Luke 14 Verse 12, Luke 14, 12 Then said he also to him that
bade him, when thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends
nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors,
lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee.
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind. and thou shalt be blessed, for
they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed
at the resurrection of the just." Our Lord went around teaching
that which was completely unheard of. His teachings were life-changing
in every way. They upset people's normal way
of thinking of things and doing things. Of course his gospel,
it's by his gospel that he gives spiritual life to sinners. If
you believe on him by his grace through the preaching of his
gospel you're changed forever. But also if you just simply do
what he said do you're not going to be like anybody else. Of course
you're not going to do that until he gives you the grace but most
people will never ever do what he taught here in this passage
of scripture. Never will. Now the Lord's not
saying here don't ever eat with your friends. He's saying when
you make a supper or dinner don't call your friends. He's not saying
never do that. Our Lord ate with his friends
often and enjoyed doing that and we are to do that as well.
But he's saying also include those that most would not. Include those specifically that
can do nothing for you in return. And if you invite someone like
this, not only is that good for you, think about
what it means to them to be invited. These are people that typically
wouldn't be invited for a dinner. We're taught to consider the
poor and this is a good way to do it. And we're just speaking
in practical terms now. in earthly things. In our day
it's hard to even be charitable isn't it? Because charity has
become a scam. I guess maybe it always was in
some cases but you can't even give to most charitable organizations
with any idea that what you give will actually help anybody. You
just can't. You can't trust it. And even
individuals who beg are often discovered to be scam artists.
That's happened right in Spring Hill. That was found out to be
the case with some folks. But what our Lord teaches here
is good. If you make food for somebody
and have them to your table, they receive an instant, immediate
benefit. And so do you. Nobody comes between
the giver and the receiver. And those who he says to do this
for are unmistakably needy. They're poor, blind, lame. And we have to understand always
the principle, the essence of the principle. It's not a matter
of just having somebody blind or maimed or somebody like that.
Back then if you were blind you were probably a beggar. That
may not be true nowadays. It's different isn't it? In this
country especially. A blind person may be better
off than you. Just having them over because
they're blind is not the principle here. It's somebody needy. It's not just about the specific
handicap itself. It's about need and meeting that
need and thinking of somebody else instead
of yourself. Somebody that can't do anything
for you. If you do something for somebody
that can do something for you, you're thinking of yourself,
at least as part of it. This is a selfless act that our
Lord's talking about. He's commanding this. They can't
do anything for you in return. We have a tradition of giving
gifts to one another at Christmas time. And we call that giving. But we'd be offended in most
cases if we gave a gift to somebody and they didn't give us anything
back. Not always, but in most cases
that would actually offend. Vicki better get me something
too. But what our Lord is talking
about is a different kind of giving. And Christmas time is
a good time to do it. But it's about giving to someone
who can't give you anything back. How often have you done that?
Maybe you've given to somebody that didn't for whatever reason.
They didn't know you were going to give them a gift or whatever.
But have you ever given anything to anybody that couldn't? I'll
say this, I've been on the receiving end of this a lot more than I've
been on the giving end of it. I've given a little bit to people
who could never repay me over the year, very little. But I've
had a whole lot of generosity bestowed upon me that I could
never ever return. And that's a rare thing. It's
a rare kind of giving that our Lord speaks of here. People will
give to charities and expect a tax break. They give, exchanging
gifts with others, but it's not often that this kind of true
giving ever happens. And you know that's right. Our
Lord gives it as a sign of his grace. We know that God's blessing
is not in response to man's deeds of any kind. He doesn't respond
to something you do by blessing you. And so when our Lord says
in verse 14, you will be blessed, he's saying that people that
give like this are objects of my mercy. And that's why they're
that way. That's why they care about somebody
that can't do anything for them. Because somebody cared for them
that way. The difference between selfishness
and generosity is a difference that grace makes. It's a difference that the free
grace of God makes in a sinner. The glory always goes to God.
The giver not only doesn't expect the needy person that he gives
to to recompense him. Now think about this. The true giver, as God describes
here, he doesn't expect the person that he gives to to do anything
for them, but he doesn't expect any blessing from God in response
to his giving. He absolutely does not. You do
not do anything expecting God to bless you for it. We know
by His grace that every blessing that we have from God is because
of what Christ did for us. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places are in Him. Why would you want it any other
way? I'm so glad He doesn't reward me according to what I do. Religion talks about giving to
God because you know he'll give you sevenfold in return. That's
not giving that's an investment Don't you know the difference
that's pretty clearly that's clearly an investment The cheerful
giver that God loves does not give in order to get even from
God especially from God But he gives because he has already
received and all things from God. Do you remember the story
of Jacob and Esau in Genesis chapter 33? What a beautiful
picture of this. Let me just tell you the story.
And if you want to read it word for word later, Genesis 33, one
through 11, it's a good story. Good to read. And it, I can't
preach this without talking about this. Jacob was worried about
how Esau would receive him. because there had been bad blood
between the two. He was afraid Esau would kill
him and he prayed to God and he inquired of God and was scared
to meet him, but they were going to meet. They were going to meet
on the road and Jacob sent an emissary ahead of him with gifts
for Esau, his brother. Many, many wonderful things on
wagons loaded with all kinds of good things as a token of
goodwill and love. And Esau did the same thing.
He sent forth a caravan in front of him to meet Jacob. And when they met one another
Esau said, what's all this that came before you? And Jacob said,
well, I just wanted you to know I love you. And it's a token
of God has blessed me, Jacob said. God's blessed me. And I
wanted to be a blessing to you. And Esau had done the same thing.
And Jacob said, keep what you have. I don't need anything. And Esau said the same thing.
Esau said, you know, keep this stuff that you've sent forth
ahead of you. I've got enough. I mean he said
literally, I have enough. I don't need anything from you. Jacob said the same thing, only
he used a different word. He used more than one different
word. When Esau spoke to Jacob, He talked about how he had prospered
and how much stuff he had and that he didn't need anything
from Jacob. When Jacob spoke to Esau, he talked about how
much God had blessed him. Esau never mentioned God, but
Jacob said, the Lord has blessed me. And he said, it says in the
King James Version, he said the same words in the English rendering
that Esau did, I have enough. Jacob said, keep what you sent,
I have enough. But if you look up the word,
what Esau said was, I've got so much stuff, I don't need anything
else. What Jacob said was, I have everything. Because God has blessed me. I
have everything a sinner can have. And that's us. That's why we're
generous. And Jacob impressed upon him.
He made Esau take it. Take it. I insist because God
has blessed me and I have everything. That's why we give. Not because
we're trying to get something, but because we've got something
from God. And you know what we've got? We've got everything because
we have Christ. We have everything there is.
And that's why we give. Not because we have a lot of
stuff, but because we have Him. We have everything. Religion's
idea of even, look at verse 14 again back in our text. Thou
shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt
be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Religion has even
a fleshly materialistic idea about that. If you don't know
the Lord Jesus Christ, what you think he's saying there is that
these poor people can't give back to you, but God will give
it to you then. You know, God will give, you know, you're going
to be out that now, but not for long because God will recompense
you, you know, everything. You'll have a mansion over the
hilltop and extra jewels in your crown and things like that. That's
not what this is teaching at all. What this is teaching is
God's people, the cheerful giver that gives because we have Him,
we have everything, they don't want anything in return except
Him. But our recompense is to be raised
together with Christ our Lord and to be seated in glory with
Him, to be with Him forever. That's our recompense. Money doesn't matter. It's not
going to matter now and it's not going to matter then. That's
not what heaven is to us, pearls, gates of pearl and streets of
gold. The reason the streets and the gates are made out of
stuff like that is because the stuff that's so valuable to people,
to men, to sinners here is just building materials to God. We're
gonna step on it up there on our way to praise Him forever. That's all it is. It's just something
to step on while we glorify the King of glory. We want Him. We have Him already. And at the resurrection, at the
resurrection of the just, if we already have Christ, what
can we have more than? More Christ. How can you have
more of Him? Him without sin getting in the
way of our enjoyment of Him at all. Him without a dark glass
between that makes it hard to see Him as He is. Him being like Him. You're not ever really going
to see Him until you're like Him. We shall see Him as He is
for we shall be like Him. You're not going to be able to
see Him as He is until then. We can't fully experience Him
until we're just like Him. And then we will be at the resurrection
of the just. Listen to Hebrews 11.24. By faith
Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward." In Moses' estimation, the reproach of Christ was worth
more than everything that this world can give. You think about
what he would have had as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Everything. The richest man in the richest
country in the world. But the reproach of Christ, now
and think about this, don't put, did you see anything about mansions
or jewels or crowns in there that he looked at when he's talking
about the recompense of the reward? Moses had a choice between the
riches of this world and what is called here the reproach of
Christ. And he chose what he did by faith. That's the theme
of that whole chapter. How did he do that? By grace
are you saved through faith. And that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Faith is not a work of man. It
is a gift from God. If you love His Son and you esteem
Him greater riches than anything in this world, it's because God
had mercy on you and gave you faith in His Son. And that being
true of Moses, don't put the emphasis on the word reproach
like we would tend to do. The reproach of Christ. In other
words, the reproach is just what comes along with him. It's not
the reproach that was great riches. Nobody would think that. But
if it's the reproach of Christ, it's greater than anything else.
You know why? Because the reproach of Christ comes along with Christ. The only way you can have the
reproach of Christ is to have Christ. That's why nothing compares. Nothing. And that was greater to Moses
because he knew that one day he had respect under the recompense
of the reward. He knew that one day he would
have the Christ without the reproach. But the reproach is nothing.
It's nothing if we have Him. Listen to what the Lord said
in Genesis 15. He's the God of Abraham and Isaac
and of Jacob. And the reason he calls himself
the God of Abraham is because he made a covenant with Abraham
a long time ago. And here's what he said when
he made that covenant with Abraham concerning his seed which is
Christ and all those in him. all those who are given the same
faith that God gave Abraham. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram, I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward. Don't be afraid, and here's why.
I'm your shield. Nothing and nobody can ever hurt
you. And I'm your exceeding great reward you're never gonna lack
anything ever The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want Who are the just the resurrection
of the just it means righteous it means innocent It means faultless
It means guiltless Let's turn to the book of Job,
please chapter 9 Just before the Psalms Job 9. I Who are the just? Who are the righteous? Job answered,
verse 1 of chapter 9, Job answered and said, I know it is so of
a truth, but how should man be just with God? Now I want you
to see why he asked that question. Look at Job chapter 8, flip back
a page here and look at Job chapter 8, verses 1 through 6. You remember
Job was greatly afflicted by God. He was diseased. God took
all of his family and his servants and all of his riches. He was
a wealthy man with a large family. And God in one day took everything
away from him, even his wife. She wasn't killed, but she said,
why don't you just curse God and die? Why don't you curse
God and die? Look at what your God has done
for you. It would have been better if she had died, wouldn't it?
For him, for Job. except that God works all things
for our good. I'm sure he thought that. I'd
rather she be dead than to curse God. Wouldn't you? God took it all away. Job is
on the ash heap, scraping his bowels. He's a miserable, miserable
man. Surely nobody has ever suffered
other than our Lord himself. Nobody's sufferings can compare
to his. There's no sorrow like unto his sorrow. But Job, hmm,
lost everything in a day. And sat on the ash heap and his
three friends came to him and they all started accusing him
of, we don't know what you did, Job, but if God's treated you
like this, it must have been something terrible. And you can
hear it in this language. Listen to chapter 8 verse 1.
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said, how long will you speak
these things? How long shall the words of your
mouth be like a strong wind? Does God pervert judgment or
does the Almighty pervert justice? God's just giving you what you
deserve. If thy children have sinned against him and he have
cast them away for their transgressions. In other words, can you think
of anything more cruel? This man just lost his whole
family and here this idiot is saying the reason they did it
is because they were sinners. God killed them. Aren't you glad
God doesn't kill everybody because they're sinners? That's just
faulty reasoning, isn't it? If God killed us all based on
our wretchedness, our sinnerhood before Him, we'd all be goners,
wouldn't we? We'd all be goners. What a cruel thing to say. If
your children were a bunch of godless wretches and God took
them, then so be it. Oh, wow, that's comforting, isn't
it? And look at verse five, if thou
would have seek unto God but times and make that supplication
to the Almighty, look at verse six, if you were pure and upright,
If you just weren't such a wretched person, and think how self-righteous
that is. God didn't do any of that to
us, so I guess we're doing okay with God, you know, but boy,
Job, you need to straighten yourself up. If you were just pure and
upright like we were, then you wouldn't be on the ash heap.
You'd be over here like us, enjoying the blessing of God. Oh my, that's
anti-Christ. That's the false gospel of works. If you were pure and upright,
surely now he would awake for thee. And here's a little spoiler
alert if you're going to read the book of Job. God says later
to these three friends, he said, you have not spoken that which
is right concerning me as my servant Job hath. And this is
part of them not speaking that which is right concerning God.
If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for
thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
You wouldn't be suffering so much. And look at what Job, here's
why Job said, I know it's so of a truth. I know this, if I
were righteous, God would bless me. If I was just before God,
then I'd have His blessing. But how in the world am I going
to be just before God? Have you ever thought about that?
I know it is so of a truth. If I were pure and upright, then
all would be well. But how can man be just with
God? How's that gonna happen? Now
look at verse 20 in Job 9. If I justify myself, mine own
mouth shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, it shall
also prove me perverse. If you say, I don't have any
sin, you just sinned. You just lied. The very thing
that came out of your mouth proved that you're a liar. You're perverse. That's what he's saying. If I
justify myself, that in itself makes me unjust before God. So Job's question here is a good
one. How can man be just with God? It's a vital one. Because
I must be and you must be. And we have the answer in the
Gospel. All of God's Word declares the truth of this and answers
this question. When God gave His law, thou shalt,
thou shalt not. You know what He also did? He
said, make an ark. And make a mercy seat. And here's
what you do. Here's how to make atonement.
and satisfaction for your sin when you break my law." God didn't
give his law so that people would act right. Do you think God's
that naive? He thought people, oh God said
don't do that, well I just won't do that. God's not that naive,
that's not why he gave his law. Paul said the law was a schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. God gave his law to show us our
need of the Savior Not to make us righteous. If God gave the
law to make us righteous, he failed. God don't fail. This is God showing in picture
and type, long before his son ever came into this world, that
it is only by the sacrifice of the son of God that sinners can
be just in his sight. Make a mercy seat and on the
day of atonement, one day out of the year, the high priest
is to enter the most holy place of the tabernacle, not without
blood, and splash the blood of atonement on that mercy seat.
And I'll commune with you there. Hebrews 10, 11, and every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. They weren't to come
with a lamb and slay it and say, well, I've killed a lamb like
God told me to, now my sins will be gone. No, they were to bring
a lamb and kill it before God and say, by the blood of God's
lamb, sinners can be just in the sight of God. By the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, even a sinner like me can be found
faultless. They could never take, those
sacrifices could never take away sins, but this man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, did what no other
priest in the Old Testament ever did. He sat down. When they were
acting as priests, there was all kinds of stuff in the tabernacle,
but there wasn't a single chair in there. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, and he didn't sit down because he was tired, he
sat down because he was done. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Everybody he shed his precious
blood in order to justify are justified. They are made holy. They are guiltless. They are
innocent in sight of God because of that blood. And so he sat
down. Ever to make intercession for
us, The Apostle Paul attributed his
justification to that one offering. In Romans 8.31, what shall we
say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? But is God for us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How
can God justify? How can man be just before God? Job asked. God spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us. And in him and with him
has freely given us everything. What did Jacob say? I have everything. That's how. God spared not his own son, and
how shall he not with him also freely give us everything? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, the resurrection
of the just. There it is. That's why when you make a dinner, call those who can't make a dinner
for you. Because that's what He did. In Christ we are freely given. Did you notice that word when
I read Romans 8.32? How shall he not with Him also
freely? give us all things. If you do
something for somebody that can do something for you, you're
not doing it freely. The word freely means without
a cause. There was no reason for him to
do anything for me and yet he did everything for me. The reason was his love. No reason
in me. That's why When you make a dinner,
call a poor man. Call a blind man. Call somebody
that can't do that for you. Like Jacob, we say, I have everything. Listen to what our Lord said
in Matthew 10, 7. As you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. That's primary. That's the message. That's the reason for all the
rest of it. That's the reason for giving
because of the unspeakable gift of Christ that God gave to us.
And that's the gospel. Preach that. And heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers, raise the
dead, cast out devils freely you have received. freely give. That's the message of our text. If you have freely received from
God, then give freely. Just because. There's no reason
in them, but He's the reason. This is not a lesson about charitable
giving, this is the gospel. Who has God called to his supper?
Who are these who are resurrected on this day of the just, who
are called the just? The poor. Those who had nothing. We owed an unspeakable debt.
The debt of our sin is infinite because God's holiness is infinite. And we had nothing to pay. Remember
that parable he told? He said when they had nothing
to pay. It wasn't that they couldn't pay it all back. They couldn't
pay anything. That's us. That's who he says, come sit
at my table. They had nothing whatsoever to
contribute to their salvation. He justified us freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans
3.24. We are the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. We have
nothing to give to God. We're marred. We're fallen like
Bephibosheth who fell He was dropped and he fell to the ground
and he became lame on both of his feet and useless, not fit
for the kingdom of God. We're unable to walk before God.
We can't see the kingdom of God. We're blind. Mephibosheth is
a beautiful picture of this. Seems like we talk about him
all the time nowadays. In 2 Samuel chapter 9, lame on
both of his feet, unable to do anything for David. But David
sits him down at his own table. and blessed him with everything
that he had. That's me. And that's why now when I make
a supper, I want to be like him. Not to get something, but because
I have him. And really what's seen in our
text, the lesson of our text is most beautifully seen in what
happened later in Mephibosheth's story. Remember, we've seen it
recently in our study in 2 Samuel how that David, because of a
covenant that he made with Jonathan, to bless all of the house of
Saul, who Jonathan was Saul's son, and David promised to bless
everybody in that family as long as he was king. And David said
one day, is there any left of the house of Saul that I may
have mercy on them for Jonathan's sake? And somebody said, well,
there's old Mephibosheth down there. Mephibosheth had run from
David because He was of the house of David's rival, Saul, and he
thought David was gonna kill him, but David was looking to
have mercy on him. What a beautiful gospel picture.
And David sent and fetched him. That's what God had to do for
you. You're not coming on your own. No man can come except the
Father which has sent me. Draw him. That means take you
from where you are and bring you to Christ. That's what David
did. Go get him and bring him to me. And he said to Mephibosheth,
you're gonna sit at my table from now on, but listen to this
now. Mephibosheth, David later, after that, was betrayed by his
son Absalom. And Absalom had raised quite
a rebellion, and David was exiled from his own kingdom, from his
own throne. And some left with David, he had to leave Jerusalem.
And some left with him who were loyal to him. And listen, in
2 Samuel 16, 1, let me read this to you. Turn there if you would.
We've got 15 minutes and I'm not even gonna take all of that.
Listen to this. 2 Samuel 16, 1. This is the most beautiful picture
of our text. This is what our text is teaching.
Freely you've received, freely give. And what is it that we
want? What is our reward? What is the
recompense? that we desire. 2 Samuel 16, when David was a little
past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth
met him. with a couple of asses saddled,
and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches
of raisins, and a hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of
wine." And now listen, this is David being exiled, and Mephibosheth's
servant, Ziba, brings these gifts and says, you're on a journey
now, you're leaving, take this stuff. and enjoy it and use it. And the king said unto Ziba,
what meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, the acids be for
the king's household to ride on, and the bread and summer
fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine that such as be
faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, where is your
master's son? Where's Mephibosheth? David loved him, didn't he? David,
he was asking about him. Where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba
said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem, for he
said, today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom
of my father. This servant Ziba said, Mephibosheth
doesn't care anything about you, David. You're being exiled now,
so he sees that as an opportunity. He's saying now I'm gonna be
seen to be the descendant of Saul and that I should be on
the throne. He's expecting to be king out
of all of this. and then said that David to Ziba,
behold, thine are all that pertain unto Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth
doesn't care anything about me anymore. It's yours now, Ziba.
You're the one that's cared about me. You're the one that came
and is helping me out here. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech
thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king. But
we find out later that Ziba is a traitor, not Mephibosheth.
He's speaking all flowery, oh I humbly ask you Lord that I
might find grace in your sight. And all he was looking for was to take care of himself.
When Absalom is killed, David's son, the rebellion is finally
put down and David returns to the throne in Jerusalem. Look
at 2 Samuel 19. This is the occasion now. David
has been exiled for a while, but Absalom and his rebellion
is put down and Absalom is slain. And David comes back to the city.
And we read in 2 Samuel 19.24, and Mephibosheth, the son of
Saul, came down to meet the king. And here, as far as we know,
Mephibosheth has betrayed David. According to Ziba, he betrayed
him because he wanted to be king. Though David had been so kind
to him. Don't you know that broke David's heart? But Mephibosheth the son of Saul
came down to meet the king when he was returned unto his kingdom
and had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed
his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he
came again and peed. Don't you know he was a mess?
That's a long time to not take a bath. Wash your clothes and
it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king
that the king said unto him Wherefore when is thou not with me Mephibosheth? What a question I've been so
good to you. I loved you I sent and fetched
you when any other king would have killed you being the heir
to my rival We were friends Why didn't you
go with me when I was exiled? And David thinks he knows the
answer, but listen. And he answered, my lord, O king,
my servant deceived me, Ziba. Ziba deceived me, for thy servant
said, I will saddle me and ask that I may ride there on and
go to the king. I was coming. I was coming with you. I intended
to come with you. Because thy servant is lame,
I said to Ziba, Saddle me an ass. And he said, and look at
verse 27. And he hath slandered thy servant
unto my Lord the King. He lied to you about me. He said
that I wanted to be king and that I didn't come with you because
of that. And somehow Mephibosheth found out about that. But my
Lord the King is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is
good in thine eyes. For all of my father's house
were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet did thou set thy
servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right
therefore have I yet to cry any more unto my king? It's fine. Ziba betrayed me. He lied to
you about me. Now you've given everything that
you had given to me unto him. That's fine. I don't deserve
anything from you anyway. I never did. And the king said unto him, why
speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said thou and Zabba divide
the land. So David provides again for Mephibosheth. He understands what happened
and he makes, he gives him a share. But listen to what Mephibosheth
in verse 30, Mephibosheth said unto the king, yea, let him take
all. For as much as my Lord the King
has come again in peace unto his own house. That's all I care
about. Zabba can have all of it. I'm
just glad you're home. That's our text. If there is
any such thing as generosity in any sinner's heart, it's because
of that. It's because the Lord Jesus Christ is everything to
us. And so what are the things of this world but just things
we can use to honor Him? What else is it? Really now? May the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
be our exceeding great reward. And because we were poor and
maimed and lame and blind, He freely gave us Himself and all
things in Himself. May that make us want others
to have him too. Because you see, it's great,
it's more blessed to give than receive, and that applies to
the things of this earth. There's no doubt about that.
It's good to give to somebody. But what good is any of this
earth's goods going to do anybody if they don't have him? We want others like us to have
Him. That's why Paul said, oh, I would
to God that you were all together such as I am, except these bonds. The most charitable thing that
a sinner can do for anybody is commend another sinner to the
Son of God by prayer by testimony, by witness, by whatever means
God provides. What is charity anyway? It's
the meeting of a need. And what then is the one thing
needful? Let's pray.