Sermon Tone Analysis

Haggai 1:1-11

(1)  In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

(2)  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.

(3)  Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

(4)  /Is it/ time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house /lie/ waste?

(5)  Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

(6)  Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages /to put it/ into a bag with holes.

(7)  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

(8)  Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

(9)  Ye looked for much, and, lo, /it came/ to little; and when ye brought /it/ home, I did blow upon it.

Why? saith the LORD of hosts.

Because of mine house that /is/ waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

(10)  Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed /from/ her fruit.

(11)  And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon /that/ which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

God blessed instantly when the people responded and obeyed.

Story of Achan in Joshua 7 shows how important stewardship is to a congregation.

God withheld His blessings from all for the sin of one.

God also tells of corporate blessings and curses over stewardship issues in Malachi.

Malachi 3:7-12

(7)  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept /them/.

Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

(8)  Will a man rob God?

Yet ye have robbed me.

But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?

In tithes and offerings.

(9)  Ye /are/ cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, /even/ this whole nation.

(10)  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that /there shall/ not /be room/ enough /to receive it/.

(11)  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

(12)  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

/     All that is withheld of that which God claims, the tenth of the increase, is recorded in the books of heaven against the withholders, as robbery.

Such defraud their Creator; and when this sin of neglect is brought before them, it is not enough for them to change their course and begin to work from that time upon the right principle.

This will not correct the figures made in the heavenly record for embezzling the property committed to them in trust to be returned to the Lender.

Repentance for unfaithful dealing with God, and for base ingratitude, is required.

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Deuteronomy 7:12-15

(12)  Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

(13)  And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

(14)  Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

(15)  And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all /them/ that hate thee.

How is the tenth calculated?

Leviticus 27:30-33

(30)  And all the tithe of the land, /whether/ of the seed of the land, /or/ of the fruit of the tree, /is/ the LORD'S: /it is/ holy unto the LORD.

(31)  And if a man will at all redeem /ought/ of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth /part/ thereof.

(32)  And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, /even/ of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.

(33)  He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Luke 18:12

(12)  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

Genesis 28:20-22

(20)  And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

(21)  So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

(22)  And this stone, which I have set /for/ a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Genesis 14:18-20

(18)  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he /was/ the priest of the most high God.

(19)  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed /be/ Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

(20)  And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.

And he gave him tithes of all.

Numbers 18:26

(26)  Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, /even/ a tenth /part/ of the tithe.

Leviticus 5:14-19

(14)  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

(15)  If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

(16)  And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

(17)  And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist /it/ not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.

(18)  And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist /it/ not, and it shall be forgiven him.

(19)  It /is/ a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the LORD.

Numbers 5:6-8

(6) Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

(7) Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.

(8) But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

/     Hasten, my brethren and sisters, to bring to God a faithful tithe, and to bring Him also a willing thank offering.

There are many who will not be blessed till they make restitution of the tithe which they have withheld.

God is waiting for you to redeem the past.

The hand of the holy law is laid upon every soul who enjoys God's benefits.

Let those who have kept back their tithe make an accurate reckoning, and bring to the Lord that of which they have robbed His work.

Make restitution, and bring the Lord peace offerings.

"Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me."

If you acknowledge that you have done wrong in misappropriating His goods, and freely and fully repent, He will forgive your transgression.--R.

& H., Dec. 10, 1901.

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/     God required of His ancient people three yearly gatherings.

"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee."

No less than one third of their income was devoted to sacred and religious purposes.

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/     Whenever God's people, in any period of the world, have cheerfully and willingly carried out His plan in systematic benevolence and in gifts and offerings, they have realized the standing promise that prosperity should attend all their labors just in proportion as they obeyed His requirements.

When they acknowledged the claims of God and complied with His requirements, honoring Him with their substance, their barns were filled with plenty.

But when they robbed God in tithes and in offerings they were made to realize that they were not only robbing Him but themselves, for He limited His blessings to them just in proportion as they limited their offerings to Him.  {3T 395.4}  /

/     Some will pronounce this one of the rigorous laws binding upon the Hebrews.

But this was not a burden to the willing heart that loved God.

It was only when their selfish natures were strengthened by withholding that men lost sight of eternal considerations and valued their earthly treasures above souls.

There are even more urgent necessities upon the Israel of God in these last days than were upon ancient Israel.

There is a great and important work to be accomplished in a very short time.

God never designed that the law of the tithing system should be of no account among His people; but, instead of this, He designed that the spirit of sacrifice should widen and deepen for the closing work.

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