Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke chapter 21. Luke 21. If I'm not mistaken, I've read this passage and heard
about it, but I don't think I've ever preached out of this passage
of Scripture. Luke 21. I'm going to look at
verses 1-4, and before I read it, I want to say that
we have an amazing passage of Scripture And it deals with a
group of rich men and a certain poor widow that were in the temple
and they were putting money in a box. And though the passage
speaks of giving, And I certainly know that a believer is one that
is generous. Believers give. That's just a
giving. Know that I know it's dealing
with giving. The message, and this is one
thing that we want to always make sure that we search for. What's the message of the passage? What's the spirit of the passage? What's being taught by the passage? And this passage of Scripture,
we're going to read it in just a second. This passage of Scripture
deals with the difference between a true convert that totally trusts
the Lord for life, and those who trust in themselves that
they are righteous. Now, let's read this. Luke 21,
verses 1-4. And he looked up and saw the
rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw
also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said of a truth I say
unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all. For all these have of their abundance
cast in unto the offerings of God. But she of her penury hath
cast in all the living that she hath. Now, there's three things
I want us to consider for just a few minutes here about this
passage of Scripture. And like I said, it's totally
talking about faith. Faith. Here's the three things
that I know from this passage of Scripture. the Lord sees. I know that. I want you to just hold your
place. Turn over to Matthew 9. I'll read verses 1 and 2. Matthew 9, verses 1 and 2. And the Scripture says, And he
entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick of palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee." Now,
here's the amazing truth. of our Lord, he sees. He knows. Back in Luke 21, the Scripture
says, and he looked up, in verse 1, and saw the rich man. And then verse 2 says, and he
saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither Don't forget,
here's what we know. The Lord sees and He knows all. I know, I'm standing here right
now, and I know that He knows. There's nothing that misses the
sight of Almighty God. I know that. Psalm 114, the Lord
is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. Now listen to this. His eyes behold. His eyelids
try the children of men. His eyes behold and He sees the
intention. He knows. Escapes his observation. Hebrews 4.13, all things are
naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. So I know this. Say what we will. Do what we
will. He knows. He knows. Here's a second point. This is what he saw. That passage right there, you
stay right where you are. Let me just read to you Mark
12. Mark 12.41 is Mark's relating to this event right here. Here's
what Mark 12.41 says, And Jesus sat over against the treasury
and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. Now
this one in Luke 21, verse 1 and 2, it says, "...he saw them do
it." And Mark relates that he saw
how they did it. Now, I don't doubt for one second,
and I base this statement upon Scripture that I've read before.
I don't doubt because I'm going to look at the third point in
just a second. I don't doubt for one second
that the rich were taken up with being seen of men. And the widow was obviously desiring
not to be seen at all. But here in Mark's account, the
Lord reveals men's heart. He saw more than anyone else
imagined. I was going over my notes this
morning, and I remembered something that happened. I was very, very
young. I might have been ten. And I remember we had a little
a board or something at the church that I was attending. And what
it was, we were trying to reach a goal for something. I don't
remember what we were doing, but as people would give money
toward that cause, whenever we would get to a certain level,
for every hundred dollars, you know, every hundred dollars that was
given, Well, a light that you could turn a light on. You know,
and it had like a thermometer thing. And I remember a lady
that was there, and she was a wealthy lady. I can remember that. And
I remember her saying, I was standing there, and I remember
her saying, she said, well, let me just, before church starts,
she said, I'm going to go over here and turn on one of those
lights. I'm going to go ahead and give
$100." Now, right now, $100 is $100, I know, but man, when I
was 10 years old, $100 was a billion. I just thought, $100! See, we're
going to go over there, but the point was, as I thought back
on that all these years, She got her reward. You know,
I was going to tell somebody, I'm going to go over here and
turn on one of those lights. I remembered that, and I'm sure
a lot of people did. And she wanted them to. And these
rich men right here were throwing in big chunks of money. I mean,
these were probably, you know, these are your thousand, five
thousand dollars. Donators. Rich men. But you know, the Lord saw how
they were given. 1 Samuel 16, 7 says, The Lord
seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord observed
that these rich men cast great amounts into the treasury, and
this poor widow cast in two mites. Two mites. I tried to find out
how much two mites was, and it was a little bit harder than
I thought it was going to be, but as closely as I can tell,
and if somebody else knows exactly what it is, just tell me, prove
it to me and just show me alright, and I'll agree with you. But
as closely as I could tell, it was one one-twenty-eighth of
a day's wages from back then. One one-twenty-eighth. Now, just
whatever the average price was, back then the Scripture spoke
of a day's wages was a penny. I know more than what a penny
is today, but whatever it was, one 128th of a day's wages. And that's all she had. Now I
know that humanly speaking, that we'd probably cater to the rich
folks. By nature, we would be a respecter of persons. I figured
that probably their finances were probably going to make a
big difference in ministry. You know, if you've got somebody
that's a heavy hitter, I just don't want to upset them. I just don't want to make them
mad. But how much the Lord revealed concerning those that were rich. He said, He spoke. And we'll
look at that verse 3 and 4 in just a second. But he set forth,
generally speaking, and I know not always, because there are
some that the Scripture relates that were wealthy. Solomon was
a wealthy man, but you read the whole account of Solomon and
find out what happened. David was a rich man. David too
fell. Lord gracious! But I'm telling
you that generally speaking, riches are deceitful. The Lord does not trust many,
does not allow many of His people to be filthy rich. I heard Brother
Henry say this one time, and I thought, you know, here's a
man much wiser than I. He said, generally speaking,
not many wise, not many noble. He said, usually, extremely wealthy
people, the Lord doesn't call. Extremely handsome men or beautiful
women. No. And usually, greatly successful
professionals. The Lord has chosen the poor,
the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. And so
therefore, as a general rule, you're going to find people that
have great riches, you find those riches to be very deceitful.
Matthew 13, 22, He that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that
heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches. Deceitful. Choke the word and
he becometh unfruitful. Riches usually are found to be
a hindrance. Matthew 19, 23, 24, Then said
Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto
you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. That's
when His disciples asked, Lord, who can be saved? He said, with
men, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. So the Lord saw what was going on. He saw the intention. But here's
the third point. Number one, there was a divine
observer. The Lord saw. Secondly, what
He saw. And here's thirdly, what He said. Back in Luke 21, verses 3 and
4, and he said of a truth, what he's saying to you and to me
this morning, he said, now you write this down. You write this
down of a truth. I say unto you that this poor
widow hath cast in more than they all. For all these have
of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God. But she
of her penury, her poverty, hath cast in all the living that she
had." Now, what the Lord said about
the giving of these people, truly, was concerning the revelation
of their heart, and either faith in Him or the
lack of. The poor widow, the scripture
said, had given all she had, and the scripture sets forth
that that two mites As opposed to whatever the others
were given. I don't know what they were given.
But he said she gave more than any of the others. Here's the truth of this lesson
right here. Both these natures reside in
every believer. Both these natures reside in
every believer. In every believer, there is that
old man that tries to keep remembering. He doesn't try, he does a good
job of it. That he can, of himself, provide. And there's a new nature
in every believer that gives all that he has. True faith as
opposed to false faith, false hope. Her gift, though trivial
and despised by the rich. Can you imagine somebody come
over here and give a few cents? And you look down the bottom
of the box now and you see just, you know, See some pennies or
something in there. You almost wonder, I wonder what
kid put that in there? I mean, what are we going to
do with that? What are we going to do with a little bit of change,
a couple of dollars? What are you going to do with
that? Her gift, though trivial and despised by the rich, like
the faith of God's elect. That was all she had. These rich
men, look at that, two pennies or two mites. It wasn't even
two pennies, just two mites. Is that all you've got? The Lord
says she gave more than any of them. Her giving was trusting
Him alone for life. That last line in that verse
4, but she of her poverty, have cast in all the living that she
had. This is all I've got. What are
you resting in for your living, for your life before God? This is all I've got. The world
looks upon that and says, you mean to tell me that you believe
that Almighty God, as He set forth in these precious Scriptures,
Elected and redeemed and quickened and keeps a people that stray
and narrow gate that the world looks on and says, that's two
mites! That little bit! Oh, we want
to do everything! Ours is broad! The Lord says,
broad is the gate. Wide is the gate that leads to
destruction. And many there be that find it. You mean to tell me you trust
in what those two mites represent? Faith. The Lord says she gave
more. She had more than any of the
others. Blessed Mark 5.3 says, are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Oh my friend,
this passage is about a whole lot more than money. The heart
concerning those that either trusted in themselves, or those
that trust in Christ alone, and have no confidence in their flesh. This woman, Wasn't rich materially. And she knew it. What have you
got? I've got two little mites. That's all. That's all I've got. But isn't that a beautiful picture
of every believer when it comes to looking at themselves spiritually? How would you like to trust,
Mark, how much you believe God? If you try to try, I'm going
to put all of my confidence in my ability to believe God. You think, oh, that woman, those
two mites, pictured, representative of. She's saying, this is all
I've got. Lord, I believe you. Help my
unbelief. This woman, that came and gave
all of her living. James 2.5, Harken, my beloved
brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich
in faith, heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them
that love Him? This is what a believer is going
to say. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" And the Lord of glory says, of those
that see themselves, she knew that that was just two mites.
And the Lord said, that's a rich woman right there, giving more. She gave all. The Lord says of those that see
themselves as wretched, He said, you're rich in faith. Rich. I'm telling you, a believer does
not see himself as one capable. We read the glorious blessings
of God in Christ, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. You
that know Him, what do you see of yourself? What do you see? You struggle, as I've talked
about before, you struggle to pray. You think, Lord, if you
dealt with me on my prayer, Lord, if you dealt with me according
to my ability to walk faithfully, Lord, thanks be unto God that
you don't impute iniquity, charge iniquity. All the living she
had was cast upon the Lord. And she trusted God Almighty. This is all I've got. This is
all I've got. Where are you going now? Now
what have you got? I'm telling you, if by the grace
of God, Almighty God would give me a heart to trust Him and Him
alone. Say, Lord, save me. I'm going to perish. You're a
rich man. The rich men, the Scripture says,
gave casting, verse 1. He saw the rich men casting their
gifts. I thought that was interesting.
Made a note of their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also
a certain woman casting in thither two mines. Trusted in their wealth,
their ability, their works themselves. I've got enough righteousness,
self-worth, stored away in the barns of my own making. These
rich in themselves make an effort to be seen of men. But I'm telling
you, God's people don't draw any attention to themselves. You that hear my voice, Let me
ask you this. Are you trusting in the riches
of your own making? I'm talking about in your own
self-righteousness, in your own decision, your own worth to reconcile
yourself back to God. Do you feel that you can stand
before the Lord of glory and plead your own worth, your own
decision, your own choice, and be accepted by Almighty God? Do you rest easy because you
think you can reach into the coffer of your own worth and
say to Him, even in the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Your name? In Thy name cast out devils.
In Thy name done many wonderful works. Oh, how this old man brags
on me. Oh man, Marvin, you've been preaching
all these years. You do this and you do that.
I'm telling you, I know this. I know just enough about myself
to realize that there is no riches whatsoever in that. I'm just
an unprofitable servant. Or do you, by the grace of God,
cast all your living, all your hope of life? Can you, by the grace of God,
say, Lord, I am what I am by grace and grace alone? Do you
shun all the confidence of your flesh and give unto Him the praise
and the honor and the glory, clinging to Him for life You
remember this, the Scripture said, she gave everything she
had. Here's where we are today. If Almighty God has called us
out of darkness, all that we have, all that we need, all a
believer desires is His Word. This is it. I know, I know what
the world thinks. A free, sovereign, saving, electing
grace. They look at that and say, that's
just penance. The Lord said she's given all.
She's given more. Lord, help us this day. Help us to hear. Help us to see. Help us to behold. That which
You've provided, you honor. For Christ's sake, amen.