance

0:02 We continue tonight our studies as we've already intimated in the book of Proverbs.

0:10 Tonight is the 28th study in the book, and we have come in our verse-to-verse, verse-by-verse exposition to chapter 3, verses 9 and 10. I would remind you briefly, by way of review, that in this third chapter we have a rather disjointed, non-logical sequence of exhortations to facets of practical godliness, most of which are enforced by the strongest motives in the form primarily of promise, though there is some element of warning. And tonight we come to the fifth in these.

0:52 This series of exhortations and directives, and I speak, of course, of verses 9 and 10. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine. As we consider this text tonight, we shall consider it under the very bland title, since I'm no great sermon titler, The Child of God and His Duty to Honor the Lord with His Substance.

1:30 Now, I notice that we have a number of visitors with us tonight, and I know some people have been terribly turned off when they visited a church, and the preacher happened to be dealing with the subject of stewardship. They say, yeah, it just confirms what I thought. Every place you go, all people talk about is money, money, money. Well, let me very quickly, and I hope very effectively, demolish this text.

1:53 I want to demolish that response, for first of all, the text is not talking about money. It's talking about how to honor God. The command of the text focuses upon the duty to honor Jehovah. And so if you're a Christian, you're never indifferent to how you may honor Jehovah.

2:14 And so you'll not be irritated that we happen to be in the general field of stewardship. And then the second thing I would say is that it's not true that all the people talk about is money, money, money. I have people. They ask me in pastors' conferences again and again.

2:26 They say, Mr. Martin, how often do you think we should preach on stewardship? I say, as often as the text warrants it. If you're preaching through whole books of the Bible, you'll preach on stewardship wherever it comes in the text.

2:39 You mean you don't preach six sermons a year or three a year on stewardship? I said, no.

2:45 Of course not. Well, how in the world do you keep the people giving? Well, I hope to answer that question tonight. I don't keep them giving.

2:54 It's God who keeps them giving. He does so not because they hear six sermons a year on stewardship, but because their minds and hearts are furnished with gospel motives, which, when opening the heart, will always open the pocketbook. And so if you've come tonight and you're a visitor, don't go out and say, ah, I went to that. It won't be true, my friend, and you'll be breaking the ninth commandment.

3:16 All right? So much, then, for the possible objection. Now, in the previous passage, those who were here will remember, we had an exhortation to practical godliness.

3:28 Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

3:34 A call to godliness of heart. Fear the Lord. A call to righteousness of life. Depart from evil.

3:41 And isn't it interesting that right on the heels of this call to universal holiness is this very practical directive in the matter of the child of God and what he does with his substance. And this is one of the things that increasingly impresses me with the scriptures, is how they do not know this dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. There is no sense of the tension in the word of God between the most lofty concepts of the believer's union with Christ and his inheritance in Christ and treating the most mundane matters of his walk before Christ in the midst of the world.

4:25 Hence, the apostle Paul can lift us to the heights of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, and the glorious prospect of this body sown in corruption, rising within corruption, this body sown in weakness, rising in power, and right from those heights, say, now concerning the collection for the saints. This idea that if our minds and our spirits are permeated with the lofty concepts of biblical truth and doctrine, we shall find ourselves ill at ease, in the midst of the practical, is totally foreign to the mentality of the word of God. And I think in a very providential way, we can see the contrast even in the ministry of this day,

5:09 as this morning, our hearts, I trust, were ravished with the sight of our risen Lord, and we contemplated the implications of the resurrection for the people of God. And now we come from that pinnacle point to honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all. Will thine increase. As we look at the text, how shall we think our way through so that we understand its meaning?

The Command: Honor the Lord with Thy Substance

5:37 Well, it's very obvious that there is first of all a command, and then there is secondly a promise. The command has two parts to it. First of all, it has a general directive. Honor the Lord with thy substance.

5:51 The last part of verse 9 is a specific demand flowing out of the general directive. And with the firstfruits of all thine increase. And then, God willing, a week from next week, two weeks from today, upon our return from the British Isles, we will study together the promise, its meaning, and then its implications and several qualifications necessary to a true understanding of it. All right, just the command tonight in verse 9.

6:24 Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all. All thine increase. Look with me now at the general directive, the first part of the text. And we'll think our way through that part by addressing ourselves to three questions.

6:41 What we are to do, and we'll look at the meaning of the words. Honor the Lord with thy substance. Secondly, how we are to do it. What does it mean to honor the Lord with one substance?

6:53 And thirdly, why should we do it? First of all then, what does this directive, directive mean? Honor the Lord with thy substance. First of all, the word honor.

7:07 The word in its basic derivation means to give weight to something, to make it heavy. Hence it came to be used as a word describing giving honor to something. You make it heavy. You make it weighty.

7:22 You make it of importance in your eyes with reference to either a person or a thing. Hence we are to ascribe worth to God. We are to honor Him, and He is called here Jehovah. Honor Jehovah with thy substance.

7:43 That is the God of creation and particularly the God of redemption. The God of covenant promise and grace to His people. The God who is the giver of every good and every perfect gift, but the God who is the giver, prized, primarily of that greatest of all gifts, even His Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence I entitled our study tonight, The Child of God and His Duty to Honor the Lord with His Substance.

8:17 Solomon in writing to his son writes to him within the framework of this covenant relationship. Jehovah who has come to His people Israel and revealed Himself as the great, I am delivering them out of Egypt, bringing them into Canaan. That God is our God, our Jehovah Jesus, who has delivered us by grace and by power and made us His own. Honor then, give weight, give praise to Jehovah, God of covenant promise and grace with thy substance.

What is 'Thy Substance' and How God is Honored by It

8:56 The word substance refers to possession, both material and monetary. Two verses in Proverbs where the same word is used that make this clear. Chapter 6, verses 30 and 31. Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy himself when he's hungry, but if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all, and here's the word, all the substance of his house.

9:27 Now it's obvious that substance there refers to the substance of his house. It refers to his beds, his chairs, his boxes, his pans, and all of his material possessions. Again, in the book of Proverbs, chapter 29 and verse 3, here it refers both to money and also, in all probability, to possessions.

9:49 Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father, but he that keepeth company with harlots wasteth his substance. When he has spent all his money, upon these illicit pleasures, he then hawks his ring and hawks his car, his substance then takes in the full range of his material possessions, both real estate and real things and monetary commodities as well. Now notice he says, Honor Jehovah, God of the covenant, with thy substance. That is, the substance which is yours by the...

10:31 by legitimate labor and by sovereign providential dispensations. Honor the Lord with what is yours legally, what is yours by proper means. For you see, God does not and will not be honored with any substance, regardless of how it has been attained. He says in the law in Deuteronomy 23, 18, that thou shalt not bring the hire of an harlot or the price of a dog as an offering unto Jehovah.

11:02 God says, I don't want just... I don't want just anything that you would bring to me in the semblance of honoring me.

11:08 I want you to do it with thy substance, what is yours by the labor of your own hands, what is yours by the sovereign providential dispensations. Perhaps an inheritance has been given, a gift has been given. Any way that it becomes legally and properly and ethically your possession, God says you are to honor him with that. Ah, but you say, isn't it God's possession?

11:36 Yes, ultimately. It's all his. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But God has constituted the whole order of human existence to be such that it is legitimate for us to have what we properly call our own.

11:54 And that's woven into the very fabric of the Ten Commandments. When God says thou shalt not steal, he's saying what I've apportioned to another man. As the fruit of his labor and by the other factors of providence is properly his by my sovereign will and if you dare to take it from him violently or illegally or unethically, you are fighting me. And so the right of the possession of property is a very fundamental biblical concept.

12:25 You remember that even in the exercise of stewardship we must regard it as such. Acts 5 is a classic example of this. Ananias and Sapphira, it came, you remember, and they wanted reputation for having given all to the Lord. And they only gave part of the price of the field.

12:41 And Peter said by the Spirit, when it was in your hands, was it not your own to do with as you chose?

12:49 You see, the whole assumption being it was their substance. Now, put this all together and what do we have in this delineation of the general duty? I think it's obvious to all of us. God is to be honored by means of my material possessions in this life.

How to Honor Jehovah with Our Substance: Four Ways

13:09 And it is my Christian duty and privilege so to honor Him. Having established then what we are to do, let us ask in the next question, how do we honor Jehovah with our substance?

13:26 And let me say it would be kid stuff simply to lay upon you the duty of giving one-tenth of your gross income.

13:35 You can do that and not be honoring the Lord with your substance, and the Lord with thy substance takes in something far broader and far more demanding than merely giving a certain portion of my income. Let me suggest now three or four ways in which we honor the Lord with our substance. One, by inwardly acknowledging that all of it comes from Him and therefore rendering thanks to Him in our hearts and by our lips.

14:17 Let me give that again. How do we honor the Lord with our substance? If our substance takes in all of our material possessions, our cars, our shoes, our homes, our money, our bank accounts, and everything else, how do we honor Him? By inwardly acknowledging that all of it comes from Him and by rendering thanks to Him in our hearts, and upon our lips.

14:47 Hence, when we bow our heads at our meals, we are honoring the Lord with our substance. Our food is a substantial commodity. Be without it for three days and see. And a very necessary one.

15:02 Hence, when we bow to give thanks, whether privately sitting at the counter in a diner somewhere at the lunch hour, whether at our family table as the whole family bows, may this never become an empty, meaningless ritual. May it be an honoring of the Lord with our substance. Looking upon the food. And may I say to the heads of the families, this might be a helpful discipline periodically to say to the children, children, see the casserole there on the table, where's it come from?

15:34 Well, it came from the oven. I saw Mommy take it out. Ah, right, it came from the oven. Where was it before there?

15:39 Well, it was in the macaroni box and in the tuna fish can in the cupboard. Right. And where was it before that? Well, it was on the shelf of Pathmark or ShopRite or...

15:49 I don't want to sound like I'm pushing any outfit. You think of any other one, you won't. Well, where was it before then? Well, it was inside the skin of the tuna fish when it was in the ocean.

15:59 And ultimately, you see, you force them sweetly and wisely and subtly to see that it was all in the hand of God. And He has portioned out the tuna casserole on the table. And that when we bow as families to give thanks, this is not some necessary evil to get over to fill our tummies. This is honoring the Lord with our substance.

16:24 Let me ask you a very personal question. What is the first thought you have when you line up on Friday or Thursday or when the person comes by your desk and gives you your paycheck on whatever day? What is the first reflexive response of your heart the moment your paycheck is in your hand?

16:43 Is it fretfulness? Lord, how in the world is this going to stretch far enough? Is it?

16:51 Or do you honor the Lord with your substance? Is the first response thank you God for strength to labor through another week? Thank you God that out of your fullness you've given this substantial commodity. Now you see, this is what it means to honor the Lord with our substance.

17:10 This is what it means. He says, I have given all. The attitude which honors God is one that says, yes Lord, you have indeed given all. You see, we can be tithers down once a week and writing out a check or once a month or taking so much of our paycheck and still be practical atheists just doing this as some kind of acquired behavior.

17:36 It was true of the Pharisees. Jesus said, tithe mint and anise and cumin but they miss the weightier matters of the law not with their substance.

17:52 So we honor Him in this first place. Secondly, by inwardly acquiescing to the measure of substance given or taken away. Honor Jehovah with thy substance. And who is Jehovah?

18:10 He is the sovereign God not only of creation and redemption but of providence.

18:18 The Apostle Paul honored the Lord with his substance when he said in Philippians chapter 4, I have learned both how to be abased and how to be saved. And how to abound. That's it. Job learned it when he said, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

18:44 Now, you see why I said if honoring the Lord with your substance simply meant giving your tithe, that'd be pretty easy? For if you're honest in the presence of God and any other attitude is folly for He knows us all together. You'll have to confess as you sit here tonight that often you don't know and you do not honor Him because there is discontent. There is not acquiescence to the measure given or taken away.

19:12 There is this dissatisfaction evidenced in constant complaint and groaning and moaning about the economy and the bite of the taxes and this and that. Does God know about those things? The sterling economy caught him by surprise as our semi-socialist socialist structure of government caught him by surprise?

19:38 No, it hasn't. You see, I'm amazed at how people can claim to serve even a sovereign God and then all the time groaning and moaning about the economy. It's a contradiction.

19:50 It's a contradiction. It's a contradiction by substance as Jehovah has given to you. Thirdly, we honor the Lord with our substance by outwardly distributing that substance in acts of piety and of charity.

How to Honor Jehovah with Our Substance: Distribution and Proportionate Return

20:13 Look at these two. One New Testament text which clearly teaches this. Honor Jehovah with thy substance. Jehovah, the God of compassion.

20:22 The God who has a peculiar concern for the poor. The God who says pure religion and undefiled is to visit fatherless and widows as well as to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Ephesians 4 and verse 28. A verse dealing with our substance.

20:41 Let him that stole steal no more. But rather let him labor working with his hands the thing that is good. To what end? That he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.

21:01 In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians where we have a very definitive statement on what we would call a biblical work ethic not the Protestant work ethic a biblical work ethic ethic. That's right. Tongue got hung up. I was talking with someone the other day two weeks ago and I began to deal with this subject of the honor and the honorableness of work.

21:25 And he said ah you're spouting the Protestant work ethic. And I rammed it right back down his throat. I said Protestant work ethic nothing. That's Bible.

21:33 And I quoted from Thessalonians. That a man will not work let him not eat. That a man work with his own hands eat his own bread. But ah that's not the only end.

21:45 Here we go a step beyond that. Honoring the Lord with our substance means that in the acquisition of that substance we have an eye to the distribution to the needy. Honor the Lord with thy substance. What does that mean?

22:00 Outwardly distributing that substance to those who are in greater need than myself. The other text in the New Testament that is so clear 1 John 3 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16 Hereby sorry not 16 yes beginning with verse 16 Hereby know we love because he laid down his love for us life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren but we're not often called to lay down our lives for them. So John descends from the ideal standard of love giving life for the brother and he descends to what we would call

22:44 the realistic demands of love but whoso hath the world's good substance money things furniture clothing food and other things and behold if his brother in need and shutteth up his compassion from him how doth the love of God dwell in him? Jehovah's love was not an idle principle locked up in his heart to admire as for man peek in a museum.

23:10 His love gushed out

23:14 and that gushing gave us the cross.

23:18 Hereby know we love John says because he gave and he says in the same way so are we to give honor the Lord with thy substance and if he has given sufficient substance not only to meet your own immediate needs then how can you honor him if he's given it for you to distribute it and instead of distributing you hoard it or you squander it upon luxuries.

23:46 Why does God in his providence dispense his goods more to some and less to others? Well part of the answer is in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Look at it. Verses 13 to 15.

24:01 2 Corinthians chapter 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I'm sorry. Verses 13 to 15.

24:06 Dealing with the giving of the saints here at Corinth for the poor saints in Judea he says for I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed but by equality that your abundance being the supply at this present time for their want that their abundance also may become a supply for your want that there may be equality as it is written he that gathers much had nothing over he that gathers little had no lack. You see what Paul is saying? This is giving us a philosophy of economic distribution.

24:44 You economists this is giving us a philosophy of economic distribution. Why did God so arrange things that the famine came to Judea and the saints were not exempt from that famine that brought the pinch upon the tummies and the pocketbooks and the produce of saint and sinner alike? Well Paul says behind whatever natural factors were there we must see that God is sovereignly working to bring about a situation in which the saints of greater affluence there at Corinth may have the joy of distributing to the saints in want and he says in the process of time it will probably turn out that you will be in want and they will be in abundance and they will have the joy

25:29 of returning. Now here's the principle if God disposes of his goods in such a way as to bring about situations of inequality amongst the saints for the purpose of the saints showing love unto equality how to honor that God if we frustrate by our stinginess the very goal that he has in mind in so arranging the distribution of goods. You see? So if we're to honor the Lord with our substance there must not only be the inward acknowledgement that we are but all of it comes from him thereby rendering

26:13 praise in our hearts and upon our lips not only by inwardly acquiescing to the measure given or taken away but by outwardly distributing our substance in acts of piety and of charity and then fourthly we honor the Lord with our substance by proportionately returning some of that substance to the God from whence it comes. And since this is more definitively dealt with in the latter part of the text I will only state the principle at this point. Now by way of application let me say the following if you as a Christian are not honoring

Application: Sin in Dishonoring God with Substance

26:57 the Lord with your substance in the way we've described it and supported from the word of God you are sinning against God for sin is any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the Lord of the revealed will of God.

27:19 And there are some of you who would never be guilty of withholding your tithe but are constantly guilty of complaining that there isn't more left over after you've given your tithe. You're not honoring the Lord with your substance. You're fouling up on point two. You're not acquiescing to the providence of God.

27:39 There are others of you that are not from the heart acknowledging God as the giver of all that you have. I say if you're a Christian and you're not thus acknowledging God, honoring Him with your substance you are sinning. And if you refuse to and say I'm not going to let God monkey around with what's mine, what's mine in the words of my own father-in-law recently I've earned it I've worked for it I've scrimped I've saved and it's mine. Well you see perhaps you show the state of your unregenerate heart for the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God neither is it to the law of God neither is it nor indeed can it be in the heart of many an unregenerate person that doesn't break out

28:23 in open rebellion on say the third or the fifth or the ninth commandment breaks out in open rebellion when it comes to honoring the Lord with one substance. And perhaps that's one of the clearest indications that you're an unconverted person that it's never even occurred to acknowledge God with your substance. If so my friend recognize that you cannot comply with this command until you you are born of the Spirit of God and given a new heart a heart that longs to obey the Lord out of love for Him. But now the third question to which we address ourselves in this first part of the text what are we to do?

Why We Should Honor God with Our Substance: God's Honor and Our Best Interest

29:05 Honor Jehovah with thy substance. How do we do it? We've seen four ways. Now the question why should we do it?

29:15 Why should the God who has just told us in the previous verses fear the Lord and depart from evil? And my it's easy to understand that why holiness is the very backbone of our communion with God. We can only fellowship with Him as we are transformed into His likeness. I can understand why God says fear me and depart from evil.

29:37 But why should God say honor me with your substance? He doesn't need my substance.

29:43 Why should He say it? Well let me give you two answers. Answer number one is supremely important. Because the whole end of creation and redemption is the honor of God.

29:58 The whole end of creation and redemption is the honor of God. Romans 11.36 For of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things to whom the glory forever and forever. When man was in an unfallen state all he was and had was a means of bringing honor to his God.

30:26 But sin you see has created the great robbery. And the most precious thing that sin has stolen is God's honor and God's glory. Man no longer lives to God's honor. Man no longer lives to God's glory.

30:43 But in redemption it's all reversed. All of what we are and have is purchased and brought back to God from the slavery of sin. Now to be a vehicle of honoring and praising Him. We are redeemed.

31:02 Not just our quote souls. All that we are and have mind, body, talent, substance. So then the scripture says whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God. And look at 1 Peter 4.10 and 11

31:19 a very appropriate text.

31:23 Why should we honor the Lord with our substance? The answer the whole end of creation and redemption is His honor.

31:33 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9 using hospitality one to another without murmuring according as God each hath received a gift ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaketh speaking as it were oracles of God. If any man ministereth ministering as of the strength which God supplieth. Why?

31:59 Why this showing hospitality? Why this distributing of whatever gift God has given? Here's the end. That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ whose is the glory and dominion forever and ever.

32:17 Amen. Now if you're a Christian there's nothing that touches a more sensitive nerve in your renewed heart than this theme. How can I honor the God who's redeemed me? I want to honor Him.

32:33 I desperately long to. My biggest grief is that I do so little bring honor to Him. And if that doesn't strike a living response if you can hear such words and it's all just blah my friend it's a terribly terribly incisive revelation of the state of your heart. But there's a second reason why we ought to honor the Lord with our substance not only because the honor of God is the end of creation and redemption but because it is in our own best interest to do so.

33:10 That's why He gives us a promise. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy vat shall overflow with new wine.

33:19 And I remind you that proper self-interest is not beneath the dignity of the gospel.

33:26 It is a demeaning of man and his worth that is the result of sin not the gospel. The gospel brings a man back to where he has a true and proper regard for what he is as an image-bearer of God. Hence he is enabled to love his neighbor as himself.

33:48 And I need the grace of the gospel for proper self-love as much as I need it for proper love for my neighbor. Left in my sin I will sinfully love myself or I will sinfully be totally devoid of proper love for myself and regard myself as nothing but an animal or a dog or something else. Thank God the gospel restores a proper sense of self-regard. Therefore we should honor the Lord with our substance not only because in so doing supremely glory is brought to God but it is our own best self-interest so to do.

The Specific Demand: Firstfruits of All Thine Increase

34:27 So much then for the general directive. Now let us move and consider quickly the specific demand of the text. Honor the Lord with thy self-interest. With thy substance.

34:38 There's the general the canopy-like directive. Now he funnels down zeroes in narrows down the field of focus and says and more particularly with the first fruits of all thine increase. First of all what are the meaning what is the meaning of these words? The first fruits of all thine increase.

35:03 Well the concept of the first fruits is a dominant biblical theme. The main ideas are found and some of you may want to look these up. Exodus 13 11 to 13. Well we better we better read them because without this background certain exhortations I wish to make later will fall flat.

35:22 Exodus 13.

35:29 We're seeking to understand the imagery of the first fruits of thine increase. Verse 11 of Exodus 13.

35:40 With the rain on the roof and the ref can you folk in the balcony hear me alright? Am I speaking distinctly enough? I'm trying to raise the volume a little so you get everything. Alright fine.

35:48 And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite as he swear unto thee and to thy fathers and shall give it thee that thou shalt set apart unto Jehovah all that openeth the womb and every firstling which thou hast that cometh of a beast the males shall be Jehovah's and every firstling of an ass shalt thou redeem with a lamb and if thou wilt not redeem it then thou shalt break its neck and all the firstborn of man among thy sons shalt thou redeem.

36:25 And it shall be when thy son ask thee in time to come saying what is this that thou shalt say to him by strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt from the house of bondage. And then he goes on to explain what happened on the occasion of the Passover. Now you see here is the beginnings of the concept of the first fruits. Every firstborn animal was to be given unto God in the case of the larger beast which would be serviceable.

36:56 God was reasonable and he said don't give that unto me and sacrifice but give me the substitute of a lesser animal and since I do not want you to destroy human life your firstborn son shall be regarded as my possession he should be offered to me in sacrifice but in his place you can give an animal sacrifice and in that sense you redeem your son you buy him back from me for he is mine by right. And the context of this institution of bringing the firstborn of animal and human life to God is the redemption out of Egypt. In other words the beginnings of the concept of the first fruits has its roots soaked

37:40 in redemptive history. Now keep that in mind. With that in mind move on to Exodus 23 in verse 19.

37:51 Here God amplifies the directive and says not only are you to bring to me the first that opens the womb whether of man or of beast but Exodus 23 19 the first of the first fruits of thy ground shalt thou bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. As the harvest was coming to fruition he says you are to go out and take the first part of the crop that has come to ripeness you are to gather it and you are to bring it as a special offering unto the Lord. Now Deuteronomy chapter 26 and this will be the last passage we look at. Deuteronomy chapter 26

38:35 verses 1 to 10 and I shall only read parts of it in the interest of time and it shall be when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance and possessest it and dwellest therein that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground which thou shalt bring in from the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt put it in a basket and thou shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shalt choose and cause his name to dwell there and then notice the redemptive context verse 3 and thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days and say unto him I profess this day unto the Lord

39:20 thy God that I am come unto the land which the Lord swear unto our fathers to give it us and so the whole background is not a meaningless ceremony it was to remind every Israelite that God was the God of covenant the God of redemption who brought them out and who brought them in and that all that they were and had was to be attributed to the sovereign mercy and the mighty power of their God so then every Israelite in acknowledging the blessings of redemption and the providential supply of his needs was to bring the first ripe portion of the harvest to the house of God and often

40:04 and in most cases what was brought was used for the support of the priesthood which in turn was the maintenance of true religion in the earth in the midst of all the heathen idolatry of Canaan there was one place where true worshipers was maintained it was in the temple it was in the tabernacle in the wilderness and so the bringing of the first fruits was not just so the priest could get a fat tummy no no no no it was bringing the first fruits so that true religion could be maintained in the place and in the manner of God's appointment and all of that is the rich Old Testament background of the concept

40:48 of the first fruits now go back to the words of the text honor the Lord with the first fruits that is the first of your harvest the first of your paycheck the first of your inheritance the first of anything of your substance and increase you are to honor the Lord with the first fruits of all thy increase all thy increase in other words it applies to all all of the fruits of legitimate labor exchange and providential appointment so much then for the meaning of the words

Firstfruits as a Gospel Duty Permeated with Gospel Motives

41:33 now then let me enlarge upon this duty and bear home upon the conscience with it and the first thing I want you to observe in the light of this Old Testament background to the concept of the first fruits is that this is a gospel duty permeated with gospel motives the idea of redeeming the firstborn unto God's was filled with redemptive significance you see the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt and in bringing them out of that bondage and marrying them to himself which is the Old Testament concept and liberating them by entering into covenant with them

42:18 God is saying I am Jehovah who has made you a free man and I never want you to forget it and the law of the first fruits was woven into the fabric of the national life constantly to remind them you were a slave but I have redeemed you I have brought you out of bondage into liberty acknowledge me to be Jehovah your deliverer the giver of all you have the one by whose might you have been brought into Canaan why can you go out and take a lamb from your flock you couldn't do that down there freely in Egypt the Egyptian taskmasters were cracking their whips more of them bricks more straw more bricks God says I want you

43:02 never to forget that you are redeemed people and to help remind you every time you hear the mooing of a cow who has given birth to her little one and you hear the braying of that young lamb I want you to take the firstborn and bring it unto me in remembrance that I am your God who has redeemed you oh transfer this now into the perspective of the New Testament what was I when God came to me I was a slave in the Egyptian bondage of my sin and when my carnal lust cracked their whip and said satisfy me obey me

43:46 the scripture says in the imagery of Ephesians 2 what did we do we fulfilled the lust of the flesh and of the mind who so committed sin is the slave of sin are you free tonight God has brought you to see your sin God has brought you to see that Christ alone is the answer to the problem of human sin both guilt and bondage and in a definite act of repentance and faith you've embraced the Lord Jesus and said oh Lord Jesus I do embrace you to be my savior my liberator my God my Lord God says to you as a redeemed one honor me with the first fruits

44:31 of all your increase when you get that paycheck and you figure out from your gross income the portion you're going to give to me let it be a reminder there was a time when you were in such bondage to covetousness you wouldn't give me a nickel let it be a reminder that I've liberated you you've counted a privilege to bring me the first fruits you see I say this is a gospel duty permeated with gospel motives therefore we will not give of the first fruits of our increase joyfully and acceptably to God unless our hearts are constantly furnished with the glory and the power of gospel privileges and gospel

45:15 motives that's the folly of berating and verbally slaying the people of God about giving giving giving I think it's one of the biggest abominations in so-called Christian churches the way preachers will stand up in cajoling and tease and bully God's people into plunking another dollar on the plate God doesn't want any money that's given on that basis it's a stench in his nostrils as well as the kind of folderol that goes on to produce that kind of giving I've stood in meetings so-called Christian evangelistic and worship services and seen preachers take a five dollar ten dollar bill out of the pocket and say I'll put my ten in tonight how many will match it

46:00 it's a wonder God didn't thunder out of heaven and say thy money perished with thee thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter and that's why you will never hear any cajoling about giving in this assembly where the text warrants exposition of the duty and how the duty may be performed acceptably to God there is no apology nor embarrassment but oh my friend the secret to a church that gives increasingly and sacrificially is not slaying the conscience by saying give give give It's by beholding God's unspeakable gift and in beholding him and out of gratitude to him there's a short line from a

46:45 heart filled with the glory of Christ crucified to the purse or to the pocketbook you read 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9 and that's how Paul deals with the Corinthians he wants to stir them up to complete the offering for the poor saints of Judea and what does he do he gives some of the richest Christological teaching in all of the word of God for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich where's that found that's found in the midst of directives for giving thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift where's that in the same passage so when the Lord says honor me with the first fruits of all thine

Firstfruits as a Duty Demanding Faith

47:30 increase the first thing we must understand is this is a gospel duty permeated with gospel motives and we will never perform it acceptably unless our hearts are moved with those gospel motives secondly it is a duty which demands faith think for a moment the harvest is just coming to its fully ripened stage and over here in one part where there was a little more moisture or perhaps the sunlight was a little more direct part of the harvest has come to its complete and perfect ripeness and you go out and glean the wheat whatever it is you go out to your

48:14 grapevine and those grapes that have come to their first full luscious ripeness and you pick them and you realize that in bringing them now to God the remembrance that you were once in bondage now you're his free man you've been brought by him into this land where you have grapevines that you can pick and you do have cultivate and on the way the thought occurs to you yeah but what happens if a hailstorm comes tonight what happens if someone starts a fire in my field tomorrow you know at least what I've got in my arms of the first fruits would provide a few days the Lord says honor me

48:59 with the first fruits of all thine increase you see the element of faith I must leave the remaining disposition of the harvest in the hands of God that seems to me that fits Hebrews 11 6 without faith it is impossible to please him even in your giving for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him you see the widow of whom our Lord spoke in Luke 19 is a classic example of this she probably had been out laboring for the day and one of the rules that God had given through Moses was that the hire of the laboring man should not

49:44 be withheld to the following day they lived on a hand to mouth subsistence literally and she probably been out doing domestic work all day and had her two nights and she comes at the end of the day to acknowledge the goodness of God in the temple and to confess her sins and to fix the gaze of her eyes upon the burnt offering and look beyond it to the mercy of her God and her heart so overflows with gratitude for redemptive mercies she empties out her little purse with her two mites and goes home to an empty cupboard is that all she goes home to no no she goes home buttressed by the promise of the God who says them that honor me will I honor seek first the kingdom of God and

50:29 his righteousness and all other things will be added unto you so when God says to us honor me with the first fruits of thine increase not when you've provided and you've been able to see ahead and plan and everything settled then you take the pickings left over and bring them to me there's no element of faith and we do not walk by sight but by faith even in the matter of the disposition of our substance isn't that the note sounded by the prophet Malachi in Malachi chapter three listen Malachi chapter three last book of the old testament for some of you who are newer in the faith and not very location conscious just before Matthew

51:13 Malachi chapter three verse eight will a man rob God yet ye do rob me but ye say wherein have we robbed thee God's answer is in tithes and offerings you're cursed with the curse for you robbed me even the whole nation bring ye the whole tithe into the store house that there may be food in my house and prove me now here with saith the Lord 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 he says bring your tithe in the midst of your apparent poverty and I will then honor you prove me put me to the test see if

51:58 my promise is valid honor the Lord with thy substance thy barn shall be filled with plenty the text does not say honor the Lord with thy substance when thy barns are full of plenty and thy vats are overflowing with new wine go around with a bucket and catch the overflow and run up to the temple and say this is for God and when you look in your wine vat and there's nothing but sediment on the bottom and when you look into the barns and nothing but a few skinny rats running around looking for a few things left over God says go out in your field and bring the first fruits on the meat and I'll see to it that your barns are filled and your vats overflowing that's the text don't rewrite it

Firstfruits as a Duty Demanding Scrupulous Accounting

52:42 so we see first of all it is a gospel duty permeated with gospel motive secondly it is a duty which can only be performed in faith and then thirdly and my closing point for this evening it is a duty which demands careful and scrupulous accounting in the presence of God honor the Lord with the first fruits of all thine increase that means you figure what God's going to get on the basis of your gross pay Uncle Sam does you think God's less fastidious than he all thine increase any interest you have from savings accounts and from

53:26 bonds and any dividends gifts that are given you say you serious well I don't say anything else in the text honor the Lord with the first fruits of all thine increase why is it God may need the two dollars that may be the base figure upon which I figure the tithe and so there's twenty dollars interest in a little saving account is that two dollars going to make the difference between the kingdom of God advancing or stopping no but God says I want you as my creature to acknowledge that I am your God who provides all that you have and this will help you to remember it not so much that God needs it that

54:11 we're so desperately prone to wonder and to forget who God is and what we are that we desperately need to remember him in the first fruits of all our increase to remember what we are creatures dependent upon our God for all that we have you see sometimes you get upset Uncle Sam taxes you pay and then he taxes whatever you're able to put away in a little savings account and get a little interest and he taxes that well you see I wonder if because the mentality of our country at one time was quite biblical I wonder if maybe

54:53 in the first fruits of all our increase should the Lord have less should the Lord have less should the Lord have less see at the beginning of our study I said I wasn't just going to talk about stewardship something far broader than that and I trust that God will burn into our hearts the realization that like all gospel duties we can't perform them until we become true Christians until Christ becomes

Conclusion: Call to Obedience and Anticipation of the Promise

55:27 this covenant relationship with Jehovah God through his son perhaps much of this sounded like religious gobbledygook to you tonight well you see it's because your heart and your spirit are strangers to the reality of the very things that have caused a loving response in the hearts of others this is the command the general principle honor the Lord with thy substance we've suggested how this can be done and why than the more definitive demand honor him with the first fruits of all thine increase God willing in our next study we shall look at this gracious promise so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy vats

56:12 shall overflow with new wine I leave the question with your conscience tonight are you honoring the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase are you if you've not been do you intend to begin by his grace so to do if not my friend you've heard the word of God in vain in fact you've heard it to your added condemnation may God grant that we shall not be forgetful hearers but doers of the word let us pray