Introduction

Good morning. Let us turn to Malachi Chapter 3. As I studied this chapter, it struck me that although it mentions offerings, it is not really about offerings at all! The theme of this chapter is actually "God as a Refiner's Fire and Fuller's Soap."

You must understand that what ties the content of this chapter together is the theme. If the theme were "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse," it would not be consistent with the other passages. However, with the theme "God as a Refiner's Fire and Fuller's Soap," we can connect it to offerings.

God's Plan is Being Revealed

God reveals His plan through the prophets, so that we may know how God has arranged things, and then we can make decisions. God's plan is to keep the treasures and burn the trash! Will you be trash or treasure? And what is treasure like?

Therefore, I believe that we, in the Chinese Mingding Doctrine, have made a very important discovery: God is selecting treasures. Through this, Jesus Christ reveals the secrets of the heart, and offerings are a very good tool.

In fact, the Old Testament prophets have repeatedly revealed that God is going to carry out a great plan of redemption, but this plan is definitely not about Jesus Christ being "Santa Claus." Rather, Jesus Christ is to be the refiner's fire and the fuller's soap.

Then you must begin to understand that some people will perish, so let them perish. Do not think that God loves everyone. God is also choosing treasures. What are these treasures like? We must ponder this slowly.

So God arranged it this way from the beginning of creation. If we do not know God's plan, we will be confused and say, "Oh, God, why did you create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And put it next to the tree of life! God, could you not have created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" But this is God's plan, to reveal whether you will take the path of the tree of life or the path of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God wants to sift out the treasures.

God has repeatedly sifted out the treasures throughout the ages. So the question now is, are we treasures? Comparing ourselves to God's word, what kind of people are we? Some people say, "Oh, why did God create the Old Testament? God was not good in the Old Testament. Look at the Israelites, did they keep the law?"

But I tell you, God does not care about this at all, because the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ, and through the New Testament, it points to the Church of God, and the Church is the place where treasures are sifted out. Although the Israelites failed in the Old Testament, it is precisely because of this that God's plan came to us Gentiles.

We are not Israelites, but in Jesus Christ, we are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So God arranged it this way before there was Israel, and He arranged it this way after there was Israel.

In the New Testament, you do not need to be confused, because our Lord Jesus is the refiner's fire and the fuller's soap! He is the one who sifts out the treasures. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver." From this, we gradually see a very clear plan of God. God's plan is so great!

Someone may say, "Teacher, when we study the Bible, shouldn't we be studying how we should act?" Yes, now you must choose whether you want to be a treasure in God's eyes or trash in God's eyes. If you want to be a treasure in God's eyes, what should a treasure be like? If you want to be trash in God's eyes, what is trash like? Let me read it to you:

"See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years."

"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 3:1-5)

Do you understand God's plan? This is what the Old Testament prophet Malachi revealed to us: how did the Lord Jesus come? This is a very mysterious and confusing thing.

In fact, the Lord Jesus was not impressive in appearance. He was not tall, rich, or handsome, but was born in a manger in a carpenter's family. For the first few years, He worked as a carpenter. After a few years, He came out to preach, without any diplomas. You could not tell that He was our God.

According to our imagination, when God comes out, He should be surrounded by glory, how wonderful! But Jesus did not do this. The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and no one saw it except John the Baptist. Isn't this confusing?

But when Jesus Christ came, He could make the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, and the dead raised from the dead. Truly, there was "no one like Him before or after"!

And those Pharisees and chief priests sought the Lord, but they did not recognize God! So some people are really confused and say, "God, what are you doing?" In fact, God is selecting treasures! And those who have eyes but do not see will be eliminated by God. God has arranged it this way.

Do not ask God, "God, the Israelites came out of Egypt, and there were 600,000 men who could wield a sword, but in the end, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land, and all the rest died in the wilderness. Can you be lenient?" You must know that He cannot! Because God only wants treasures.

When you see injustice, do not be confused! God wants to cause people to stumble. People are stumbled on the rock of Jesus Christ. "As in the days of old and as in former years," meaning that God had already determined this great plan before the creation of the world, in order to execute judgment and throw the trash into the incinerator.

There are too many confusing things in this world! You will find that some of our brothers and sisters become more and more confused as they go on. That is normal, because they do not know that Jesus Christ is the stone that causes people to stumble. I once preached a sermon called "The Stumbling Stone," and that stumbling stone is meant to cause people to stumble.

So if you stumble on the rock of Jesus Christ, that is wonderful! This is God's plan. Who are you going to reason with? So it is normal to have confusion inside. Our brothers and sisters must begin to understand God's plan. This plan is revealed through Malachi, and then we correspond it: Oh, so that is God's plan.

I ask you, did our Jesus Christ go to preach the gospel to the Pharisees? No! God was too lazy to pay attention to them. That is what Jesus Christ did. Did Jesus Christ go around recruiting people into the church? No! If you want to come, come; if you don't want to come, get lost. Although the word "get lost" is not very pleasant, that is what Jesus meant.

God said: I have chosen you, you have not chosen me! Because God is choosing treasures. If you are willing to be a treasure, God will definitely choose you. If you are not willing to be a treasure, and you like to be trash, and you like to stumble, then stumble!

In the process of shepherding, someone said, "Teacher, I was stumbled by what you said." I responded, "You have never stood up, so how can you say that I stumbled you? Why don't you just say that the Lord Jesus stumbled you?"

In this life, if you stumble, don't look for excuses! Those who are going to stumble will definitely stumble. It may be me who caused you to stumble, it may be the Lord Jesus who caused you to stumble, or it may be someone else who caused you to stumble, but the external reasons are not important. What is important is that you are a stumbling person. Who are you going to blame for your stumbling?

Someone said, "Woe to those who cause others to stumble." Then see if there is really woe. Did Jesus have woe for stumbling people? No! That sentence has another meaning. Ponder it slowly. I will not talk about it this time.

Later, God judges people according to the secrets of their hearts, because Jesus Christ reveals the thoughts of the heart. If Jesus came into this world as a great man, and He wanted to overthrow the Roman Empire, and then became the emperor of the Roman Empire, and gave all the people of Israel official positions, could He still stumble people? He could not stumble them!

It is because He is the son of a carpenter, and He has not studied the scriptures for many years, and He has not received the strict training of the Pharisees, that He stumbles people! Because people look down on Him.

When the Pharisees saw Him, they questioned Jesus, "Isn't this the son of Joseph the carpenter? You were doing renovations for our family last month, how come you are preaching now? Who are you?" They were very confused. Jesus wanted to confuse people, so do not listen to what people say, and do not look at people's backgrounds, but look at what people do. God's plan is so good!

So I was thinking, our brothers and sisters should not choose to stumble. If you stumble, do not blame this or that, just blame yourself, and reflect on whether you are a stumbling person. If you were Joseph, even if you were sold to Egypt, you would not stumble! If you were not Joseph, even if you were not sold to Egypt, you would stumble.

How does God distinguish treasures? How is He like a refiner's fire and fuller's soap? Next, I will tell you.

The Tithe and the Offerings are also the Dividing Line Between Treasure and Trash.

The tithe and the offerings are the dividing line between treasure and trash, and also the dividing line between being cursed and being blessed. Let me read it to you:

"For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’" (Malachi 3:6-7)

They were very confused and did not know how to return to God. What did the prophet say?

"Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you." (Malachi 3:8-9)

You say, if a curse has come upon you, can you still be a treasure? Definitely trash! I was thinking, why are people like this? Do people live by God or by money? Until now, there are many among us who live by money, by work, by business, but God has not yet revealed this.

Brothers and sisters, you must pat your chests and ask yourselves: what do I live by? If you live by money, you will think that money is important, and you will think that giving is foolish. Isn't this stealing God's offerings?

What is the correct attitude towards giving? We give back to God what comes from God. This is not called giving, it is called paying what is due. So I can tell you that people do not know what giving is, and they naturally carry a worldly logical system. And money tests people all at once. How powerful is Jesus Christ!

God is like a refiner's fire and fuller's soap. How does God distinguish people? By giving! You can give money to scammers, but why can't you give money to God? Because the scammers promise to give you a return, so you fall for the scammers' tricks, but in the end, there is no return.

Why do I have the audacity to say, "I will not give you the qualification to give"? Because you have made the concept of giving extremely confusing. Giving is giving back to God what comes from God. There is really nothing great about it.

Everything we have comes from God, and everything belongs to God, let alone money, which is but unrighteous wealth. What are you keeping it for? I thank God for giving me so much, and then I take out a tenth to give. This immediately distinguishes people's logic. Some people think that this money is earned by themselves.

In China, if you are a businessman and you think that every penny is earned by your own hard work, is that really the case? If it were not for the chief architect of reform, Deng Xiaoping, designing it this way, could you earn money? You might be living like a North Korean!

So our brothers and sisters must have clear logic. Do not say that this money is earned by your own hard work. If you were not living in China, could you earn it? So we must know in our minds that every penny is God's grace, so why is giving so difficult?

If you think that all this money is earned by yourself, wouldn't every penny given to God be painful? Like when I gave in the past, it was painful, because I did not know that it came from God.

But I had a clear calculation. The old man who taught me was very rich in Singapore. His family had many gas stations. Cars lined up there to refuel, with 92, 95, and 98 octane gasoline. As long as you refueled at his gas station, his money would come.

Then he said to me, "What you need most is blessing." At that time, after I finished class in the church, he talked to me about giving. Oh, I was very conflicted! If I said I was not conflicted, I would be lying. It was really painful.

But my calculation was very simple. I said, "I really need blessing." Although I did not know what a treasure in God's eyes was at that time, I just felt that I needed God very much.

Then I made a calculation. My work came from God. I gave back to God what came from God. I wanted to give and become a treasure in God's eyes. I am still learning until now.

So the tithe and the offerings are the dividing line between treasure and trash. If you want to be trash, it is easy. You don't have to do anything. Just live according to the logic of the world. Curses and blessings are the signs of trash and treasure.

I like to bless people by saying, "May God be with you." But if God chooses not to be with you, then you can play slowly! In Tianjin dialect, it is called "go play." So let's not "go play." Let's come back and be God's treasures. Don't be silly.

A person's attitude of offering is very important. You have robbed God of His offerings, just like the Israelites. Do you think God cares about their money? No! What God cares about is what is in their minds. God said, "You, the whole nation, are robbing me." That whole nation is trash.

Do you think God really wants to change the Israelites? Actually, God is too lazy to do these things! We rarely say, "Oh, pray for my husband, pray for my wife, so that she can believe in the Lord." Do you think there is a problem with praying for others to believe in the Lord? We must understand in our hearts how important money is to us, and how important God is to us.

God chose the Israelites. They were originally slaves in Egypt. The money was not their own, and they were not their own. They were someone else's property. If they escaped and were caught, people could do whatever they wanted to them, without even needing a court, because they were someone else's property, just like someone raising a dog or a cow. Others couldn't even steal you.

God brought them out of Egypt so that they could be themselves. Oh, they became powerful and thought that money was their own, but which one is yours? It is God who has freed us from slavery!

In the days of Malachi, the Israelites were so abominable. God brought them back from Babylon, but they forgot everything, and everything became their own again.

Private ownership is a great invention that immediately reveals what is in people's hearts. Do you think these riches are yours? When you close your eyes and kick your legs, none of them are yours. It is because people think everything is their own that they live miserably, are deeply controlled by these things, and eventually become trash.

So people either love money or love God; either serve money or serve God; either serve Mammon or serve Jesus Christ. Don't forget as you live that our brothers and sisters have memories worth mentioning, but they forget everything after a while.

Don't worry about the spiritual condition of the pastor. Know that he is leading you to pray desperately, and then after you are healed, you forget everything. A small matter makes you discern good and evil with the pastor, and then the pastor has no good left, only evil.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

"I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the Lord Almighty. "Then all nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:10-12)

People must start with offering when they believe in the Lord. If people do not offer, they will continue to live under a curse. Sometimes it feels like the money is grasped, but it slips out of the fingers, and then when you open your hand, you don't grasp anything. People save money and save money, but then an incident happens, and the money is gone again. They save money and save money again, and then it's gone again. That's really strange, because our attitude towards offering is not right.

One brother said to me, "Teacher, I offer ninety percent." I asked him, "How much is your salary?" He said, "My salary is 2,000 yuan." I said, "If you offer ninety percent, how will you live on the remaining 200 yuan? That's not enough for living expenses!" He said, "Oh, I didn't think about that!"

Then why does he offer ninety percent? Isn't this brain damage? Why didn't God ask for ninety percent offering? Because God doesn't care about money, and offering a tenth is enough to test you. Nine-tenths can't be tested.

So let's brothers and sisters start thinking about it. Try it with offering, give what comes from God to God, and then you will find it's pretty good. I tell everyone, I am a person who likes to do experiments very much. I have done many experiments. I keep the ones that work, and I forget about the ones that don't work.

My first experiment after believing in the Lord was that I didn't offer anything. At that time, I had just believed in the Lord, and I pretended not to know, but God was gracious to me. Oh! What kind of God is this? He is gracious to me as soon as I come up. You must have experienced it too.

Then I started offering. Some of the people who believed in the Lord with me offered one percent or two percent, but I offered ten percent as soon as I came up, because that's what the Bible says. If I cut corners and do shoddy work, will that work? So I tried it.

At that time, a leader in the church told me about offering. I knew he had money. Actually, at that time, I thought in my heart, "Why don't you give me some of your money? Then I wouldn't be so lacking! You still tell me about offering. Why don't you just give me your money? Wouldn't I have money then? That's so fast!" But why would people give you money?

Later, I spent a year doing experiments. Let's calculate it this way. An offering of 200 yuan a month is 2,400 yuan a year, and less than 5,000 yuan in two years. Then I will spend 5,000 yuan to try it. If it works, what a big return on investment! This trial was amazing. The speed at which my salary increased was like sitting on a rocket, soaring upwards. Thank God, this experiment is really good!

But we must know that this is just an experiment, not the goal. After the trial, we find that it works. Do you want to be a treasure in the eyes of Jesus Christ? We must be clear about the final goal, which is that I want to be a treasure in God's eyes.

I offered a tenth of my money. After experimenting, I found that God is really powerful. I don't argue with Him. I completely offer myself. I tell you, after having God, I feel particularly at ease in my heart!

People say, "Try this!" Then I won't try it. I won't suffer a loss. Taking tens of thousands of yuan to a pyramid scheme seller, isn't that because my brain hasn't figured it out? Know that God provides for us, and we lack no good. Can everyone distinguish between good and bad now? But some people don't offer.

A pastor of a church said to me, "We have many Chinese people in our church." I said, "How many?" He said, "Forty." Of course, it's pretty good for a small church to have forty Chinese people. I thought, I only have a few members with great difficulty. I envy him.

I said, "Do all forty people in your church attend the meeting?" He said, "No, ten people attend the meeting." I said, "What about the remaining thirty people?" He said, "They only come when they make dumplings for the New Year." Then they are there for the dumplings!

Then I said, "Of the ten people who attend the meeting, how many offer?" He said, "Two offer." Hey! I originally thought it was very proud to have forty people in the church, but after listening to him, I felt very comforted.

Because from the first day in our church, everyone offers. It's embarrassing not to offer among us. Of course, I don't want him to be embarrassed, but I want him not to lose the blessing. If he loses the blessing, that's troublesome.

Can those who only come to church to make dumplings for the New Year be counted? Oh! I lamented that when we had roast chicken, roast duck, and braised beef, there was also a crowd of people who came. So the church emphasizes that tithing is very important. Don't stop everyone from receiving blessings and becoming treasures in God's eyes.

Contradicting God and Fearing God is the Dividing Line Between Treasure and Trash

"You have said harsh things against me," says the Lord. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?

I tell you, there are still many people in the church who say this kind of thing. How much trash do you think there is?

But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.' " (Malachi 3:13-15)

Seeing such things, what do you think? Actually, what they said is true. Indeed, those who test God get away with disasters, but not all of them. Some people don't get away with it. Evildoers are established because these people's vision is too short. If you live long enough, you will see that according to what he has done, God's curse will surely come upon him.

When these entrepreneurs were in the limelight, they felt so good and so great! They walked with the wind, and a group of "flies and mosquitoes" surrounded them, so glorious, with trillions of assets! But how did they suddenly become indebted? Where did the previous money go? It was retribution.

If you mess around in this world, you will have to pay it back sooner or later. God will definitely make you pay it back! That Sichuan dialect is called "not even leaving your pants," God will definitely retaliate and will definitely judge. If God doesn't judge you in this world, He won't let you go in the underworld.

Because people don't see far enough, they talk nonsense, "Look at how bad he is, how can he still be so successful?" Hey, don't be confused! People are stunned when they see a few such things, because these are all set up and directed by God, just to make people fall.

If you want to fall, it's easy. Don't think that being successful will always be successful, and don't think that what the righteous and the wicked encounter is the same, and then be stunned. If you are a treasure, you won't be stunned.

So if people in this world often judge according to their own understanding, they will be stunned in a while. They think, "Look, he is richer than me, and he doesn't believe in the Lord. How can he be richer than me?" If you are not stunned, who will be stunned?

So brothers and sisters, we must know, don't contradict God. God makes these things appear in the world just to make people fall. God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Looking at the fruit, it is very beautiful. It must be more beautiful than durian, because durian is covered with thorns.

I tell you, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil may even shine. Why did God make the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so beautiful? If it was made like durian, monkeys would have to wrinkle their noses when they smelled it, it's too smelly! Wouldn't that be easy? Although some people like to eat durian, it is really too smelly.

Someone said, "My God! I have never seen such a beautiful fruit. Eating it can also give you wisdom." The Bible does say so, and God does say so. Eating it can give you wisdom. If you want to have wisdom like God, then eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is beautiful and delicious, but is that the case?

God made the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil like this. Do you want to eat it? Don't eat it just because it looks good! So don't contradict God, and don't question God, because you are not qualified, and I am not qualified. We can only fear God!

We must say to God, "God, I fear you. Although I see it vaguely and don't quite understand, God, this is your work. If you want to test me, can I overcome this test? God, may you have mercy on me. I want to be a treasure in your eyes." What do those who fear the Lord say?

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. "On the day when I act," says the Lord Almighty, "they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. (Malachi 3:16-17)

If you are a treasure, God serves you as He serves His own son. How precious do you think this is? So when you encounter confusing things, learn to fear God. Don't ask God about these confusing things, "God, why is this?" God just wants to make you fall and test you.

So I tell you, our God is like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap. If you can still stand after going through God's hands, then you are a treasure. God will treat you like His son, and you will become a prince and princess. How amazing is that?

God gives you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." You can make the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, and the dead rise from the dead. How powerful!

Then you are the son of God, representing God on earth, and you can draw on all the resources of heaven. If you want to compete for resources, the resources of God's children are the most abundant!

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. (Malachi 3:18)

Then God divides this side is trash, and that side is treasure! Those who are God's treasures come over to enjoy the glory of the master, but the trash is thrown away. God finds a few little devils, black-faced, white-faced, red-faced, and yellow-faced, to transport the trash and throw it there! Oh, how smelly! So what do you want to do?

People who are easily confused lack the fear of God, and there is too much trash in their hearts to be cleaned up. What kind of people are we? Malachi has explained this chapter very well. We must now begin to understand that treasures in God's eyes are like this! Don't be stunned. Learn to fear God and you won't be stunned.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Look how well this is said! People must know God's plan, know God's actions, and know that God will execute judgment. God is a rock that makes people fall.

We must tell God, "God, I want to stand on your rock and follow you closely in this life, imitate you, and no matter how beautiful and delicious the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is, I will not eat it! No matter how reasonable I am, I will not speak, but only speak God's word! I will not explain anything for myself, but only learn to fear God. No matter what, I will not fall. I will stand firm by the Lord Jesus, and I will strive to pursue and climb the spiritual peak, and constantly know God in understanding."

If people's understanding is clear, wouldn't that be great? Thank the Lord! The actions of our Lord Jesus are exactly like this. God, may our brothers and sisters all become treasures in your eyes! God, may you do wonderful work among us, refining us, as you refine the treasures in your eyes, becoming pure gold. We just want to be treasures in your eyes, Amen!

This sharing is over here. May God bless everyone!

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