Morning service to number six
in your hardback handle, number six. Come thou almighty king,
and if you could please stand, number six. We're going to sing an a cappella.
The batteries are gone. I think we've had that hymnal
for how long? 20 years? So we may have to consider getting
a new one. But anyway, we're just going
to sing this a cappella. Number six, Come Thou Almighty King.
Come Thou Almighty King, help us Thy Name to sing, help us
to praise. Father of Gloria, O'er all Victoria,
Come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come thou incarnate
Word, gird on thy mighty sword, our prayer attend. Come and thy people bless, and
give thy word success. Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come, holy Comforter, Thy sacred
witness bear In this glad hour. Thou who almighty art, now rule
in every heart, and e'er from on thee part, Spirit of power. to the great one in three. Eternal praises be, hence, evermore. His sovereign majesty may we
in glory see, and to eternity love and adore. You can be seated. Good morning. What a great call
to worship that is. Lord, if you'll come If you'll
come and make yourself known to our hearts, we'll have worshipped
God. We're going to be in 2 Corinthians
chapter 8, the first hour this morning, 2 Corinthians chapter
8. Let's ask the Lord to bless His
Word to our hearts. Our Heavenly Father, we've rejoiced
in being able to say, Come thou almighty king. We thank you that
you've put it into our hearts to desire thy presence. To ask
you, Lord, for Christ's sake to to make known your glory and
your grace in our hearts. Lord, that you would draw us
into thy presence. that you would open the eyes
of our understanding, that you would anoint us with your spirit
and bless your word to our thinking and our believing. Lord, we thank you that you've
called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. We pray
that the light of the gospel in the face of thy dear son the
Lord Jesus Christ would shine in our hearts. And for those
Lord that remains strangers to your grace, we pray that your
Holy Spirit would would call them to out of darkness that
you would cause them Lord to believe on thy son. For it's
in his name we ask it. Amen. I have preached from 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 on at least two or three occasions that I can remember
and dealt with the subject of giving because at the surface
of things it seems like that's the subject that the Lord is
addressing. In revisiting 2 Corinthians chapter
8, I've come to realize that giving is not the main theme
of this chapter. The main theme, as I hope that
we'll see from this chapter, is a willing heart. A willing heart. That's the theme
of this chapter, and that's the hope that I have for myself and
for you this morning, that the Lord would give to us a willing
heart. I have no interest in putting
anyone under any obligation of duty or guilt or sense of reward
for giving or not giving. But I have a genuine desire that
the Lord would give to us a willing heart. A willing heart is not a decision. It's not something that we just
decide one day, well, I'm going to be willing. I'm going to be
committed. A willing heart is a work of
grace. It's a work that God must do inside of us. And if He does, then everything
else will follow. Notice in verse one, moreover
brethren, we do you to wit to the grace of God bestowed upon
the churches of Macedonia. That's how this chapter begins.
Paul's writing to the church at Corinth and he's saying, we
want to tell you about the grace that God has given to the churches
of Macedonia. A willing heart is a work of
grace. It's a miracle. Man thinks to his demise that
because he has options and choices that he has to make every day,
that therefore his will is free. The truth is that left to ourselves,
our will is not free. Our will is in bondage to our
nature. And until God takes out our heart
of stone and puts in a heart of flesh, until he makes us new
creatures in Christ Jesus, we will make choices contrary to
the will of God. Turn with me, if you will, to
John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And we'll begin reading in verse
24. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, who
art thou? And Jesus said unto them even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I've been
telling you who I am, but you can't hear. You can't will your
way into the kingdom of God. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
Oh Lord, give me a willing heart. I have many things to say and
to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak
to the world those things which I have heard of him. they understood
not that he spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto
them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, But as my
father hath taught me, I speak these things, and he that sent
me is with me. The father hath not left me alone.
I do always those things which please him." You see the last
phrase of verse 29? That's what distinguishes the
Lord Jesus Christ from every single one of us. He's the only
man that was ever able to say, I do always the things which
please Him. And that's what God requires. You understand that. That's why
we are completely dependent upon Him for all our righteousness.
God's not pleased with us. He's pleased with Christ. He's
pleased with perfect obedience. And as he spake these things,
many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then you
are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. Now in another place, the Lord
makes it clear that he is the truth. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. If we know Christ, Christ will
make us free. free from the bondage of our
sin, free from death, free from our inability to believe, free
to place our hope on the Lord Jesus Christ, free to follow
after Him. And they answered Him, we be
Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, you shall be made free? I'm free. I've got a free will. I can do what I want when I want. It's exactly what they were saying.
At the very time that they were making this declaration of never
being under bondage to anyone, they were under the bondage of
the Romans. Before that, they were under the bondage of the
Assyrians. Before that, they were under
the bondage of the Babylonians. Before that, they were under
the bondage of the Egyptians. They've always been in bondage,
only to a few Brief periods of time in the church of Israel
were they not in bondage. Particularly during the reign
of David and Solomon was the only time that they weren't in
bondage. But man can't see that. He's
in bondage, he can't see that he's in bondage. And men today
are saying exactly the same thing. What do you mean we're not free? We've been free all our lives.
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth
not in the house forever, but the Son abideth forever. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. Oh, the sin that we can't be
delivered from is the sin of unbelief. that we can't deliver
ourselves from. And that's what the Lord said
when the Comforter comes, he will convict the world of sin
because they believed not on me. We are in complete dependence
upon the Lord to change our hearts to enable us to believe on Christ. We need a work of grace to make
us willing. and if the sun shall make you
free then you should be free indeed so back to Romans 2nd
Corinthians chapter 8 man thinks because he weighs
options and makes choices that his will is free but apart from
the grace of God our will is not free and so the Lord is encouraging
the church at Corinth by reminding them of the grace that God had
shown upon the churches of Macedonia and encouraging them to be inspired. Now, the means by which the Lord
makes us free is the encouragement and the teachings and the admonitions
and the exhortations of his word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the Word of God. And so the Lord is using the
Word in order to encourage us to say, Oh Lord, make me free.
Make me free. I want to be free. I want to
be free to believe. I want to be free from the bondage
of sin. And I can't free myself. Now, the next several verses,
the Lord is going to remind us of the grace that was bestowed
by God upon the churches of Macedonia. How oftentimes the Lord uses
the examples of others to encourage us to seek his grace. I have
that happen every time I'm around you all. When I hear you speak
of Christ, it encourages me to want to have what you have. When
I hear of your faith, it causes me to say, Lord, I want that
kind of faith. When I hear you speak joyfully
of your love for Christ, it causes me to say, I want to have the
joy of the Lord in my heart. We are inspired by one another.
We are encouraged by the faith and the grace that we see that
God has given to our brethren. And that's all the Lord's doing
here. He's using the encouragement of the churches of Macedonia
to cause the church at Corinth to say, not, oh, I've got to
follow their example because it's my duty. I've got to follow
their example because it's my obligation. Or I've got to prove
that I'm a child of God by doing what they did. No, it's the Lord
using the faithfulness of others to cause us to say, Lord, I want
to be like that. I want to, I need for you to
do for me what you did for them. Would you do that? That's the
pleading for grace, and that's what this chapter is all about.
It's to inspire us to say, Lord, I want you to do for me what
you've done for them. Now I'll tell you a very personal
and recent example of that. There's been sort of a lackadaisical
attitude in the church at Sarasota about having a pastor and being
an established church. They've been sort of lulled into
being uncomfortable with what they have. And when we had that conference
over there a few weeks ago, and so many of you made such sacrifice
to drive all the way over there and to be there for them. We
had 20 of you were there for every service. And you know what
that did for them? It made them realize that we
have something here that they don't have over there. And for
the first time in two years, they came to the conclusion,
we need a pastor. We want God to do for us what
God has done for the church in Apopka. Now that's exactly what
the Lord's doing here. He's just bringing up the church
in Macedonia as an example so that the church at Corinth would
say, oh, we want the Lord to do for us what He's done for
them. Would you make us willing? That's what this chapter's all
about. How that in a great trial, verse
2, now he's talking about the church in Macedonia. What all
their trials were, we don't know. Many of them, I'm sure, had lost
their jobs because of the gospel. Many of them had been ostracized
from their families because of the gospel. Perhaps they had
been beaten and persecuted and imprisoned over the gospel. It wasn't an unusual thing. And so how that in a great trial
of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded into the riches of their liberality. The abundance of their joy was
because of their affliction. Count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into divers, trials, and testings, knowing that the
trine of your faith worketh patience. And consider it joy when they
persecute you for my namesake." And so these persecutions had
brought about the result of joy in their hearts. And their joy
expressed itself with liberality. They became willing. That's what
that word means. They were willing from their
heart. For to their power I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power they were willing. Willing. There's the theme of this chapter.
It's not giving, it's willingness. Lord, I want you to make my heart
willing. I want you to make me willing
to believe on Christ. I want you to make me willing
to follow after Christ. I want you to be willing to cause
me to acknowledge everything that I have in my life came from
you and belongs to you. And I want you to make me willing
to be liberal and generous with the things that I have. Lord,
I need for you to make me willing. I won't be willing left to myself.
I'll be stingy. I'll be selfish. I'll live my
life to myself. I won't esteem others more highly
than myself. I'll just turn in on myself. That's the natural way. And Lord,
I need for you to break my natural way and to do something supernatural
in my heart. I want you to do for me what
you did for those believers in Macedonia. who were in prison
and lost their jobs and were persecuted because of the gospel,
and yet they broke out in joy and were willing. Why? Because
you made them so. Not according to their power,
but by the power of God. Praying with us with much entreaty,
verse 4, that we would receive the gift and take upon us the
fellowship of the ministry and of the saints. They begged us
to let them participate in the helping out of the poor saints
that were in Jerusalem. Now that's who Paul's taking
the collection for. To help out those Jews that were completely
cut off. A Jew professed faith in Christ
and they were completely, even to this day, I've heard of Jews
tell me that they will actually have a funeral for a family member.
who professes faith in Christ. They'll conduct a funeral and
pronounce that person dead and completely cut them off from
ever being a part of that family again. And that's the kind of
thing that these Jews in Jerusalem experienced. And so Paul's going
around to the churches collecting an offering to help them out.
And the churches, you know, Paul would have, he would have overlooked
the churches, you know, they're poor, they're suffering affliction,
they're losing their jobs too. We'll just, you know, we'll let
the wealthier churches support them. And the church in Macedonia
said, oh no, please let us participate. Let us be a part of it. You see,
it's not the giving, it's the willingness. It's the willingness. And that's a work of grace. It's
not a commitment. It's not a, in the sense that
you, that it, that it comes from you. It's a word. Let me tell you about the grace
that was bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia. Verse five, and this they did
not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord
and unto us by the will of God. That's where it begins, isn't
it? When God does a work of grace in the heart, He causes us to
sanctify the Lord God in our hearts first. And then, what
does that lead to? 1 Timothy 3.15, sanctify the
Lord God in your heart and then be willing to give an answer
to the hope that's within you with meekness and with fear.
So the willingness comes as a result of the Lord Jesus Christ being
the focus of our hope and our attention and our desires. And that's a work of grace. Verse six, in so much that we
desired Titus that as he began, so he would also finish in you
the same grace also. Now Paul's sending Titus to these
churches, and he's saying, Titus has begun this work of collecting
an offering for the church in Jerusalem, and he's gonna come. He came to the churches of Macedonia
because they willingly desired that he would. Therefore, he's
speaking to the church in Corinth, therefore, as you abound in everything,
Now here's what it is to grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers have a desire to grow. Lord, I don't want to remain
a baby. I want to grow in faith. I want to grow in knowledge.
I want you to make my heart willing to trust in Christ. And so he's saying that as you
grow, as you abound in faith, and in utterance, in speech,
and in knowledge, as you're able to understand the gospel better
and express the truth of the gospel to one another, and in
diligence, and in your love for us. All these areas believers
grow in. If the Lord's done a work of
grace, if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed. And
if he gives you a new heart, that heart's going to be a willing
heart. And it has to grow in willingness. It has to increase
in faith and in utterance and in knowledge and in love and
in this grace also. To turn loose of the things that,
that you would otherwise look to as your security. You know,
we're all by nature materialistic, and we're all by nature fearful
that our security is bound to the things that we possess in
this world. And that's the natural way. And
so the Lord's saying, you know, the remedy for that is the grace
of giving. The remedy for that is to grow
in this grace and to ask God to make you willing to turn loose
of those things that you would trust for your security. I speak not by commandment. Paul, in many occasions as an
apostle, as a penman of the scriptures, had the authority to put his
foot down and say, this is the way it's going to be. And he
makes it clear here that I'm not doing that. I'm not commanding. He's saying to the church at
Corinth, I'm not commanding anything of you. I don't want you to give
out of duty. I don't want you to give out
of guilt. I don't want you to give out
of obligation. If that's why you're giving, don't give. Don't
give. Don't worry about giving. Worry
more about your heart. Ask the Lord to do a work of
grace in your heart. The giving will come. So he said,
I'm not speaking to you by commandment. I'm not telling you what you
have to do. If I make it a commandment, then
that takes away all the willingness, doesn't it? I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness, and that word is willingness.
Do you see how the theme here is willing? He's saying that
I'm speaking by the occasion of the willingness of others
and to prove the sincerity of your love. It is that God puts
the love of Christ in your heart. You become a giving person. I'm
not talking about just material and financial giving. I'm talking
about in every area. You find yourself esteeming others.
Turn with me to Philippians. Well, let's read the next verse,
and then I want you to turn with me to Philippians chapter two.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be made rich. Now turn with me to Philippians
chapter two. We'll begin reading in verse
1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if you
know the comfort of Christ in your heart, even just a little
bit, any consolation, You see, it's not how much you've grown
or how much faith you have. It's, is your comfort, is your
hope, is your peace in Christ? Is Christ all of your righteousness?
Is the only hope you have of being justified before a holy
God, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross? His
shed blood is the only covering that you have for your sin. That's
my comfort. That's my peace. I find myself looking in so many
other places and it's like we said Wednesday night, when Philip said to the Ethiopian
eunuch, when the eunuch you remember in Acts chapter 8 said, what
doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest. What does it mean to believe
with all of your heart? What's that mean? Does it mean
that there's no distractions, there's no sin, there's no... The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who ever believed God with all of his heart, all of
his mind, and all of his soul. All the time. That's what distinguishes
him different from us. You and I have never done anything
with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul
for a moment. What does it mean to believe when Philip said,
if thou believest with all thine heart? You see, it's not a matter
of sincerity. It's a matter of singularity. Is Christ the singular hope of
my salvation? Or am I trying to add to or take
away from the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he
all my? If you start questioning your
sincerity and you're an honest person, And you start looking deep into
the dark corners of your own heart, you're going to conclude
that you've never been sincere about anything. There's always
been mixed motives in everything you've ever done. But singularity, I can say, I
believe with all my heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is all
my righteousness. I've got no place else to go.
I believe with all of my heart that the only hope I have of
having my sin put away from a holy God is through the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that with all my...
I've got no... I've got no... I've got all my eggs in one basket.
I've got no other place to go. Christ Jesus the Lord is my only
hope of salvation. The only hope that I have that
someone would plead my case before God Almighty is that the Lord
Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of the majesty on
high and he ever lives to make intercession for me. I need him
to intercede on my behalf. The only hope that I have that
God is satisfied is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
all my hope. Now that's what it means to believe
with all of your heart that Christ Jesus the Lord is your only hope. And that's what he's saying here.
If there's any consolation in Christ, if Christ is your hope
of salvation, look way back in Philippians chapter 2. If any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
of mercy, If that's your hope, if Christ
himself has made you free, fulfill ye my joy, that ye may be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord and one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Now you've heard
me say this before, but this is, you just think about it in
your own life, you'll know it's true. Every single time that
there's strife between individuals, whether it be you and your spouse,
or you and your children, or you and your siblings, or you
and somebody at work, it all is rooted out of vainglory. Somebody
thinks they haven't gotten the respect they need. They deserve. And that vainglory, I'm going
to demand of you, and that causes strife, doesn't it? And the Lord
says, don't let anything be done out of strife or vainglory. Vainglory
is so fleshly, isn't it? Christ gets all the glory, then
that puts away the strife. That's what he's saying. But
in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other more highly
than himself. Now that's a work of grace. Who's
going to by nature make someone else more important than them? Who's going to by nature believe
that someone else needs less grace than they do, or that they
are a greater sinner than someone else. Let this mind be in you. Here's
the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which
also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, and
He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in him. And yet, being in the form of
God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He did
not consider himself to be a blasphemer by claiming equality with God. but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him. and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under
the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, not in my presence also, but now
much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear
and trembling. Lord, I fear myself. I can't do this. I can't esteem
others more highly than myself. I can't escape vain glory unless
the sun make me free. Lord, you've got to do a work
of grace in my heart. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 10. And herein I give my
advice. Again, he's a penman of Scripture. He's been given the inspiration of truth to write
infallibly the Word of God. And he says, I give my advice.
I'm not giving you a commandment. I'm not putting you under the
law. For this is expedient for you
who have begun before not only to do but also to be, you see
that word forward, willing. Willing. Have you ever known of the work
of grace in your heart making you willing? making you willing. And sometimes we, we lose sight
of Christ and we, and that willingness wanes, doesn't it? And that's
what he's saying to the church at Corinth, you were willing
before. You were willing before. Now therefore, perform the doing
of it. that as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of what you have. You were willing before. Be willing
again. And then follow through with
your willingness. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word, and we pray, Lord, that you would make us willing
in the day of your power, for we ask it in Christ's name. Yes, yes, yes.