Robbers of God

Robbers of God

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 27, 1890,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!" Malachi 3:8.

These Prophets would have made poor royal chaplains if those who dwell
in kings' houses have to use smooth speech. Malachi here charges the
people with robbery and with the very worst form of it, namely,
sacrilege. He speaks for the Lord and says, "Will a man rob God? Yet
you have robbed Me." It ill becomes the messengers of Heaven to be the
flatterers of rebels. If they should descend to such baseness, they
might well expect that their Maker would take them away. The Lord sends
His servants to speak the Truth in all its plainness, to denounce sin
with all fidelity and to publish God's sentence of condemnation against
those who continue in their iniquity. Men's souls are to be dealt with
honestly and, if need be, sternly. God's Truth is to be handled with
vigorous plainness, for the Lord has said, "He that has My Word, let
him speak My Word faithfully."

Yet notice that Malachi constantly mixes promises with threats and
while he is like a sharp two-edged sword against the evil of the
people, he is as the balm of Gilead to those who feel their disease of
sin and desire to be healed of it. Between the peals of thundering
warning there are silver showers of gracious encouragement! He has
tempest for sin but peace for those who confess it. Almost the next
verse after our text is, "Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in My house and prove Me now herewith, says 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."

Faithful ministries have in them a blending of the Law to drive with
the Gospel to draw. Brothers, we must use the Law for its ordained
purpose. If we omit the discovery and denunciation of evil, we have
neglected a very essential part of our duty, for if men are not
convinced of sin, how will they desire pardon? If conscience is not
awakened, to what can we address ourselves? It is in vain to bring
forth the promises, for the promises are no more sweet to the
self-righteous than bread to a man filled with dainties. What cares a
man for justification by faith who has the conceit that he is already
justified by his own acts? Only those who feel their wounds will plead
for heavenly surgery. I pray that I may so preach this morning that
while I shall not be harsh in spirit, I may bear hard upon those
spirits which are resting in their own innocence! I wish so to speak
that we shall, all of us, see our own shortcomings so as to be startled
into confession and prayer and led humbly to trust in the great
Sacrifice!

It is a very serious charge which the Prophet brings in the text–he
calls men thieves and robbers. He charges the whole nation with robbing
God. We ought seriously to consider a charge so serious and, especially
since at this day it may lie against ourselves. We shall come to this
consideration, noticing in the text astonishment indicated: "Will a man
rob God?" The Prophet asks in amazement, as if such a thing could not
be. Secondly, we shall spend a little time in pressing home the solemn
charge. This will come under the head of confession assisted. We shall
mention, in detail, certain forms which this robbery may take in order
that we may search our own conduct and see whether we are guilty of the
crime. If guilty, may we be moved to repentance of the sin and faith in
the glorious Sin-Bearer through whom we may be pardoned, even though
guilty of treason against the King of kings!

Lastly, we shall help the penitent to the right way under the head of
repentance directed. If we have robbed God, though the crime is, in
itself, most terrible, it is not beyond the reach of mercy. There is
forgiveness with God for this, also, for the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. I shall speak about the way
by which forgiveness may be obtained. Oh, for the Holy Spirit to guide
mind and heart and tongue in this solemn matter!

I. First, then, in the text there is ASTONISHMENT INDICATED–"Will a
man rob God?" The question is asked as if it were improbable, if not
impossible. A man, an insignificant creature, dependent upon his God
for the breath

whereby he lives–will he rob God–the good, the just, the great and
terrible One who can crush him in a moment? "Will a man rob God?"

In the first place, the astonishment arises from the fact that the
action is altogether unnatural. It is illogical and self-condemnatory.
If we have a God, how dare we rob Him? Look at the heathen–they must
have a God–and since they know no better god, the heathen make to
themselves gods of wood, of stone or of clay. When they have made these
false gods they pay them homage as if, indeed, they were gods! For them
they build temples, altars and shrines. Nations in the olden times had
no banks, but treasures deposited in temples were safe from robbery. It
was not supposed that a thief would break into a temple–to do so was a
flagrant crime. There was an awe upon the minds of men which rendered
it an audacious felony to rob their deities, false though they were!
Men who would have plundered palaces, kept back from the temple of
Jupiter, or Minerva, or Diana! No man would rob even an image which he
thought to be a god.

If the heathen would not rob their gods, shall we dare to do so who
have so much light as to the one living and true God? Will men who
profess and call themselves Christians venture upon a profanity from
which the heathen retreated with a shudder? Even Goths and Vandals, in
the days of their invasions of civilization, have been known to stand
back at the door of a Church when the minister of Christ has come
forward to protest against its plunder. If the fierce heathen learned
to respect the holy place, surely it will be a high felony if we,
knowing the true God, dare to break in upon the sacred enclosure of His
honor and rob Him of His Glory which is His spiritual treasure! To rob
God is a superfluity of naughtiness, an extravagance of crime, an
excess of presumptuous provocation! Can man be guilty of it? "Will a
man rob

God?"

In the next place, to rob God is terribly daring. If the thief robs his
fellow man, who is his equal, he has cause to fear the law–he should
reckon upon being searched out by vigilance and punished by justice.
But what are the police and the magistrates and the judges of this
lower sphere compared with the Judge of all the earth? "Will a man rob
God?" The crime is the more audacious because done in God's Presence.
If the robber could go behind the Lord's back to rob Him, his insolence
would not be so manifest–but since the Lord's eyes are everywhere
present, the offense is rank and impudent! The worst of thieves will
not often steal from us to our face–robbery is done in the dark, or on
the sly, or by a cunning trick. But since no place is behind the back
of God and there is no spot where His eyes are not observant– when a
man robs God–he does it before His face!

"Will a man rob God?" What? God, whose eyes are fixed upon him? Will he
thus defy his Maker? We lift up our hands in amazement that such a
crime should be even conceived, much less committed! Yet, before I have
done this morning, I shall have to show that many of us, in different
ways, have been guilty of this audacious crime. "Will a man rob God?"

Furthermore, it is shamefully ungrateful! God has made us and not we
ourselves, therefore we are bound to serve Him and every righteous
instinct forbids our robbing Him. Shall a creature injure its Creator?
If we live, it is by His forbearance. "Will a man rob God" who spares
him? If saved, it must be by His Divine redemption–will a man rob his
Redeemer? If provided with food for the body, it must be by God's daily
bounty–will a man rob his constant Benefactor? O Preserver of men,
will men rob You? Believers in the Lord Jesus, God is your Father and
from you this crime would have a sevenfold heinousness! Will a man rob
his own Father? Can it be that one in whose heart there pulses the life
of God would be guilty of such an infamy as to rob God? I fear it is
so, but in such a case it is ingratitude of so black a type as to be
well-near incredible. Ingratitude in every land and in every age has
been abhorred of just men. It is a fiendish vice. It is at once
contemptible and unendurable–we not only despise, but hate it. Every
voice hoots down ingratitude. Yet when a man robs God, it is
ingratitude written in capital letters–ingratitude that will sink the
soul into the lowest Hell. "Will a man rob God?" The Lord deliver us
from conduct so base!

It is senselessly injurious to the man himself. To rob God is to
plunder ourselves. The man who lives for God does, indeed, and of
truth, in the highest sense, live to his own happiness. He that robs
God of himself robs himself of God and to lose God is to miss our
highest good. To rob God is to waste our own substance, yes, to write
one's own death-warrant. Belshazzar takes from Jehovah the holy vessels
and drinks wine from them at his drunken banquet. And it is written,
"That night was Belshazzar slain." When a man robs God by withholding
more than is meet from the poor, it tends to poverty. None rob God and
really prosper. There are those who waste their substance upon their
own lusts and so rob God–but their profligacy tends to disease,
sadness of heart and eternal ruin.

When a man robs God he is despoiling his own estate. Every penny that
is withheld from God's treasury is put into a bag that is full of
holes. Such gain impoverishes. He that serves God brings a blessing
upon himself and his posterity–he that robs God should listen to the
words which follow my text: "You are cursed with a curse: for you have
robbed Me." Because of this comes the devourer which swallows up the
estate, the waster that eats up the increase of the field and the
destroyer which shipwrecks the result of commerce. If a man knew that
when he robbed God he was cutting the throat of his own
happiness–burying in a wretched sepulcher his peace for the present
and his hope for the future–surely he would pause before he laid his
hand upon the Lord's heritage! In the sight of the curse that goes with
the injustice, "Will a man rob God?"

Once more–"Will a man rob God" when he is so certain of punishment? A
man who is a thief hopes to escape, for human search can be baffled. If
he were sure that he would be taken, tried and condemned, the burglar
would not break into the house–but he hopes by dexterity to evade, or
by false statements to escape from the hand of the law–and therefore
he ventures upon the crime. Now, no man can hope to escape when he robs
God. O Robber, where will you go? In what secret place will you hide
yourself? It was said of a Roman emperor, when Rome was at its highest
power, that for him the whole world was but one great jail in which all
who offended Caesar were prisoners. Wherever an offender fled, the
Roman law would reach him. For him there was no foreign land which
could protect him in exile, no distant country in which he could live
unseen. Once obnoxious to Caesar, he was a doomed man.

And where, O Rebel against God, can you go? If you should mount to
Heaven, there He reigns in splendor! If you should dive to Hell, there
He rules in terror! Far off upon the sea His hand would reach you.
Though your ship should fly before the tempest, He would outstrip you.
Darkness affords no concealment and the grave no shelter. God is
everywhere and His justice finds out His enemies. Thus says the Lord,
"Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and
take them out from there. And though they are hid from My sight in the
bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite
them."

"Will a man rob God" when He thus involves Himself in sure detection
and punishment? Yes, the robber of God is already detected! God has
seen him in the act! The witness against him is unerring. "Will a man
rob God?" How can he be so foolhardy? Will he stretch out his hand
against God and strengthen himself against the Almighty? Let him be
wise and no more dream of robbing the Infinite One. Put all these
things together and I think you will share the Prophet's astonishment
at the crime of robbing God–and you will earnestly pray, "God grant
that we may never be guilty of such wickedness." We hope we have been
kept from the worst forms of this sin, for we regard it with
abhorrence, as the deadliest of evils.

II. And now, secondly, I am coming to closer quarters with you than
under the first head. Now we occupy ourselves with CONFESSION ASSISTED.
I would aid my hearers in examining their lives and hearts, holding a
candle for conscience. I will mention, first, common forms of this
robbery. Here are some of them. Many men, throughout a life which has
been prolonged by God's forbearance, have never given to God even the
semblance of worship. Neither in their hearts, nor in private prayer,
nor in their families have they paid worship to the Lord. They have
never once set up an altar in their family, nor called upon the name of
the Lord.

It may be there are men and women here who are parents and heads of
households and yet after 30, 40, 50 or more years they have never
rendered unto God the glory due unto His name. Never have they sung His
praises with delight, nor offered prayer in humility. The holy Name has
never been on their lips except in carelessness or profanity. Do I
speak too roughly when I take such a person by the hand and say to him,
"You have robbed God throughout your whole life"? He made you but He
has had nothing from you. He has fed you day by day and in His hands
your breath is, but you have done Him no service. If a man buys a cow,
he counts upon its milk. If he keeps a horse, he looks for its labor.
If he owns a dog, he expects it to come to his whistle. Will God make
you, feed you, keep you in life and bless you–and is He to have no
return? "Will a man rob God?"

Many of you think if you maintain your families, pay your debts and
live soberly, all is done that you need think about. God is nowhere and
nothing to you. As far as you can do so you have put God out of the
world–you live as if there were no God. My Friend, this cannot be
right. This injustice to the greatest and the best of Beings–this lack
of thought of Him who daily thinks of you, must be wrong! Bow your head
in shame and confess your fault at once! Many are in the habit of
robbing God in another way. When God prospers them and things go well
with them, you may hear

them exclaim, "I am a lucky fellow! Bless my lucky stars!" By speeches
of this sort they rob God of the thanks they owe

Him.

It is silly and wicked to talk about a fictitious power called fortune,
or good luck! Though the hand of God is distinctly to be seen in the
prosperity which men enjoy, they refuse to see it and talk of chance!
God forgive you! You are robbing Him of His praise. Others, when they
prosper in the world, pay homage to themselves, their industry, their
prudence or their business tact. Self-made men they call themselves.
Self-made men are, as a rule, very badly made–it would be a great
mercy if they could be broken up and made anew in Christ Jesus. But
when a man begins to brag and boast of what he has gathered by his own
genius, he robs God of the honor due to His goodness. Look at
Nebuchadnezzar–he walks through his great city–he marks the broad
walls of Babylon and admires the hanging gardens, bearing forests high
in the air and he exclaims, "Behold this great Babylon which I have
built!"

A few weeks after, as a maniac, he was eating grass with oxen, having
been driven from the dwellings of men. When his hair had grown like
eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws, then he knew how soon
the glorious Lord of Heaven and earth can lay the mighty monarch level
with the beasts. Then he humbled himself and blessed the Most High!
Then he praised and honored Him that lives forever, whose dominion is
an everlasting dominion! I do not wish that you should be bereft of
your wits, but you may be. Perhaps, if your best reason returned, even
that which pride has, for awhile, driven away, it might serve the
purpose I desire–for you to remember that it is God that gives you
power to get wealth. Prosperity, however much it may come by your own
industry, is, nevertheless–when you get to the bottom of it–to be
ascribed to the great favor of God who permits you to enjoy health and
strength–to exercise your industry and to carry out your undertakings.
By forgetfulness of the fountain of all blessings, a man robs God.

I must add here that even men who, in their hearts, fear the Lord, may
be guilty of this sin. If the Lord has seen fit to make you useful, it
will be horrible if you take the praise of it to yourself. It is very
easy for the preacher, when his congregation is large, to think, "This
is due to my eloquence." And when there are conversions he may be
wicked enough to whisper to himself, "This is due to my fidelity." Ah,
me! Shall we sacrifice to our own net because it is full of fish? Shall
the axe that fells the tree glorify itself against the hand that uses
it? The Lord grant we may never fall into this sin! Are you seeking to
win the souls of your children for Christ? Yet maybe you do not gather
large classes, nor see many conversions. May it not be because the Lord
could not trust you with great success? Some workers must not succeed
for it would be at the cost of their souls–they would take the glory
to themselves and so rob God.

I knew a man whom God greatly blessed in a certain place, so that his
preaching turned it upside down. He built a large house of prayer and
filled it with eager hearers. There was such a stir as had not been
known before. He was a successful soul-winner, and he knew it. Alas, he
knew it and you could see that he knew it! He was a man of remarkable
ability as a speaker, and he knew it. He was eminent for influence and
his speech and bearing betrayed that eminence. Where is he now? I
cannot tell you. But there came a sudden stop to usefulness–a foolish
action–and the man became an affliction to the gracious. If we sit up
for masters, instead of being obedient servants, we shall be ordered on
foreign service and shall no more see the King's face. Alas, our
robbery of God by assuming honor for ourselves may prove that the root
of the matter was never in us and that our spiritual power was only
lent to us, as it was to Judas, but we were never children of the
kingdom. "Will a man rob God?" Ah, me, how common are these offenses!
The Lord preserve us from them!

Now I will mention doctrinal forms of this evil. "Will a man rob God?"
Oh, my Friends, how many in these evil days rob God in this fashion!
Some deny the godhead of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know no
greater robbery than to take away from the Ever-Blessed Son of God His
right to be regarded as equal with God. To think of the eternal Word as
only the creature of a day is base robbery! To regard Him whose name is
Emmanuel, "God with us," as a mere teacher or example, but not, "very
God of very God," is treason! If any man here has so robbed the Christ
of God, the Lord have mercy upon him.

"Will a man rob God?" Some rob the Holy Spirit of His Personality. He
is spoken of by them as an influence, but not as true God. He is spoken
of as, "It," instead of, "He." And He is not worshipped as one Person
of the blessed Trinity in Unity. Too many practically ignore Him and
preach as if they could do without His aid. Thus they rob Him of His
true position in reference to the things of God. O Friends, beware of
robbing God the Holy Spirit, for this is to tread on tender ground! It
is possible, also, to rob the Divine Father. In preaching the sacrifice
of Christ it is possible to extol the

Son at the expense of the Father. It will never do to make it appear
that Jesus died to make the Father merciful. God the Ever-Blessed, the
first Person of the sacred Trinity, is Love and therefore He gave His
Son to die for men.

We are to worship the Son even as we worship the Father! To magnify the
love of the Son above the love of the Father would be to rob God! May
none of us dishonor any one Person of the sacred Three. Concerning each
Divine Person let us sing–

"Then let us adore, and give Him His right,

All glory and power, and wisdom and might;

All honor and blessing, with angels abo ve,

And thanks never-ceasing, for infinite love." Though we understand not
the mystery of the Trinity, let us believe and worship and so escape
the sin of robbing God. Beloved, some yield to the temptation to limit
the legal claims of God. They rob Him of His rights under His just and
righteous Law. It has been taught by certain divines that God does not
require from us perfect obedience to His Law, but only asks sincere
obedience. If we go as far as we can, that will suffice–so they tell
us. This is not true, for the Law of the Lord stands fast forever, "You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your
neighbor as yourself."

To tone down the demands of this perfect Law and absolve men from their
duty to obey every portion of it is to rob God and to teach others to
do so. Although by reason of our sinfulness we cannot render perfect
obedience, God is not to be blamed for that and neither is He to lose
His due. If I cannot pay, yet the debt remains. I am under obligation
to the Law to keep it. It is written, "Cursed is every one that
continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to
do them." It is ours to come before God saying, "The Law is holy and
just and good but I am carnal, sold under sin." If we do not consent
unto the Law, that it is good, we rob God of His goodness, wisdom and
justice in making such a Law.

Not a few rob God, also, by rebelling against His Sovereignty. I have
known men to bite their lip and grind their teeth in rage when I have
been preaching the Sovereignty of God. Yet it is true and who is he
that replies against God? He will have mercy on whom He will have
mercy. He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. He
demands, "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with My own?" Men
seem to think that God is under obligation to grant salvation to guilty
men–that if he saves one He must save all. They talk about rights as
if any man had any right before the Throne of God except the right to
be punished for his sin! Mercy can only be shown to the guilty on the
ground of the royal prerogative. It must be the free act of God's
Grace, done at His own good pleasure if any guilty man is saved from
death.

The doctrinaires of today will allow a god, but he must not be
King–that is to say, they choose a god who is no god and rather the
servant than the ruler of men! We, however, declare on God's behalf,
that "it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God
that shows mercy"–and at the sound of this doctrine they stamp their
feet with rage! They would rob God of His crown and leave Him neither
throne nor will. This will not do for me! My heart delights to say, "It
is the Lord: let Him do what seems good to Him." Whatever is His
pleasure shall by my pleasure. Even if the Lord condemns me, I cannot
say that He is unjust. But if He has mercy upon me, I must ascribe it
wholly to His free and Sovereign Grace! Rob not God of His Sovereignty
but rejoice that the Lord reigns and does as He wills.

I fear that many rob God of the Glory of his Free Grace which is akin
to His Divine Sovereignty and is one of the brightest jewels of His
crown. God saves not according to merit, but according to mercy. "The
wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life." Salvation
is freely given, not because man merits it, but because Jehovah wills
it. All salvation is of Divine Grace and not of works. I say it is of
Free Grace and it is muttered that the expression is a tautology. I
know it is–but we want to be understood. Salvation comes because God
wills to save. Grace is given to the most unworthy of the sons of men
to show that it is of Grace and not of debt!

But, ah, these knaves–they drag in human goodness or strength by the
heels if they cannot get it in any other way! To spoil the freeness of
Sovereign Grace and so to rob God of Glory is the ambition of many a
preacher! One drop of human merit put into a sea of Free Grace
preaching will spoil it all. "If by grace, then is it no more of works;
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it is of works, then is it no
more grace, otherwise work is no more work." Stand to it, Brothers and
Sisters, that by GRACE we are saved! In these evil days stand boldly
out and protest against every Gospel that conceals Sovereign Grace as
the fountain of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Now I will come closer home to certain of you, while I mention
practical forms of this robbery of God. With too many God is robbed of
that part of time which belongs to Him. And what part of time does He
claim? One day in seven! He has given six days to us to use for our
business, but He has reserved one day in seven for Himself and this He
has done for our good. Christ our Lord has taken away whatever of
bondage there was about the Sabbath Law, as interpreted by the Jewish
Rabbis. And by example and by speech He has told us that acts of
necessity, acts of mercy and acts of piety are allowable on Sunday. The
bitter observance of the Sabbath was opposed by our Lord, that He might
bring to us the true rest.

Yet, in many ways, men are conspiring to rob God of the day which He
has hallowed. The little which remains of sacredness about this day is
now being threatened to our national injury. Give up the Sabbath and
you reduce the nation to slavery. A week without a Sabbath is perpetual
bondage. This break of a day's rest makes it possible for the toiling
man to live. Alas, at this day the very highest in the land are setting
the example of disregarding the sanctity of the Lord's-Day! I grieve to
have to say it of one who has been otherwise regarded, but so it is,
that, by royal example, the day is turned from its holy purpose. It is
not only from the ribald and the profane that our Christian Sabbath is
in danger, but from those whose example has weight about it because of
the honor justly paid to long years of virtue. God forgive the error
and cause it to cease!

Brothers and Sisters, we must, to the utmost of our power, conserve for
God His holy day or we shall be guilty of robbing Him! Very sincerely
did we sing just now–

"Welcome, sweet day of rest, That saw the Lord arise; Welcome to this
reviving breast, And these rejoicing eyes."

All time is the Lord's due and all the life of man. Let us not rob Him
of our youth. He says to the young, "Remember now your Creator in the
days of your youth." Young man, do not rob God of your prime! Do not
give to the world and to sin the morning of your days while the dew of
youth is upon you. Rob not God of your early manhood but give Him your
flower in its bud. Every day and all the day–and the whole of life
belongs to God. Do not let us waste a minute in that which would
provoke Him to anger, but let Him have each moment, for He prepares for
us an eternity of reward.

"Will a man rob God?" Many rob God by not giving Him their hearts. "My
son," said He, "give Me your heart." He claims you–give Him yourself.
He made you and He alone can save you–give Him yourself. Will a man
rob God? I pray you, do not! Render to the Lord your spirit, soul and
body. Have you a faculty which you only use for self? You are robbing
God–for the talent, the strength, the life you have are all His. These
are the pounds which you must put out to interest for your Lord. If
even your single pound is not used for Him, you will be found guilty of
unfaithfulness in your stewardship.

Those may be said to rob God who have never borne testimony to the
Grace which they believe they have received. You have been saved but
you have never told anybody of the wondrous blessing–no, not your own
wife! You have been converted–at least you hope so–but you have never
confessed it, even to your children! Are you not robbing God of the
revenue of Glory which would come to Him through the testimony which
you are sent into the world to bear? If all Christians were dumb as you
are, God would have no witness left on the face of the earth! Will men
rob God of the confirmation of His Word which a gracious experience
furnishes? You have influence–will you rob God of this, also? We have
all some influence, even as we all cast a shadow as we walk in the sun!
Are you using your influence for God? If not, you are robbing Him of a
great gift which He meant you to use for the glory of His name and the
extension of His kingdom.

Perhaps you have more than influence–you have power–for you are the
head of a family and you can command your household and your children
after you. Are you leading servants and children in a wrong road? You
are the Lord-Lieutenant in your own little sphere and are you using
that power in a rebellious manner? Do you teach others to do what you,
yourself, know to be evil? Alas, you rob God! Will you continue to rob
God? In making you a father, a mother, an employer of labor and so
forth, the Lord has entrusted you with a measure of His own power–will
you use it against your Sovereign Lord? Are you a leader in society?
Will you rob God? Are you a senator? Will you go into the Parliament
House to vote for Acts which will be prejudicial to morals and
religion? Are you a magistrate and will you

wink at evil? Will you tolerate the indecencies and immoralities of our
streets? Shall justice be the servant of vice? God forgive men who thus
rob God!

Will men rob God of His portion of their wealth? I must not leave this
out, for it is necessary to speak out in the matter of consecration of
property. How many professors of religion are robbing God? If we are
Christians, we profess that all we have belongs to God. You do not
dispute that statement. Well, then, when a man hoards up all he can
scrape together–is he not robbing God? When a man dies enormously
rich, as many professing Christians have done, must they not have
robbed God? Can it be said that they have discharged their stewardship
aright when they have kept their Master's property for themselves? It
is better for a Christian to die comparatively poor than enormously
rich! Rich wills may go to show that the deceased did not use his
pounds for his Lord, but for himself.

Do not many Christians fail to see that God is the first owner of their
possessions? They dribble out a little to His cause but is there not
robbery in that which is withheld? They could not have the face to deny
something and, as compared with their neighbors, they are even
generous–but as compared with their obligations to God, have they not
robbed Him? If we spend upon ourselves beyond bounds. If we lay out
upon luxury more than is necessary. If we are superabundantly
self-indulgent and are not consecrating a fair proportion of our
substance to the cause of God and the help of the poor, we are
assuredly robbing the Most High! I fear that many a wealthy man on his
dying bed will find that gold makes a hard pillow. He will endure many
a pang of conscience if he has seen missions languish, the Church of
God impeded in her efforts and a thousand good efforts nipped in the
bud from lack of money which he might have given. The work of the Lord
would never go a-begging if Believers were but commonly honest to their
Redeemer's cause. If I plead like this, somebody raises an objection
but I cannot help it. I seek nothing for myself–but I urge my Master's
claims.

"Will a man rob God?" I close this help to confession which, I think,
must have come home to many of you, when I say that with certain
persons there are peculiar forms of this evil. When yonder friend lay
sick and thought himself at death's door, he said, "O Lord, raise me
up!" And then he vowed unto the Lord to devote a portion of his means
to holy purposes. If he has not kept that sacred promise, I put the
question to him with emphasis, "Will a man rob God?" Many years ago
there came a friend to this place in fearful anxiety of mind. He told
me that he had years before made a vow to give to God a very
considerable amount but he had delayed payment. The result, at last,
was that his conscience troubled him and he could get no rest either
day or night. He was greatly relieved when he handed over the amount to
the Orphanage and College and other works. Certainly he found it that
day more blessed to give than to receive!

When I thanked him for such large help, he said, vehemently, "Do not
thank me. I thank you for taking the trouble to use this money for the
Lord. It is a great relief to me to be rid of this amount, for I fear I
have not acted honestly towards the Lord my God." Vow slowly, pay
promptly! Do not hasten to say, "I will do this or that"–but when you
have once said it, see that you do it and do it to the fullest. Be not
like Ananias and Sapphira, who kept back part of the price of the land
which they professed to give to the Lord and to His Church. Never let
us boast that we have done this or that for the Lord if we have not
really done so to the letter–for in so doing we shall stand on
hazardous ground. I leave the matter with God and your own consciences,
only asking once more the solemn question, "Will a man rob God?"

III. Very briefly I would conclude with REPENTANCE DIRECTED. If any
here are convicted by their own conscience, I ask them not to go out as
they did who were convicted by our Lord, but I do ask that while we
remain here we may feel a deep sense of shame because of our
shortcomings towards God. If in any one of the ways mentioned we have
robbed God, may confusion cover us. You that cannot say you have served
Him at all, repent of such a robbery of God! You strong men and lovely
women who are sitting here–who gave you your strength and beauty? Have
you all your lives lived for self? What? No thought of God? Your
Creator you have forgotten–He to whom you rightly belong you have
practically denied. Confess the wrong! Humble yourself about it and may
God the Holy Spirit work a sound conviction which shall lead you to
real penitence.

Next, as much as lies in you, make restitution. See how the Prophet put
it. "Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
meat in My house." God requires that of you who have defrauded Him. You
are not to say, "I am sorry," and then go on in the same unrighteous
manner. If you have wronged any man, never rest till you have made
restitution to him. If in business, by petty pilfering or deception,
you have dishonestly profited to the injury of another, set it right.
You cannot expect to have peace in your conscience till you have, to
the utmost of your power, rectified the wrong. As to the Lord Himself,
if you have robbed Him, attend to that business. "Bring you all the
tithes

into the storehouse." Support His cause. Pay your fair proportion of
the expenses of His house and do not withhold that which is due.

Above all things, behold the great Maker of restitution. There is One
who said, "I restored that which I took not away." The Lord Jesus,
alone, can put away the guilt of your robberies of God! He gave Himself
to remove sin. Yes, He gave Himself up to the stroke of the sword of
Justice that sinners might not perish. He died between two thieves, for
there are many robbers of God in the land. The justice of God is
appeased for your robberies by the death of Jesus. Look to God without
fear! Look to Him and be saved! He is willing freely to forgive all
your trespasses for Jesus' sake. Only trust Him–only trust Him now and
He will set you at liberty from the curse which follows all who rob
God. Believe and your sin is gone–

"Sunk as in a shoreless flood, Drowned in the Redeemer's precious
blood." Lastly, if you are saved, say in your soul, "The past is
forgiven and my fearful robberies of God are pardoned. Therefore I will
rob Him no more. By God's help it shall be my delight to spend and be
spent for Him and–

"If I might make some reserve, And duty did not call I love my God with
zeal so great, That I would give Him all."

I plead for perfect consecration–anything short of that is robbery of
God! To live alone for Him who loved you and gave Himself for you is
your debt to God–anything short of that is robbery of God. Chosen
before all worlds, will you not be the Lord's? Adopted into the family
of Grace, will you not serve your heavenly Father? Made an heir of God,
joint heir with Jesus Christ, will you not glorify Him who has raised
you to this dignity? Ordained to everlasting bliss, a crown awaiting
your brow, a palm of victory prepared for your hand, a mansion in Glory
made ready for you by your glorious Forerunner–will you not glorify
your God?

Need I plead with you? No, I will not! As you love Christ who has loved
you, I beseech you, present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God
which is your reasonable service. Be not so unreasonable as to refuse
your life, your all for His dear sake. Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Malachi 2:17; 3.