Let's see, look at the end of chapter 9. Start with verse 12. For the administration of this service not only supply the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Whilst by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all. And by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for bringing us together. We know that this night, this church, This building, these grounds, these many years are all according to your gracious providential design. We're thankful to be here. We're thankful to have been here all this time that you've, since you first raised this church up and brought together some of your saints and knit our hearts together, Lord, What an honor and privilege it is to be among this number, your body, your family, your sheep, your church in College Grove. Bless us tonight, Lord, with your gospel, the faith to see you and to worship you tonight and the preaching of it. Thank you for all your many, many blessings upon us, Lord. May we take the tonight and the rest of this week, Lord, just to thank you. We're so negligent and forgetful to do so most of the time. Your blessings are innumerable. We can never, ever reckon them up again unto you, Lord, but give us the grace to try. Give us a thankful heart for every mercy, all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and our Savior, and every good thing that comes from your hand. Teach us tonight, Lord. Let us rejoice in your salvation. Teach us, Lord, how to serve you, how to honor you in this world. In Christ's name we ask these things, amen.

So we've spent some time in verse 12 already, but I wanted to see some things in verse 12 again in relation to what follows. So that's why we read that one again.

But this chapter and the one before it, We've seen so many lessons regarding the ministry of the Lord, and regarding especially, particularly giving, and we've seen what a difference true giving is in comparison to what this world's religion is engaged in.

The world's religion is interested in religious... I guess the furtherance of the outward things, the big cathedrals, and it was the same in our Lord's day. His disciples showed him the great temple that was built, and his comment on it was that this is all going to be rubble pretty soon. You remember that. Not one stone will be left on another. Far from being impressed with it, he impressed upon them that True religion, true worship is not about buildings. It's not about structures. It's not about... The word I was looking for a while ago is they want to build a religious empire. They want to, you know, build many buildings. There's campuses now that are supposed to pass somehow for places of worship. There's all kinds of activities.

The worship of God is pretty well outlined and taught in scripture, and it's just simple. There's never been that type of thing, and there never should be. There's too many distractions, too many things that are devoted to entertainment rather than just hearing the truth of Christ. People don't know who God is. Instead of telling them who God is, they'll put on a Christmas cantata, and fraught with idols and foolishness. and have all kinds of programs and things for the young people to do other than just find out who God is.

It's not complicated. Look, the Lord made a world to entertain us. That's not what the church is. He didn't make a church to entertain us. He made a world with all kinds of beautiful activities that we can do and enjoy. The church is not that. It's not about that. and it never will be.

But let's look at verse 12, first of all, for the administration of this service. That service, of course, is the giving, the gift that was going to be given. It not only supplieth the want of the saints, which is, you know, you'd say, you might say that's the point of it, but there's more to it than that, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings to God.

And you remember how we commented on how that thanksgivings unto God, you could very reasonably see and make the statement that really the reason God still has an earth, that he hasn't burned up and brought all of his people home to heaven, is glory to his name, thanksgivings. honoring him in this world. Here is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. Fruit's not just giving, but if you think about giving, what does love do? It gives. Love is the fruit of the spirit. Goodness, gentleness, kindness. Giving is not just money, it's caring. It's giving, devoting yourself, your very self.

How would you define the Lord's giving when Paul talks about the unspeakable gift? It wasn't stuff that Christ gave, it was Him. That's how it is with believers too. Giving is us, and thanksgivings unto God, Him getting glory is the reason He still has a world, the reason the sun, if it comes up in the morning, that's why. So that He'll be praised and honored even in this flesh. as we've talked about so many times, what a unique thing and precious thing to the Lord. He ordained it this way. The Lord Jesus said, don't take them out of the world yet, just keep them from the evil. So here we are.

So it's not only a supply of the want, but it has to do with glorifying and honoring the Lord Jesus. Why does God do everything that He does? Many of you have heard me say this a thousand times over the years. Why does God do everything he does? His glory and the good of his sheep. That should be easy to remember. Everything he does, his glory and the good of his sheep.

What did we just read? This service did two things. The administration of this service did two things. It honored God, it produced thanksgivings unto God, and it was a benefit to his sheep. You can put everything, everything in that same category. That's today. The truth is the same. Whatever God does today, whatever he did today and he'll do tomorrow, he did it for his glory. Are we thankful? Do we honor him? Do we praise him for all that? Do we worship him in this world, in this flesh? And for the good of his sheep, he's teaching us, isn't he? All these many tests. We'll talk about that a little bit in a minute.

But the supply of the want and the honor and glory of his name. And that's everything now, and maybe whatever he does won't have anything to do with supplying want. And it may not have anything to do with thanksgivings unto God, but it will have something to do with him getting glory. I guarantee you that, whatever he does today. There may be nobody thanking him, but he's gonna get glory anyway. And his sheep are gonna be blessed, no matter what. Mercy for his sheep has something to do with it, whatever it is.

God is concerned with and he's attentive to and He's certain to supply your needs. God uses want. He uses want, doesn't He? He brings us to the place--what did He say about His disciples, His people in the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms? He would say, he would bring great affliction upon them and they would cry unto him and he would hear their cry and deliver them out of their troubles. And then the next passage, it's the same thing. I afflicted them. They cried unto me. I delivered them from their afflictions.

He uses that to bring us back to him because this world, you know, if everything happened the way we wanted it to in this world, You think about that for a second. You know what your flesh wants every day. Success, everything to happen exactly the way I want it to. If that happened, you wouldn't be worth shooting. And neither would I. It wouldn't take two days. I wouldn't be worth shooting. Not anyway, but I'd be even less worth shooting. And you know I'm right about that. You know that's true.

That's the scriptures. God uses want. He makes things not happen the way we want them to. And we, because we're going to cry to him. We're going to look to him. We're going to ask. We're going to have need. He creates need when he saves sinners. When is a sinner saved? When he sees his need of righteousness. When he sees his need of a sin offering. When he sees his need of favor with God, when he sees his need of mercy and forgiveness in Christ, he flees to Christ.

It's the same thing on a daily basis. When are you going to look to the savior? When you need, when you have need, maybe every once in a while, if he gives us grace, maybe we'll just bow our knees to him and just praise him, you know, every once in a while, but I guarantee you nine times out of 10, it's because You need him. You need him. And he said, if you need something, ask me. Ask me.

So he uses that want, he brings us to the place of affliction at times, and he supplies our needs for his glory and our good. In this case, he was going to use the Corinthians to do that. He had already used the ones that Paul used as an example. to do that, and that's what he always does. He creates the need, he supplies the need, and he may use individuals or churches or whatever in that process. He gets glory, his sheep get blessed.

Thanksgiving and praise and glory is the reason this world stands. Don't ever forget that. I hope I won't. Be thankful. Be thankful. More and more, prayer should become praise and thanksgiving, more and more, the more he blesses us and the more he makes us aware of how he's blessed us. It's not just, you know, the blessings are adding up. It's just, I understand more, I hope, than I did five years ago, what mercy he had on a wretch like me.

More and more praise and thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord. I used to pray every night, Lord, save my children. You know what I pray now? God, thank you for saving my children. Thank you. Thank you, God. I almost feel like Simeon. Now I'm ready to depart. God has saved my family. I literally have everything that I need and everything that I want. So I guess I'm ready to depart in peace. I'm not striving for anything. What for? This world is not worth striving for.

What are you striving for? Be faithful? That's worth striving for. to honor the Lord, to know Him better. Paul said, after knowing Him for who knows how long, that I may know Him, oh, that I might know Him. Is that what we're striving for? What else is worth striving for? To maybe be used instead of being a detriment, to be actually useful in the hands of our God. What is there left? Thank you, God. Thank you for so much.

And it accomplished not only, I love that word, not only. There's a lot of things, you know, we've talked about before, when somebody gives something to somebody or help somebody in a way that, you know, they need, it's a blessing. The gift itself is a blessing, whether it's just helping with something or money or whatever, a coat, something that's needed. That's a blessing. It's a blessing more so to the one that gave it, according to scripture. Otherwise, it's not giving. Do we understand that? Because the Lord says it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. So if you give and it wasn't a blessing, that wasn't giving. You thought it was. A true giving is more of a blessing to the one that gives it than it is to the one that receives it. That's what God said, not me.

And then, to the one who does receive the gift, the fact that somebody loved him enough to do that for him, that's a bigger blessing than the gift. Every time. Every time. And then, what a blessing to know, to just, you know, we can sit here and preach, God will supply your needs over and over and over, and then when he actually does, Do we praise Him for it? Are we thankful? Do we take it for granted? Not only. God's glorified, that's the greatest thing I imagine in anything that happens. And you know, you think about that, all that blessing, the gift is a blessing, it's a blessing to give it, The giver is a blessing to the receiver, and God is glorified. We should focus more on those kind of things in this life that accomplish that. Don't you reckon? Things that accomplish those four things. I'd say maybe we need to turn off the television more, and I'm preaching to myself. I love my TV. I get jealous if you have a better TV than I do. I gotta go get a bigger one. But maybe we ought to quit worrying about what's happening on the other side of the world, or what some reprobate, corrupt idiot is doing in Washington, D.C. Think about, focus on stuff that's like that, right there. Things that accomplish those four things. God's glory and so much blessing for everybody involved.

Verse 13, whilst by the experiment of this ministration, They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all. I've tried to talk about this through this teaching on giving, and I hope it's been clear and I hope it'll be clear. I think the Lord, a little bit, is teaching me this after 61 years. A little bit. Well, it's by the experiment. The word experiment means trial or proving. It's a word that we've seen translated differently, but it's that same word, proof, to prove or to try, a test, the proving of it, the giving. We saw in black and white, the scripture says, that it's a, Paul said, it's a proof of the sincerity of your love. It's a proving of that, giving is. Whether you're giving to a church or a person, to your family, to anybody, a friend, it's a proof of the sincerity of your love. And that's what we see here, the ministration, the experiment, the testing, the proving of this ministration They glorify God, they pass the test, you reckon? They glorify God and they supply the need. Everything is a test. You think I'm overstating that? Everything is a test. God tries faith. He proves, He tries. He asked for Abraham's son. He might ask us something far less than that, and we still fail. Everything is a test. And you're not gonna pass it without grace. I'll tell you that right now. You're not gonna pass it without grace. without the Spirit of Christ."

That's just what Paul was talking about when he said, "'Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.'"

If you're going to pass any of God's tests to proving... See, he proves faith. He proves faith, whether you believe on Christ or not. Because here's the thing. I want to make it as simple as I possibly can, because that's all I can understand anyway. None of us can understand anything that's not pretty simple. And the scripture makes it so simple.

The proof is when the Lord Jesus asked Simon Peter, do you love me? That's the test. That might be manifest in you taking a job or turning down a job. It might be manifest in you moving here or not moving there. It might be manifest in you giving or not giving. It might be manifest in decisions that you make every day all through the day, but it's gonna boil down to, do you love him or do you love you? Will you act according to the dictates of this world, according to human reason, or according to the gospel? Are your priorities going to be what your flesh says they are, or what this world says they are, or what your friends, so-called friends in this world say they are? Or are your priorities going to be what God says they should be?

That manifests itself in your whole life. Everything is a test. Will you serve God or mammon? You see, that's in all the script, it's one or the other, isn't it? You can't serve two masters. There's the test. Which one are you going to serve?

Moses drew a line in the sand, didn't he? He drew a line in the sand. God wrote that line. And he said, who's on the Lord's side? And there were some rebels so steeped in their rebellion and hatred of God that they would not step over that line. And God destroyed them and put them in hell. This ain't complicated, is it?

God has a people, and he then dwells his people, and the fruit of his spirit is everything good. Examine yourself, what? To see if you're good enough? No. Whether you be in the faith. God tries faith. Am I looking to Christ or am I not? Do I love Christ supremely or do I not? That's the simple test.

Serving Him. And look, look what it says. They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ. Now that word professed you think normally means, it normally would mean that they said they were in subjection to the gospel of Christ. But what that's saying is this is an example. They showed forth that they were in subjection to the gospel of Christ. serving Him, loving Him, serving Him, and dare I say, choosing Him, like Moses chose the reproach of Christ, an esteemed Christ's reproach, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Salvation is not choosing Christ, it's Him choosing you. But if He chooses you, you're gonna choose Him every day after that.

Servant, a servant has a master. Subjection, they subjected themselves unto what He said. That's what a master, that's what a servant does, right? Whatever the master says goes, I subject myself. I may not wanna vacuum that floor, but if my boss says vacuum the floor, I'm not gonna do what I wanna do. I'm gonna do what he wants me to do. That's the servant master relationship.

Subjection, bowing to him, to the master, And this world can be your master, that money can be your master. He said you can't serve two what? Masters and one of them is money. The love of money is the root of all evil, not money, the love of it. That's in your heart. That's you, the sinner. And we are continually tested in this regard. What you do, what you say, even what you think, Is it approving or is it not? I'll tell you this, just assume that it is and you'll be right. That doesn't mean we go around, oh, this is a test, you know, I better not do it. It's gotta come naturally, doesn't it? It's gotta be just natural. To the new nature, not the old nature.

When God gave his law, It is a standard that is continually tried. Is it not? Turn with me to Exodus chapter 20. We'll close, this is kind of a long thought, but we will close with this. I want us to see the difference between the law and the gospel in this matter of proving, what we do, us, our obedience.

Exodus 20, 18. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings. Moses went up to Mount Sinai. God called him up there. And God, remember, he wrote his law on stone. And there were thunderings and lightnings up on the mountain, the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed, they backed off. They kept their distance and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you. You see the law. It's a test, it's a proving, it's a trial. It's gonna try you. You gonna obey God or not obey God? God has come to prove you and that his fear, his law was given that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not, that you sin not.

How did that go? How'd that turn out, this test, the law? How's it turning out tonight? How's it turn out all day today? How's it turned out all your life? The testing of the law, testing you, proving you, trying you. That's God's standard of holiness now, that law. That's God's standard of holiness to all mankind with no promise given except A promise to those who earn it by obedience. This do and live. If you do all things according to God's law and statutes, you will live before God in perfect communion and harmony, just like in the garden. That's the only promise of the law. It demands obedience. There cannot be favor without perfect obedience in thought, word, and deed. How'd that test go? How are we doing on that one?

The gospel is also approving, but as Paul said in Hebrews 8, with better promises. The gospel doesn't say this, do and live. The gospel says, look and live. The gospel says, it's done. And like the Lord said to that dead baby in its own blood, live. In the gospel, Christ comes by and just says, live. He doesn't say do something and live. He just says live. It's the time of life for you, live. That's the gospel. Better promise now. Look at Hebrews 8 and we'll read that promise.

Hebrews 8, 3. He's gonna refer to the Old Testament law, but in comparison to the gospel. Hebrews 8.3, for every high priest, Old Testament high priest, is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. God demanded sacrifice all the time, hundreds, thousands of them, to teach them that favor with him is only by sacrifice. Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man, Christ, have somewhat also to offer. There's not favor with God now without sacrifice. It's just that it's not a sacrifice that came from you. It's the Savior. For if he were on earth, verse 4, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. The Old Testament was a shadow, a picture, a type. As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also This is talking about Christ now. He, Christ, hath obtained a more excellent ministry than Moses did. Moses was the ministration of the law. Christ's ministry is far better than that, more excellent, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, a better promise, which was established upon better promises.

promise of the law is, obey and live. Look at the promise of the gospel, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. In other words, if we could have obeyed the law, then why does Christ need to come? Verse 8, For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant.

God's not naive enough, and I don't want to use flippant language, but religion thinks God is stupid. You think about it. The first covenant was, do this and you'll live, and what passes for a gospel down at the Methodist church? Do this and you'll be saved. Really? No, no, Paul says this covenant's not gonna be like that one, because you continued not in it, and God knew you wouldn't continue in it before. Why would he give you something else to do that you can't do? Dead men don't take the first step. Dead men don't make decisions for Jesus. You are dead in trespasses and sins.

So listen to this covenant. I'll make a different covenant. It's not going to be like that one. Because they continued not. That's the problem with the other one. Our sin. are breaking the covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Look at verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind. They're not just gonna be written on tables of stone, but they're gonna be right here, and more importantly, right here. I'm gonna put my law in their heart. Put my, and write them in their hearts.

And you notice that phrase, I will? Get used to it, because we're gonna see it all through this last part. I will, I will put my law in their minds and in their hearts, not just on stone and you do this and you'll be fine. No, no, it's gonna be part of it. We're gonna be like Paul, we're gonna say, what did God I could do that which pleases my father? Would to God I could do it. I can't do it, but I sure would like to. We've still got the same problem, though. We can't do it. We're going to want to. Our heart's desire is going to be to please God. We're still not going to be able to do it, but it's not over yet. The promise isn't through yet.

I will be to them a God, I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. All right? And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Now listen, it doesn't mean you're not gonna teach your children to know the Lord. He's saying, that's not how you're gonna know me. It may be by those means, but the way you're going to know me is I'm going to reveal myself to you. We have to be taught of God. All of these people with whom he makes this covenant of grace will know him. because he reveals himself. All shall know me from the least to the greatest, for I will. You see that already, what, four or five times? I will, and you shall. I will, and you shall. There's no contingency placed upon you. You shall.

All that the Father giveth me, the Savior said, shall come to me. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. They follow me. God's not waiting to see if they will or not. He's calling his sheep home and they're gonna come. For I will be merciful to their unrighteous. We still can't keep the law, but there's mercy for sinners. You see, this test is completely different. There's a different promise attached to it. Different promises, better promises, more excellent covenant. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more when they don't measure up, when they don't keep my law, when they transgress with just every breath, when their heart is a continuous cesspool of falling short of the glory of God. I'm going to have mercy on them, and I'm not going to remember their sins. I'm not going to even see them. They're gone. They're put away in Christ. Their sins and their iniquities shall I remember no more. That's the promises. And the promises are better because the sacrifice is better. It's not a bull or a goat. It's the Son of God. The types could not take away sin, but John the Baptist pointed at the Lord Jesus and said, there's the one that takes away sin right there. And he did.

Now in the proving of the gospel, as spoken in our text, it was a proving, a continual testing, trying. Will we serve with subjection? It was a subjection. or will we rebel and be selfish and just, you know, live our lives, whatever. But in the gospel, we have the law in our hearts, you see, so that our great desire is to obey Christ.

There's the obedience of love, that by God's grace, we can express, we bear that fruit, the obedience of love. not law, not so I'll go to heaven when I die. My hope of glory is Christ himself, not what I do or don't do. But there is the obedience of love, the fruit of the spirit that we do bear. Will we, in any given circumstance, bear that fruit?

This promise is, oh, by the way, when we fall short and even when we utterly fail, there is complete forgiveness because of the precious blood of Christ. We want to honor him. I reckon we will. I reckon in some form or to some degree or another with whatever gifts he gives, with what degree of faith he gives, we're going to honor him for his But it's all full of sin, isn't it? So thank God for that part where he said, I won't remember your sins anymore. Everything is wonderful. You can't fall. You can't fail.

We want to honor Christ. Our flesh doesn't allow it. That's what Paul said in Romans 7. How to perform that which I would, I find not in this flesh. I'm not going to worship him like he's worthy to. That's not going to happen until we're in his presence. God must work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, or we would not. But He does do that. He does do that. And if we don't honor Christ, there may well be temporal, earthly consequences for that. See that all through the Scripture, don't we? If we do not honor Him, if we dishonor Him, if we disobey Him, there may be consequences for it on this earth.

But by His precious blood, all of my sin, past, present, and future is forgiven. I can't be any more justified than I am in Christ right now. And there's untold blessing in honoring Him in this life. He enables you to do it, and then he rewards you for it.

We're beautiful for situation, aren't we? Beautiful for situation. Romans 12.1, I won't have you turn there, because I promised that was my last point a while ago, but listen to that. Romans 12.1, I'm cheating. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, not according to the threatenings of the law, but by the mercies of God, I beg you, I beseech you, I encourage you, I exhort you, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

It makes sense that you would serve God, seeing what he's done for you. And Paul said, we reckon things that way. We say reasonable because we reckon things differently. We reckon that if he died for us, we ought to henceforth not live unto ourselves, but unto him which died and rose again.

Now, if I said that, if God hadn't said that, I could name you some people that would call me a heretic. If I stood up and said, your body should be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. I could give you names right now of people that would say, you're a heretic. There's no sacrifice but Christ. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying there's additional sacrifice, that anything's required above and beyond Christ. Christ is all of our righteousness. that him dying for me is all of my acceptance with God.

But having been saved really by Christ, it just makes sense that we would honor him and serve him, worship him. We've got a little longer in these wretched bodies. And we've asked the question before, why wouldn't the Lord just give us our better body, our perfect body now? and worship him better than we can here because there's something about this that pleases God. There's something about this that glorifies him. He's still saving his people, of course, too, and that's part of it. That's, I guess, the main thing. When he saves the last one, we're all going home.

But in the meantime, what are we supposed to do? Sit around dotting I's and crossing T's? No, no. He gets glory out of the fruit of the Spirit being born into love, joy, peace, longsuffering, faith, gentleness, goodness. So we ask for God's blessing in that, for His ability, His working in us to will it and to do it. We desire it like Paul did in Romans 7. We want to do his will. The law is good. And we want to obey him.

And you know, Paul talked about the many thanksgivings, all of this resulting in thanksgivings. And so Paul adds his thanksgiving in verse 15. We'll look at that next time. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That's one of the many thanksgivings right there. Can we add our thanksgiving to that for the same thing? Thanks be unto God for a gift, for the gift of Christ that we can't even begin to describe.

Amen, let's pray.