Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and
reading from our text, verse 9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sins
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse
9. Really dear friends, we have
in this chapter a whole chapter given to the apostle exhorting
the Corinthians to give and to help the poorer brethren. They had undertaken a year before
this that they would do this, and he is writing to them now
and using the Macedonian churches, how they had given, not just
in a monetary way, but given their own selves to the Lord. Sometimes we may be in a position
where we can actually give ourselves in helping the brethren. Our
time, our energy, our skills, be as it were on the front line
of helping. Other times we're not in a position
to do that and so we only can give money and do it in that
way. that maybe are in that position. But either way, and we find the
church at Macedonia seems to have done both ways, there is
a evidence and fruit of love. And this is what he brings up
several times. He says in verse 8, to prove
the sincerity of your love. And then in verse 24, the proof
of your love. and of our boasting on your behalf."
Paul had spoken of their readiness to give, and now he wanted to
make sure that they didn't put it off, but they performed that
which they said they would do. I always find it very interesting
how the Apostle deals with these matters, He doesn't just assume
that those that are called by grace will automatically be cheerful
givers or show this fruit of love. In the early church, we
do see that they did that straight away. But here, instead of just
writing to them and saying to them, look, you promised to do
this a year ago. You haven't done it. whereas
the evidence of your love and of Christianity, he deals with
it in a very loving way, and in a way that is used to enforce
what he is saying to them, and in some ways we might think,
well, putting one church against another, is that a good idea,
a good thing to do? Well, the thing is, they had
been willing. They had been willing a year
ago. And so he is then using one church's liberality to exhort
another to do the same. But he doesn't just leave it
there. He uses our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as an example as
well. And of course, the Macedonian
church He says in verse 5, that they first gave their own selves
to the Lord. And as if as he's written that,
he then thinks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave himself. And so he says in the words of
our text, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, Yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye
through his poverty might be rich. As if you say to them,
new Corinthians, you are rich. Now for the sakes of your poor
brethren, you become poorer, that through your poverty or
reducing of your riches, that they might be made rich. And he's picturing the transfer
of riches from one to another and he puts that in the words
of our text as the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
children receive of his riches, of that which he has purchased
for them and it is through his condescension, through his coming
to this world, through his poverty or being made willingly poor,
that there is blessing to the people of God. And it's good
for us where we see the necessity of fruits in our lives, see some
evidence of a loosening of our hand of this world's things and
a proof that we are pilgrims and we're seeking those things
which are above and are able to realize in doing that something
of what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And if we maybe find it
hard parting with riches, then to think of our Lord who spoke
of the glory that he had with his father before the world was. So it's a whole chapter really
given to exciting these Corinthians to give and administer the provision
to the poorer brethren. There's another interesting thing
in this chapter as well. The Corinthians are not taking
that which they've given and conveying it themselves. They're
giving it to Paul, to Titus, to those that are charged with
administering the gift. And Paul makes the point in verse
20, avoiding this that no man should blame us in this abundance
which is administered by us." As if he almost foresees this
charge that they are the ministers of the gospel, they have an abundance
and they're conveying it to another There would be those that say,
there you are, you're just in it for the money, you're just
getting riches. Sadly, there are those churches
and church leaders that that is the case. But Paul here, he
says, all we are is a conduit. All we are is a means of bringing
this from the brethren, that are able to supply the need and
convey it to those that need it. And we could put that in
a gospel way as well. The Lord's servants, we do not
have the riches, they're not our riches. Paul, he says, we
have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. It's not the minister
that says, well, these riches, they're mine and I'm imparting
them. No, he's receiving them from
the Lord and imparting that to the people, conveying that to
the people. So much better than even in monetary
things, but to receive the blessings of grace and the teaching of
the word, prized and valued much more than even temporal. things and temporal riches. And
yet, when we have a chapter like this, reminded how practical
real Christianity is, how it does look upon the needs of others
and minister to the needs of others. But I want to look this
evening at the example that the Apostle uses and brings before
the Corinthian church to bring them to be a follower of the
Lord and really is so that they consider the grace of God and
what our Lord has done for his people. For ye know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich. He begins with this word for
ye know. And yet though they knew these
things, he is rehearsing it again before them. I believe there's
many, many times we need to be reminded of things that we actually
know already. And so I want to think in three
ways this evening. Firstly, his grace in coming
to this world. And then secondly, his grace
in dying for his people's sin, to put them away at Calvary. And then thirdly, his grace bestowed,
that is through his poverty or what he has purchased for his
people, that which is then conveyed to them. If we were to think
of it in an overall thing, it would be a sad thing if these
Corinthians parted with what wealth they had, but no one received
the benefit of it. It didn't actually get to the
end user at all and the poor brethren. And so with our Lord
Jesus Christ, that which he has done, it shall to the glory of
God, get to the poor of the flock and to the poor brethren, those
that need. these things. So firstly, you
know. You know the grace of our Lord
in His coming. And none of us, of course, have
known it in a personal way, of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We think of the shepherds, they
knew of His coming, those that saw Him as dear Simeon. Now,
Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to
Thy word. and of course those that saw
our Lord while He was here below. But for most of the Church of
God, that which they know of the coming of the Lord is that
which is conveyed to us through the Holy Word of God, through
the Gospels, specifically the two Gospels, Matthew and Luke,
of His birth and who is coming, but through the Scriptures that
prophesied and spoke of His coming. And it is a blessed thing where
what we know is through the Word of God. We're never to despise
that, though we have in our hem, we're not to learn God's truth
as schoolboys learn their task. Yet may we ever remember that
the blessing that the Lord opened, the understanding of his disciples,
it was that they might understand the scriptures, that they might
know those things that they read, not like the eunuch, understandest
thou what thou readest, and he couldn't know it. And so with
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might know that. Now there are many that would
say, well, we know about the coming of Jesus Christ, but do
they know it in the way they're set forth in our text because
it is set forth here that he came from being rich and laid
that richness down to come to this world. Now there are some
that say well our Lord is no more than a created angel or
a man created he became a son by birth only, not the eternal
Son. But the Scriptures and our text
here tells a very, very different story. It sets forth that our
Lord was equal with the Father and was with the Father. The
Lord spoke of the glory that He had with the Father before
the world was. If we minimize at all His glory
and majesty, in creation, in eternity past, let us make man
in our own image, and that glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and full of truth, then it minimizes right
the way through all of what he has to give. It would be like
saying to these Corinthians, well, you didn't have really
riches in the first place at all. But if they didn't, how
could they bestow it? and with our Lord. What is set
forth here, the grace of our Lord was in His humiliation,
it was in Him being born of a woman and made under the law, that
He would redeem them under the law. It is a willing humility,
a willing humbling Himself and be willing obedience to be obedient
even unto the death of the cross. And so his coming, the grace
of the Lord in coming, to do thy will, O God, he says, here
I am, send me. And the willingness of the son
to come and do his father's will. And 12 years of age, we read
Wesley Knott that I must be about my father's business, his coming. to this world and his humiliation
in that way is vitally important, a vital part of the preparation
and of the provision for the people of God. Laying aside his
glory, coming into that position to be able to administer the
grace that was needed. The sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus
Christ had the preparation to it, a prepared lamb, a lamb slain
in the purposes of God from the foundation of the world. Without
the shedding of blood there is no remission, so the Son of Man
must take on Him flesh and bones and blood of His people. and
a preparation must be performed. And what is set forth here, ye
know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor. While he was on earth,
one of the things that the scribes and Pharisees cast at him was,
is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son,
They despised him, they derided him and because of his low station
and because of the place, the position that he placed himself
in. But that did not take away, in
fact that was necessary for the blessing to be bestowed. And
the Apostle Paul as well, we know that the churches they said
that His bodily presence was contemptible. He led his way
to impowerful. But just because he was what
he was and despised in that way, didn't take away the power and
authority of the gospel and of the word. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, though he lays his glory by, it doesn't take away, but
adds to what he is to give and do for his people. I never think
that humility is weakness, or lowliness of mind and meekness
is weakness. No, our Lord came into that place,
brought down low, and the people of God exhorted the same too,
to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you. in due time, and our Lord Jesus
Christ was to walk in that same path. Ye know the grace of our
Lord. We may ask ourselves then, do
we know it in this aspect, the grace of God in coming, the grace
of God in his humiliation, in laying down his riches, his glory
that he had with the Father, His coming to this world in the
way that He did. For we know the grace of our
Lord. Another aspect of this is we
may know what He actually did in coming, but do we trace that
as His grace, the grace of our Lord? We may know of an event actually
happening or someone doing something, but do we know it as a gracious
act? A free, unmerited act. A bestowing of help upon those
that didn't deserve it, didn't merit it, and freely and sovereignly
to do so. Though this is not just knowing
what he did, but the spirit in which he did it. And of course,
with the Corinthians and any that are giving, our Lord spoke
of the widow that was casting in the mites into the treasury.
And he says that she has cast in all of her living. She has
cast in more. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver,
and it is the spirit, the grace that is bestowed in that giving
And that is what Paul is highlighting here with our Lord. Not just
that he was rich and yet for your sakes became poor, but you
know the grace of our Lord in that. The second thing is his
grace in dying, bound up with being made poor. He became obedient,
even unto death, even the death of the cross and the scriptures
make it clear he could not go any lower than that to put himself
in the place of his people and to be subject to what was their
sentence in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die the sentence passed upon adam and all his race the lord
takes that sentence on himself as if it was his debt and he
was to pay that. And in this way, though he was
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich. There's only one way that God
could bestow riches and blessing and grace upon his people, and
that he pays their debt first. He settles their debt. In a natural way, if we were
to settle someone else's debt, we are going to be imparting
something of what we have to pay their debts. And that is what is set before
us here. Our Lord is truly God, could
not part with anything. God cannot change. His grace
is that which belongs to His humanity. It belongs to His humiliation,
to His coming to this world. And again, you know the grace
of our Lord. We could know the actual facts,
all four of the Gospels. set forth the facts of our Lord's
sufferings and death. But we could know all of that
and not actually ascribe it to the grace of our Lord. But this
is what Paul is highlighting here, not just what was done,
but this is the grace, this is how Paul, and of course we finish
all of our services in this way with how he finishes the epistle
to them here in verse 14 of chapter 13, the last verse of this epistle. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen. And he is then highlighting
right through not just what the Lord has done, but that it is
grace, free, favour bestowed upon those that instead of replying
with favour, they really turn against Him. Now it was said
of Hezekiah, the Lord blessed him, He gave him 15 years added
to his life, but he did not render according to the benefit. And
I believe all of us would say that know the grace of God that
we have not rendered according to the blessing and benefits
that we have received. We look upon with shame our works,
our fruits, what we have done, how we have acted towards the
Lord. You think of the children of
Israel coming out of Egypt. The Lord brought them out with
a high hand, a wonderful hand. Were they grateful? Were they
thankful? There were times of seeing His
praise about how quickly they murmured, how quickly they charged
the Lord from bringing them into the wilderness to destroy them.
They murmured for lack of water, lack of manner. They made themselves
idols. They didn't appear to be a people
that were really thankful for that Passover blood and for what
the Lord had done for them. most solemn thing, and yet this
is what grace is. Kindness is one thing, to show
kindness to someone, but if that person doesn't show kindness
back, or perhaps even turns and ruins some of our goods, and
then we still show them that kindness and that benefit and
blessing, that is grace. The free unmerited favour of
God in the face of an active demerit, actively rebelling and
going against the Lord. We need the grace of the Lord,
and here He is providing that in His death. It is Christ that
died, yea, rather is risen again, and sitteth on the right hand
of the throne of God on high. And he brings forth the top stone,
he cries grace, grace unto it. So again we may ask, do we know
not only what the Lord has done, but the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ in not only coming to this world, but his death, his
sufferings, his obedience unto the death of the cross. And then
lastly, in the third place, His grace bestowed. The end result,
that in our text, He became poor that ye, through His poverty,
might be rich. Through His coming, through His
death, through His laying aside His robes, through His sufferings,
that is where the people of God are made rich. The payment that
he paid, the bestowing of the benefits of his death, makes
rich. Again, the emphasis is not just
on knowing what the Lord does for his people, taking them from
the ruins of the fall, quickening them into eternal life, giving
them an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and reserved in
heaven for them, paying their debts, taking away all condemnation,
appearing in the presence of God for them and making intercession
for them according to the will of God, these blessings and these
riches and the provision for the people of God. is not only
a fact, but it is the grace. Paul writes to the Ephesians,
by grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. The provision in the gospel is
a grace bestowed. In the illustration here, there
is to be a conveying of the gatherings from Corinth and a conveying
to the poor brethren and the churches that were in need. And so it is in a gospel sense. There is a conveying of God's
grace, a conveying of the blessings that the Lord Jesus Christ has
purchased for his people. And that primarily is through
the Word of God, through the blessings of the Gospel, through
the preaching of the Word. That is how it is conveyed. In
those blessings they lift a poor sinner up, up off the dunghill
and put him amongst princes. They give him a hope of riches
that are beyond this world and they, when they are bestowed,
makes him whole. with a loose hand the things
of this world. In Hebrews 11, we have the description
of those who have true faith of God, in that they declare
that they are strangers and pilgrims in the earth, that this is not
their rest, it is polluted, and they seek a city yet to come,
and their affections are set upon things above. Those riches
and treasures that Christ has given to his people, they understand
those. They value them. They trace them
as coming from the Lord, as purchased for them and bestowed upon them. And here below there is earnest
of them, foretaste of them, yes, but tokens of them. We're used
to in many things, having tokens of something. Those of us that
may own a home, we might have a token of that, a title, a title
deed. And you look upon that piece
of paper, it might have our name on it. You can't live in a piece
of paper, and the piece of paper itself is worthless, but in as
far as it is a token or an evidence, it is of great value. And that
which the Lord gives his children is of great value, as was the cord let down by Rahab to her,
is the difference between life and death. She says, give me
a true token. And they gave her that true token.
And as she sheltered beneath that, it was of great value. It was the difference between
life and of death. And may we understand the tokens
of our Lord, the grace of our Lord. We are not to enter into
heaven but beyond the grave. But here below, the Lord has
given those tokens of it. Here in this chapter, there is
set before us a proof, a proof of love. And in John's epistles,
We read that we know that we have passed from death unto life,
in that we love the brethren. And then we have an evidence
as well in James, where James speaks of true faith, and he
says In Chapter 2, he says, What doth it profit, my brethren,
that a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith
save him? If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye
give them not those things which are needful to the body, What
doth it profit? Even so, if it hath not works,
is dead being alone. And so he sets forth the same
evidence of the grace of God and the love of God in a practical
way that the Apostle was setting forth before these Corinthians. The blessings that flow from
our Lord We can understand the idea of money, of food, of clothing
being conveyed to someone and they receive the blessings of
it. But may we see it in a spiritual
sense. And the blessings through our
Lord Jesus Christ, they clothe a poor sinner with his righteousness. His blood blots out their sins. The blessing of his spirit seals
for heaven. and He gives them what they need
here below, grace to help in time of need as we had this morning,
and every blessing flows to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He does provide for His church, He does provide for His people
graciously, lovingly, freely, and it flows to us through Jesus'
precious blood. And may we know this personally,
so what the Apostle says to the Corinthians, he may say to us,
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. The Lord bless us with that grace
and the fruits of it, and bless us with not only knowing of what
the Lord has done, but tracing the grace of our Lord in all
that he has done. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.