Are Christians Commanded to Give Money? & Does Free Will Exist?

now do you understand latitude within God's will in other words everything is not set everything is not determined ahead of time and it just is going to happen no matter what kind of like auto run you know Automator stuff you know you push this and it's going to happen I think some believers think that in fact it's tragic that they actually believers think that God's will means that it's all gonna happen and I'm just gonna watch it and I guess whatever happens is what he wanted to happen for me so how we got there Dale I think I must have been in Matthew I think it's Matthew 11 so let's let's go there first but it's a much larger issue than just this to tell you the truth that I didn't even start thinking about this till one of my read through the Bible and basically the way I said the Bible is I read through the Bible I just in fact I am uh I had trouble at my ordination in 1984 I think it was or 83 84 because I was ordained by the conservative Baptist Association of Michigan and the president was there that's always a dangerous thing that the president there of the Association and the first question was he said would you name the Baptist distinctives and I I mean I just was tongue-tied I said Baptist distinctives I remember in school be means believers something and a is autonomy and P is priesthood I forget him but but I said and this is youthfulness I said I would love to are they in the Bible Oh that's the the ordination board and so I have to say that that I'm not a good Baptist neither I mean if you and I I'm not gonna say that one I won't I'm gonna not say that one because someone would do it but let me just Matthew 11 yes and verse 20 then he began to rebuke this is Jesus this is this is you know in his ministry as he is facing slugging the uphill climb the constant wasn't just the pestering demons we looked at this morning it's the pestering religious leaders and then just the basic hard-heartedness of people then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent and just just for a second I remember I just came from a Holy Land meeting so I have to say this there's a sacred triangle of cities and the sacred triangle there on the shore of the Sea of Galilee Capernaum korazim Bethsaida and between those three cities this is a sea of galilee jordan river modern-day Tiberias the pigs swine die of cursing see it's hard not to do all that but there's Masada that's where Peter and Andrew were from there's korazim Capernaum Christ hometown in the Triangle this is called in synoptic studies the Golden Triangle in the area surrounding this triangle 60% of all Christ miracles 60% jerusalem's down there 60% in this triangle if you if you read the Gospels and chart where things happen now look at verse 20 does that mean something to you he began to rebuke the cities in which most if anybody has 60% of your money that got most of it where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent now here's latitude mr. Kyser woe to you cores and woe to you bethsaida for if isn't that interesting now there are a lot of other words there's there's theological e there's a lot of words for this and I'm not espousing and certainly certainly in no way believe the whole fracas going through the Baptist General Conference that God doesn't know the future omniscience means he knows the future but it means even more than that and here it comes this is fascinating woe to you korazim the one up on the bluff made a black basalt right there woe to you bethsaida the one right near the the northernmost shore of the Sea of Galilee where Peter and Andrew were from washing their nets and Jesus bumped into him as he was walking around the sea and it says for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in tyre and Sidon if those miracles had been done in tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago you know because tyre and Sidon has a long history they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes now now that could be the contemporary tyre and sidon er could have been the past tyre sidon but Jesus goes out and I say to you it'll be more tolerable and tyre inside in the day of judgment than for you well there's a whole concept of verse 21 that we're going to come back to there's another one here there are degrees of punishment he'll Dante did not invent the levels of hell God did now he gets to the third city verse 23 Capernaum right over there Christ's hometown his adopted hometown and you Capernaum who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to Hades if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom if to catch this if what the Lord is saying is that he knows something very interesting the Lord knows the events in his omniscience that are going to happen he knows the events he's determined he knows the events he's foreseen he's known the events he's decreed just put all of your overlays of the algae on it he knows that you know what else he knows it's like playing chess with the computer God knows the the outcome of every potential choice that individuals could make now if if I had enough time and did this for a long time and you didn't know that this was God's will right here what I could do is say out of this fabric if Sodom if tire if you know Gomorrah had done this if Abraham had if Moses had you know not been murdering and had shared the gospel with and if Paul had gotten saved earlier now watch here is God's absolute will of decree but it's wrapped in this incredible latitude that he allowed all these things to happen and he didn't allow or cause other things to happen so that's where I got off with the class and and said oh nice it's gonna be a short night anybody know where one of those erasers are because I can't talk without writing in fact thanks honey there's one right behind my chair in my office whoever gets it first Cliff's going he's running okay so let me show you now let's just take our Bibles turn with me to leviticus 20:6 first we're going to talk about the Old Testament then we'll talk about the New Testament I want to talk to you about latitude and I want to talk to you not about thinking and processing yes see if he finds one honey and if he doesn't you can run and get it I want you I want you to be cautious about being on the wrong side of say in computer programming most of us our interface users not oh thank you you are a blessing Thank You Saint Clifford most of us in computing are are not programmer types most of us do not understand effect I was at a meeting last week where someone talked about VDI and it's not venereal disease it's a virtual digital oh I don't know interface or something and they talked about TB axes and everything and at the end of the meeting they left and everybody in the room after they left said how much that did you understand and we all decided very little there there is two there are two realms and I'll this is the big one but I'm going to call it God's realm and this is where God's sovereignty his decrees his immune of all councils his will his you know bulu my will however you spell boo-boo my you know his will of decree and determination and his Salette we'll all this is over here and you can put the five points of Calvinism Calvinism over here and you can put all of that stuff over here and this is what I call the back-office this is this is like the programming language have you ever seen programming language it doesn't make any sense just a lot of numbers and characters and stuff but certain numbers and characters makes a red background and a black font letter and it determines the size and everything but it's behind the scenes another thing operates behind the scenes that you do understand are the laws of the universe like the laws of thermodynamics like the laws of gravity those operate inflexibly and and well I mean when everything changes after revelation 21 we don't know what all is going to be but right now we are governed by these laws both of thermodynamics and of gravity and of you know quantum mechanics and everything else we discover them there there already we discover them a lot of electronic work is understanding these laws comprehending these laws they operate behind the scene now honestly if I took this marker and threw it you know if I could recognize someone in the back row I already know from these laws that even though I'm trying to throw this marker there it isn't heavy enough and these laws click in and they're gonna make that thing drop faster than then the the trajectory I sent it on and this will not make it but I want it to make it and I would try to make it and I would believe that I is going to make it if I threw it towards someone at the back but operating behind the scenes our laws that will not allow this marker to make it to the back law you say Cohen we're talking about the Bible okay there are laws here that he has established the infant the one we talked about on the throne we don't even know all these we know all these that we're supposed to know because they're in here now the problem a few of these in this box aren't in here they've been deduced by theologians but they're not in the Bible they're just logical but no matter what you want to say just like the laws of the physical universe the laws of the spiritual universe are there and established we cannot change them we cannot fully understand these we certainly Deuteronomy 29:29 the secret things are they God has revealed what he wants but even Peter said he couldn't understand Paul's teaching on a lot of stuff Peter the Apostle said Paul writes many things that are very hard to understand and Paul said don't take what I've written and wrestle over it and contend over it like a lot of what goes on in the church today in chrism so this is operating behind the scenes I believe most of this stuff here and you know trust all those that is not what the Bible the code the Bible this is the back up this is the programming language it shows up here and there and I could list off to you all the reams of Calvinistic literature that comes from a very few verses but let's talk about the interface let's talk about what you read the Bible was written not for scholars in the Laden or Leipzig or and wherever you want to talk about it was written for common people the majority of the people in the church were slaves and the rest were agricultural hard-working people they read it and believed what it said they didn't say well that can't mean that because because of the fourths decree of something that is infra lapse area mystically influenced programming language and we all you know what everybody just goes oh this is because knowledge makes people they're just beyond us did you know everything that's important to know about the Bible a child can understand Jesus said in cept you become as of what you will not what see it is so simple so let's start Leviticus 26 and I want to show you the the the interface the front you know the screen of the Bible the part that we read and and just real quickly um if you read the Bible if you read the Bible for what it says then you believe that everyone everyone has personal free volitional choices I can throw my marker at anybody but this box says it's not gonna make it beyond a certain few feet here no matter how hard I throw it it won't because my throwing ability and its weight and gravity and everything else this but I can want to throw it I can hold it and throw it I can decide to throw it I can throw it in any direction I want but the back-office limits what I can do not even like I don't even know but it still limits it so does this so does theology that the doctrines of God the doctrines of grace the doctrines of salvation they're just like the laws of gravity thermodynamics quantum mechanics whatever you want to say but the front office looking at the screen the Bible repeatedly let me just show you leviticus 20:6 now this is Old Testament business the Jews you have to be very careful about not trying to apply verses to the Jews to us we're not Jews now there might be a few here of God's chosen people of promise because you know there's a percentage of all humans that are Jewish tried to set this was written to ethnic national Israel not to the church not to us to them and you know it's good stuff verses 1 & 2 but look at verse 3 Oh somebody will say you intentionally missed verse 2 you shall keep my Sabbath's the Sabbath was a sign to Israel but I'm not going to cover that tonight no one asked me about that tonight verse 3 if you walk in my statutes now what with all of your Bible knowledge what does that sound like if you Jews if you walk in my statutes if you keep my Commandments they could never keep the commandments they are bound their will is bound they are dead there is no yes that's all true how is it presented don't destroy your reading of the Bible by have you ever had a conversation with someone that keeps getting interrupted you know you say something they interrupt you they say in Europe interrupt that's what happens when people spend too much time on this site they can't read the Bible they say oh it couldn't mean that oh it must mean something else I'm gonna have to go see what you know Marie says about that or beaky or stroll because it couldn't mean what it says and they interrupt the conversation God wants to have now doctrine is vital and I spent most of my life why do you think I have thousands of books and and I was in school continuously from 1962 to 1999 for 37 years within every county or I was enrolled in a school somewhere this is very important it should not interrupt the reading of the word so let's just if you walk in my statutes and keep my Commandments and perform them then verse four I will give you reign in its season the land shall yield its produce in the trees its field and you can read all the way down to verse 13 and it's just beautiful set of promises now look at verse 14 but if you do not obey me what do you think that means oh they couldn't obey Him I mean I've read tons of commentaries on this let me ask you the primary the first Canon if you want to talk about theology the first Canon canons are established the first canon of textual interpretation is that the the meaning of Scripture is what it meant when God gave it to the first recipients because all of this came as letters to somebody and you're happening to be reading right now a letter to the Jewish nation that's why we have to be careful this isn't to us and this isn't to America and if we do this it'll rain and we won't have droughts in Texas we have to be very careful about trying to overlay promises to Israel to America it's like we think we're the second Israel or something there's enough confusion as it is but this is very clearly a group of people that were camped just refugees just leaving on a camping trip out of Egypt living in in the desert and the Lord says if you walk verse three of my statutes and keep my Commandments and I will give you a reign and your produce and your fields we'll read in your threshing blow or verse 14 but if you don't obey me and do not observe and despise my statutes if your soul and it starts talking about their internal motivation and everything else which we believe all this we know that that he was talking primarily to unbelievers we know from the book of Hebrews you don't even need to get into the theology books you can just read the Bible the book of Hebrews says that that a mixed multitude came out of Egypt and that with most of them the Lord was displeased there was no desire for him in their hearts you don't even have to get into all that stuff the theology books you can just stay with the Bible but if a child read this a child would say it looks like the Lord is giving them about 10 verses of and by the way in the Old Testament God just just offers in the choice thing blessings if you obey curses if you don't that's the Old Testament and it's just we could just go through tons of passage like this I don't want to bore you now there are verses in the Bible though in the Old Testament that weren't written primarily to the Jewish nation in a covenant way and we love those like do you all know this one trust in the Lord with all your heart and what lean not on your own understanding was that written primarily to the Jews no in fact that book I'm quoting from is the book of what yeah proverbs is filled so so Leviticus 26 has some immutable truths about God but it's not for us it was a covenant relationship that is still going on still going on it's amazing and God isn't through with them but Leviticus 26 isn't for us but proverbs is now proverbs was originally written from a father Solomon to his son Rehoboam but remember more is caught than taught and Solomon didn't live most of what he wrote in Proverbs in Surrey Oh Bolton shipwrecked with his life but proverbs is filled in fact turn with me to proverbs here's a beautiful one in the next chapter chapter 4 I want to show you a choice that you can make so go the middle you know Psalms and the next book is proverbs proverbs and you can read the Bible like this don't be afraid of the Old Testament just be discerning make sure you're not in all the rules did you know one first questions you know what the first question I was asked when I got to Calvary Bible Church was I was brand new pastor here wearing my Sunday suit and I was cutting across the lobby and a person I'd never met before said to me you don't go to restaurants and Sunday do you I thought hmmm I wonder what that means you know and I said why you know you don't answer it to guess what they're asking them they said you know by guess I'm Sunday do you I just come from Starbucks and I wondered if coffee counted you know but it was in my office and immediately I realized that there were a whole group of people that that had taken all of the intricate 613 rules that were written to the children of Israel and they were trying to apply them to Kalamazoo and they would never drive their car further than a tank they would drive their car they weren't good Jews they went further than a Sabbath day's journey but they wouldn't buy gas and I'm not making fun I'm not it would be wrong to make fun I was just I mean I wasn't sure how to answer that and all of a sudden I realized that that we do need to learn the difference between what was written to the the ethnic chosen people of promise and what was produced through them for everybody so that's a no one asking that question Dale were you're gonna have to tell me to come back you know but proverbs look at chapter four here's an example of this bless curse kind of thing that is the way God operates in the Old Testament and look at verse 18 and this is just as good as proverbs 3:5 and 6 this is proverbs 4 18 and 19 but it's the way that God postures the whole Bible and you're gonna see this is in the New Testament too and just as much as we have people that won't buy gas and Sunday God bless them they're focusing on the Lord oh that all of us would slow down our lives and not try and cram in every soccer game and every other sports activity and fit the Lord in both we need to guard over activity and thinking we're more spiritual because we keep more rules so there's both ends but no one asks about that so let's talk about this proverbs look at the blessing and cursing but the path of the just is like the shining Sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day now that would make a good plaque on the wall that is beautiful that's a screensaver that is a good one that says there's two roads of life there's the path of the just doesn't mean perfect it means the path of those who are justified by faith those who respond to God it's whatever it's the the Noah was a just man this generation as I mean he was perfect I mean he had a vineyard and drank and got intoxicated and undressed and everything else but he was just he had a trajectory the right direction he was trusting in the Lord and seeking the Lord and believing in the Lord here's the other half so so right here bright paths blessings Wow look at verse 19 the way of the wicked is like darkness they don't know what makes them stumble they're just just jagang along through life and bumping into everything they're like a blind person going through a corn maze and they never know where they are and they're falling over you know what you know what this says the whole book of Proverbs the entire book of Proverbs says if did you know you can teach proverbs doesn't say people it will help them they won't go to heaven to have a better life better quality of life oh they can't understand no the spiritual man receives not the things the Spirit of God they think they think that it's it's just good principles and it is the book of Proverbs basically tells you how to have a life that that is very good or how to have a messy life this side your your weeds are overgrown and your rock walls are falling down your house is leaking and your kids hate you and your wife hates you and you hate your job in this side it's an ever brighter shining pathway its personal choices Bill Gothard used to go to India and teach principals to unsay people and it helped their lives that's how the Old Testament is you do this you're blessed and you know what people could do that did you know people can do good things they can come on how many of you know unsaved people that are nicer than a lot of Christians you know don't raise your hands they are honest you can depend on them they are generous how on earth could they be like that because what this says is not all of us are as bad as we should or could be from the fall and and yes there is no salvific there's a good word there is no ability we have from our works to save us to be acceptable to have an atoning propitiating sacrifice but unsaved people can be wonderful honest loving sacrificial do you think every person that died in 9/11 rescuing people in the tower was a Christian no people died for other people that both went to hell we have to be careful we don't stop reading because this is in the background let this always be in the background and by the way the Lord will never let us get too far off from it just like you walk off the cliff you will fall you go in the wrong direction you will find out from from the heavy-duty theology the Bible is written every bit of it I mean I could take you I could do this all night look at Daniel don't look at Daniel but do you know what what God told Nebuchadnezzar if you will change your ways I won't do this to you he wouldn't change his ways boom he got boolean through Pete you know what boy Anthropy was he thought he was a cow he ate grass he slept outdoors and got wet his his fingernails you know there's all kinds of rare conditions there's Avis Anthropy and Beau Anthropy and all kinds of things where humans think they're Birds and others think they're cows and animals and everything else God presented to Nebuchadnezzar just like all the way through Isaiah is filled with this Isaiah's filled you know what Isaiah says oh that you would Harkins me then your piece would be like a river you have a personal free volitional choice to hearken to God Isaiah 4818 Isaiah 32 17 those two verses are powerful God says if you will hearken to me if you if you will choose what I bless and and shy away from what I curse you will have the most wonderful life now we know that that God energizes us gives us a new heart a new spirit but this works for unsaved people these principles because God gives us personal choices now it doesn't help him get to heaven they don't know the Lord personally they don't you understand why it works but there are laws just like gravity quantum and everything else the God says even if for the wrong reasons you do this even if for even if you don't eat out on Sunday because you're keeping your grandmother's rule you'll have a quieter life than the people that do so much they don't enjoy any of it you see this operates with or without fully being implemented by the sphere okay let's get the New Testament because some of you are always a little scared too much Old Testament so let's go to Matthew okay Matthew starting with the Sermon on the Mount did you know we were reading that this morning did you know what it says in there it's the same it's structured postured whatever you want to call it rip the user interface in Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount Chapter five six and seven basically says take no thought for tomorrow what you shall eat what you shall wear your father already knows what you need before we covered that this morning you know what that says now in the New Testament remember in the Old Testament it was bless curse and God was pretty serious about the curse part and look at the Jewish history they got cursed in the New Testament it's different it's if you obey then you please me and you get a reward to throw at my feet because you love me so you get this love gift to give back to Christ so that's the positive side this is all the way through the New Testament if we could have a service like Paul till midnight till people started falling out the windows I would never be able to exhaust if you will read the Bible as a child with childlike just it's it means what it says the Lord says if you love me you'll obey me if you do what I ask you to do your well pleasing in my sight now wait a minute we know something over here as I said this morning the instant we call in the name of the Lord the the work of the atonement is done and all of our sins past present and future all of them are gone and we are already seated in the heavenlies with Christ every born-again Christian is already that way here how many of you act like that I don't do you do you act like you're seated in heaven around the throne want to wish we could real life is this is our position this is this is everyday life do you want the other side is the other side is neglect and you face what God calls the consequence engine there are consequences for neglecting or disobeying what God says the scriptures say that we're supposed to be filled with Galatians 5 I mean let's just let's just start there because you need to be somewhere look at Galatians 5 what it says again think about the latitude God has given us Galatians 5 tells us God's optimal settings the the way that God would like us to operate now what what the Bible never says no matter what is in this block is the Bible never says that God forces minx I'm talking about against our will God does not force or make or cause to happen no matter what this site he doesn't God never make collations 5 here's what God wants verse 16 I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh so we have a choice to yield to the Holy Spirit or we don't think about it we're watching youtube clips of movie trailers and we don't have time to even figure out what that means so we neglect that we're not say we're not cursing God and saying I don't care about you we don't even know that that's in there we neglect it okay look what happens if if you are taught by the way the the Great Commission says that the goal is not just to lead everybody to the Lord the whole focus the Great Commission is teaching them to observe what God wants why because God's not gonna force us to obey and please him and get reward and have love gifts he's gonna allow us it's written like he completely allows us to choose now it would be interesting to have us raise hands how many of us knowing the strength of our flesh in our human willfulness and pride how many of us absolutely humbled ourselves in God's sight and said I with all my heart today this is the greatest day of the week it's the first day of the week it's your day it's the day that I get to come before your presence I get together as my part that I am of your body oh Christ and I want as I walk in that building I want to fulfill your purpose I want you to by your spirit to and through your grace to energize me to to talk to everybody you want me to talk to to share scriptures with everybody well I'm already way past so many of us for many of the younger it was more of what they were gonna wear and what others were gonna think about what they wore and and whether or not they have a new gizmo that they can show off or whether or not they can talk about something that's happened in their week that will impress and with the older it's just refined forms of that but look what the Lord says if you walk in the spirit you'll now fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh lusts against the spirit the spirit against I'm in verse 17 of Galatians 5 and these are contrary to one another so that you do not the things that you wish but if you're led by the spirit see if you don't think about it then the flesh kicks in and we all still have it all of us it's like gravity thermodynamics and quantum mechanics God has put into the fabric of the spiritual universe that if we don't consciously choose to obey seeking what the Lord wants us to do default setting right there it is have you ever seen the flesh the flesh gets irritated impatient the flesh gets hurt the flesh won't speak to certain people the flesh gets even the flesh 1ups I mean the flesh makes rash words members all very fleshly Saul in the Old Testament he said if anybody eats before sundown I'm killing him and his own son it's a rash statement his own son Jonathan more noble than Saul ever could have been eight and Saul had to eat his rash words the whole nation rose up and said you flesh though they didn't but that's what they were saying okay neglect or disobey you face consequences what happens when the flesh kicks in we're Moody we feel distant from God we feel useless we feel aimless we feel kind of like we want to go to the mall or something we just want to watch television we just don't want we waste time and worse stuff look at verse 19 now the works of the flesh when when the flesh gets more and more control of us are evident which are adultery if we don't have any freedom of choice God willed God God decreed that the pastor of the church that I grew up in ran off with my next-door neighbor she had six kids he had six kids you would have thought they had enough going on in their lives and they left their twelve kids behind I went to Florida together hitchhiking what is that that is neglect not choosing did God decree that what a child think God decreed that they had childlike faith no they got allow that mm-hmm why because it part of his plan is this consequence thing God says you want that you can have that I will show myself that that I keep the I have these inviolable rules immutable and the works of the flesh are evident adultery and fornication I mean God says don't be deceived you saw it you'll reap it you dress like a harlot the boy will think you're a harlot sooner or later you'll commit fornication together you know it's just the way it is and Christians do it wife because they neglect they neglect here let's leave that passage let's go to Titus 2 have you ever heard of Titus 2 look at how Titus 2 is written Titus 2 is written in in verses 1 through 10 this is what God wants he doesn't force it have any of you had God punching you and saying you got to do this you got to be a child lover and a husband lover and you've got men you've got to stop wasting your time you got to start filling your three trillion video clips that God gave you capacity for in your mind with stuff that that will drive you away from God that will feed your flesh does God do that no there are consequences and he chastens us and and and you know keeps putting roadblocks in our lives there are a lot of consequences that the Bible says and if we did a theology of this there's just tons of what happened to the Corinthians and what happened to the New Testament church because of their neglecting or directly disobeying God and by the way all this is Christian not talking about unsaved people here this is operative in the New Testament this is for Christians that I'm talking about in the New Testament for believers but liquid Titus chooses after all this God's expectations what he wants from us verse 11 grace grace Paul says for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men now that could be talking about Jesus Christ or it could be talking about actual the the spiritual quality we call grace which is God giving us what we don't deserve that's the bottom line of a grace is he gives us what we don't deserve mercy is he doesn't give us what we do deserve grace is he gives us what we don't deserve none of us deserve to have the strength to do verses 1 through 10 but the grace of God that brings salvation if you truly been saved by grace verse 12 says it will teach us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts choice that's code for choice denying denying that the Holy Spirit doing something oh yeah he's the one that prompts and works within us for it is he who wills and to do according to his good pleasure that's the operating system that's behind you know what it starts with let no man say when he is tempted I'm tempted God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he every man any man but every man is tempted when he strongly his own lust and enticed and what God says is every time that temptation faces you God is faithful and he's made an exit door see the nice big red letters over there God has made the exit door he does not throw us through it you have to walk over there he stands in the door he motions to us he prompts us he Woo's us but when you don't walk through the door you end up like David you know what it says in first chronicles he said David completely followed the Lord all of his days except in the case of Uriah's wife doesn't even call her Bathsheba Uriah's wife Uriah was dead she was still his wife David illicitly took her in the New Testament we have choices and he and it says in Titus 2 teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust that's a choice and what what what blessing flows from that choice that we get to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the Blessed hope do you know what happens if we don't deny ungodliness and worldly lusts the default system clicks in the whole book to the Corinthians is about the default system as soon as they stopped offering themselves back to God fleshly the Christians drunk their Christians fornication they're Christians suing the pants off each other for every dime they can get in the law courts because they were greedy they're Christians oh so you can live like the devil and be a Christian yeah but there are consequences that grace does not remove the Christians in Corinth were confused in fact let's go to Corinth look at first Corinthians three I mean it couldn't be clearer than first Corinthians three first Corinthians three verse 8 now he who plants in waters are one in each one first Corinthians 3:8 will receive his own reward according to his own labor now if you were here this morning we saw that the holy God absolutely holy the more powerful than the summation of everything in the universe God is our Father in heaven and the first thing I told you is he rewards now look at this verse eight foreign industry now he who plants in hues are one and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor I could go on and on all night but I think I've said enough for Dale that there is latitude within God's will it is not God's will that you go through life feeling useless constantly being spanked being Moody distant from God under the domination of the flesh because you neglect to read his word and pray and seek and deny ungodliness and we could go through Romans six all of romans 6 is saying you must take the initiative you must put to death by God's grace the power comes from God the choice that he desires from us we must make that's how it's written in the Bible God it's not that the cylinder is not firing the grace is not enough to make us want to deny ungodliness God has given us everything we need to operate in the system it's in the back office and so he says you have a conscious personal choice obey and be blessed disobey click into the default system and you will have anxiety you'll have fears you will feel like your life is wasted you'll get desperate the older you get and keep trying to do something and you just it just piles up here and what ends up is look at this each one's life verse 13 will become clear what's going to become clear what you did with your time that no one saw but the one who sees in secret which is verse 12 building with and look on the positive side is gold you can make golden choices you can make silver choices or you can make precious stone choices or you can operate over here and have your whole life be wooden straw or broken up crumbled straw stubble it's your choice remember what is said in verse eight everyone's gonna receive his own reward according to his own labor according to what you chose that is how the whole New Testament is written the backdrop Ephesians one through three is talking about Wow but a lot of people the wahoo makes him think whatever happens is gonna happen no it's always you obey you want to please me I'll reward you in eternity with you're gonna have something to cast at my feet in life you're gonna have the best life possible Joel Osteen your best life now he didn't think of that I've never had the book and I'm not sure what he's talking about your best life is on this side this is awful especially if you're if you know the Lord it's miserable it's miserable to waste our our life as God's temple and to look what's gonna happen verse 14 if anyone's work which he has built on endures he'll receive a reward you obeyed what God wanted you read the Bible like a child and said Wow God wants me to not be anxious and trust him God wants me to obey him he wants me to pray and he wants me to trust he wants me to stay in step with his spirit Galatians 5:16 but look at the next verse verse 15 if anyone's work is burned work is what we did with our lives what we did in our bodies every moment the clock is running every moment you and I are generating wood and hay you watch the combines remember we just went through the fall and they just were everywhere doing those soybeans and they can plow into that soybean field and out the back is just chaff coming out same thing behind those corn combines but anything that was worthwhile when in the hopper and look look what happens if anyone's work is burned all the chaff all that's gonna be burned he will suffer loss do you think it's God's will do you think God willed that God has decreed that he's going to march you in front of the whole universe March me in front the whole universe and say I decree in its my will that you suffer loss that was my plan for your life and I'm gonna show it I'm gonna burn up everything you did and you are gonna suffer loss and weep that's not the God of the Bible the God of the Bible says I have done everything I can to give you my will but I will not force you or make you obey me I'm going to let you be prompted by love do you love yourself remember I used to say this all time only two choices on the Shelf pleasing God or pleasing self your flesh makes television more important than God your flesh makes exhibiting your body more important than magnifying the Spirit of God flesh or spirit it's a choice hey we have seven minutes for more question Dale can I stop do you mind I could work this to death okay anybody else have a quick we have seven and a half minutes does anybody have a quick question that you would like to ask or did I scare you and so we can go home early there we go skip that you stand up skip Blake chairman of the Deacons tell us something that is a good question I don't know if you heard it but what skip asked is he asked several questions in the background he asked do New Testament Christians have to tithe he didn't say that but that is a big question and then he asked what what are we supposed to do where do we primarily give our money so the first question is to ty they're not to tithe if you don't know what tithing in is it's ten percent so number one do Christians tithe don't say it out loud number two where do they tithe and we have this concept where do they tithe and there's this thing called storehouse tithing and that of course is for tithing as from it's from the Old Testament from Malachi and and what they say is that you're supposed to Chi Milad Chi no just either your so it's Eze in Malachi you're supposed to bring the tithes into the storehouse it was talking about the storehouses of the temple and so storehouse tithing is big on churches that want you not to give money anywhere else but to the church and then the third thing skip asked is above and beyond all these extra you know things like healthy homes and everything else so basically this is tithing part of the Mosaic law that was given to the Jews or not that's a very good question the problem with those who you know sing the song free from the law Oh blessed conditions in all I want with Jesus permission is you know those are the people that that don't like any laws the problem is tithing didn't originate with Moses Moses just explained it a little bit tithing originated the first time it's in the Bible is with the patriarchs long before Moses and if you remember Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek and that's where God talks about tithing so for every Christian who thinks you're off the hook on the 10% deal because we're not under the law it's not in the law it predates the law it's part of God's eternal character that that there was this offering that that he was blessed by but I'm not gonna go into that basically I say this that the Jews did not tithe 10% if you read it they tithed about 30-some percent it was basically the the federal government of Judaism under the the theocracy and they had to if you remember they couldn't do their fields they had to leave the corners of their fields they could only harvest the center and they had to leave the corners and the edges all unharvested which is a percent of your income you gave up for poor people plus you had to leave all of your crops every seventh year all of them one out of seven years out in the field again for the poor people you had to forgive everybody's debt every 49th year so about every 50 years everybody that owed you any money that's why they would never have our problem we have in America there was no tumbling debt in in God's plan but all that was with the Jews but it all adds up to a lot more than 10% and what I always tell people is this is what my friend John MacArthur told me he said I don't want to be legalistic MacArthur you know the Study Bible MacArthur he says I hate legalism so I give 11% yeah some of you left with a little pain the average Christian right now in America gives about 1% to the Lord because they got to think about themself and 2% Gallup says maybe nationwide you know it's it's charitable giving not just the church is one point something but basically this this is how I answer people and skip I'll answer your question but you open the door and boy I get to really hit this one the elder is probably wondering about this they turn the clock off appreciate that Dan that means I'm supposed to quit basically this if God demanded from the Old Testament Jews who scraped out a living eking existence in an agrarian society if God demanded 10% from them what would someone who's been saved by grace and become the very habitation of God want to give God as little as possible is what our culture says because I'm under grace and so when Bonnie and I start our very first week of marriage I said honey we're gonna give 11 percent to the Lord because John MacArthur told us that but I said we will raise it by one percent a month every month until we can't afford necessities that is more of grace giving then let's see 10 percent no I'm just gonna give whatever the Lord lays on my heart and he hasn't laid anything this week so I can go out to eat again or I can buy all kinds of stuff that I can't afford with money I don't have and and be in debt so no we're not under the tithe but we exceed we should be under grace giving where do we give it you should give where you are being fed and taught that's what paul said he says that that you should feed those that feed you the extra that is totally between you and the law it doesn't mean like the first 10% has to go to Calvary and if you're gonna give two healthy homes you have to give 1% above the 10% no no the Lord says and basically the Bible says we're supposed to give systematically and proportionately if you want to have a New Testament giving lecture it would be it's supposed to be systemic not haphazard it says in first Corinthians there's a whole set of rules on giving systemic proportionate and sacrificial those are the three principles and so that means for some people five dollars is hard and for some people a thousand bucks is nothing okay but it's seven sixteen let's all stand so what I would say is give two healthy homes give to Calvary Bible Church but do both giving to the Lord and I can't stress enough that the Bible says that we give the gifts to the Lord not even to the storehouse the Old Testament idea we give them actually to the Lord and the Lord as it says in Matthew five who sees in secret will reward us openly and giving like everything else is a choice where God doesn't force it and we're not sending out the the thais inspectors so that's a blessing let's bow for word of prayer father I thank you in Jesus name that you have revealed your will to us in this book may we be men and women and young men and young women filled with your word that the word of Christ would richly dwell in our lives and that we would love you so much that we would surrender and say whatever you say we want to stay in step with you through your word by your spirit in the precious name of Jesus we pray and all of God's people said amen god bless you as you go [Music]

Channel: DTBM

Views: 30,723

Rating: 4.8477507 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, God, Jesus, Christian, teaching, biblical, teach, sermon, trinity, church, lesson, traditional, truth, true, divine, theology, freedom, guilt, testament, pure, interpret, spirit, holy, John, Barnett, christ, father, heaven, hell, doctrine, doctrinal, sinful, forgive, forgiveness, history, teachings, chapters, verses, discover, the book, ministries, dtbm, Dr. Barnett, controversial, repent, helpful, sin

Id: tuKhMRe8oxw

Length: 63min 23sec (3803 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 13 2019