Let us turn again to God's words
and turn into that verse that we were considering this morning
in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 10. 2 Corinthians 6.10 As sorrowful
yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having
nothing and yet possessing all things. We were looking then
at this verse and I remarked, now in this passage we do see
that strange experience of the child of God, a life that is
made up of spiritual paradoxes. We were thinking in particular
of the opening part of this tenth verse The believer is one who
is both sorrowful and yet is always rejoicing. We go on then, as I said at the
close this morning, to consider the remaining part of the verse. He says, As poor yet making many
rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. So now
I want to say something with regards to the believers. Poverty
and yet his riches. His poverty and his riches. Oh, there is so much in the life
of the believer that is strange, inexplicable. It is a life that
is full of mystery. There are those seeming contradictions.
As the believer walks by faith and fights, that's good, fights
of faith. But when we think of the very
doctrines of the Gospel, isn't the Gospel itself full of mysteries? All that great mystery of godliness
of which Paul speaks when he writes there in 1st Timothy 3.16
without controversy, he says. Great is the mystery of godliness.
The word godliness indicates that he's speaking of religion,
real religion, true religion. It is a mystery and it centers
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. How could it be that God himself,
the great creator, the one whoever has been, ever will be, the great
I am that I am, that that God in the person of the Son should
come into this world. Our God contracted to a span
and incomprehensibly made man in the language of Charles Wesley. It is a mystery, the person of
Christ, the God-man. And then the mystery of that
work that he came to accomplish. He is the only sinless righteous man that has
lived. Adam, of course, was created
holy. unrighteous, created in the image,
made after the likeness of God, but how quickly Adam fell, how
quickly Eve fell, how sin enters into the human race. But then
when Christ is born He is altogether free from every taint of sin.
Original sin is not there in Him, He is conceived by the Holy
Ghost in the womb of the Virgin and that human nature is declared
to be a holy thing that holy thing that shall be born of thee
shall be called the son of God and sinless in his birth so also
sinless in his life holy and harmless and undefiled and separate
from sinners and made higher than the heavens there was no
cause of death in him There was nothing of mortality in the human
nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could such a man die? He
died. He died because he died as a volunteer. No man was able
to take his life from him. He had power to lay that life
down, and he had power or authority to take that life again. Why did he die? Well, we're told,
are we not, he hath made him to be sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." What mysteries there
are when we come to consider the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and when we think of His dying, and that awful cry
that He makes upon the cross, My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken Me? Or remember He was never anything
less than God, He never ceased to be God, even when He became
a man. He was always God, always the
Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. That Holy Thing, Mary was told,
that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. He was always the Son of God
in His birth, in His life, and in His death. And yet He cries
there in the agonies of His soul upon the cross, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? Is it possible that the Son could
be forsaken of the Father? God is three persons, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. But those three persons are one
God. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God
is one Lord. and there is no division and
there can be no division God is one and always one and yet
the awful cry of the reality of what Christ must have felt
in the depths of his soul it's a mystery and we cannot explain
these mysteries so much that we have to contemplate is so
strange to us, so incomprehensible. But this is the wonder of the
way of salvation. And as with the doctrine of the
Gospel, so with the experience of the Gospel. If we come into
the experience of the grace of God, as I sought to say this
morning, there are strange aspects. And here we see it in the text,
in fact we see it in these two verses, verses 9 and 10, as unknown and yet well-known,
as dying, and behold we live as chastened and not killed,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing and yet possessing all things." Or thinking this
morning then of the child of God, the believer, as one who
is sorrowful and yet rejoicing. We think of the language again
of the hymn writer, a sinner may repent and sing, rejoice
and be ashamed. Well we are those I trust who
are ashamed when we look to ourselves. We live our lives at a poor dying
rate. So often we feel ourselves to
be little more than believing on believers so much
unbelief in our fallen nature there's much that causes us to
grieve over self to be sorrowful and yet and yet or can we not
rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and again says the Apostle I
say rejoice nothing in self but everything there in the Lord
Jesus Christ but tonight I want us to move
on and to consider the remainder of this 10th verse and so to
say something of the believers poverty and yet at the same time
to say something of the believers riches it's all part of that
paradox Lord what a riddle is my soul says the hymn writer. And again
I think of the words of that dear man Ralph Erskine in those
gospel sonnets I referred to them at the conclusion this morning
in that section in his sonnets where he speaks of the riddle.
of the believer's soul, of his experience. And he says this
in the opening words, My life's a maze of seeming traps, a scene
of mercies and mishaps. I'm in mine own and others' eyes,
a labyrinth of mysteries. A labyrinth. Well, let us consider
something of what is being said here concerning these things. at the end of this 10th verse.
First of all, to say something with regards to the poverty of
the godly. And we have parallel statements
in a sense. They answer to one another, it
says, as poor. And then it says, as having nothing. As poor, and a further amplification
of that statement as having nothing. That's the believer. The believer
often is poor with regards to his possessions. Now, as I said
this morning here, in the context, the Apostle is speaking of himself
and Timothy and others associated with him in the work of the ministry
and we see that in the opening words we then as workers together
with him that is with the Lord beseech you also that you receive
not the grace of God in vain and then we have that bracketed
second verse a parenthesis as it were he continues really in
verse 3 giving no offense in anything that the ministry be
not blamed but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers
of God." And then he goes on to speak of the nature, the character
of that ministry that they are exercising, in much patience,
he says, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, and
so on and so forth, right the way through to verses 9 and 10
where he speaks about these particular paradoxes. how the ministry cost
him a great deal. In fact, in many ways, he was
a poor man. He had to resort to his tent-making
on occasions, to make ends meet, as it were. This is the life
that he was living. And, of course, he was one who
was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember how the
Lord Jesus, in His humanity, in His life here upon the earth,
had nowhere to lay his head the foxes have holes the birds of
the air have nests the son of man had nowhere to lay his head
he was so wonderfully supplied by others and we read that's
a lovely passage I think in Luke chapter 8 the ministry of those
women how they loved the Lord what
does it say there at the beginning of Luke chapter 8 We read of
certain women which had been hailed of evil spirits and infirmities. Oh, what the Lord had done for
them, saving them. Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's steward,
and Susanna, and many others, it says, which ministered unto
him of their substance. they ministered unto him of their
substance." He was a poor man. The Lord Jesus, poor in possessions,
and it seems that this was also the case with regards to the
Apostle, living a life of dependence. Ultimately, of course, his dependence
is a dependence upon God, living a life of dependence upon God
the Lord. supplying the needs of all his
servants. Oh, I recall the words of our
dear late friend Sidney Norton. Many a time he would say, you
know, those who minister the Gospel have to live of the Gospel. And what does it mean to live
of the Gospel? He said, well, you have to live a miracle. You
have to live a miracle. You have to live just like the
children of Israel lived in the wilderness. That's how you have
to live the life. It's a miraculous life. It's
the Lord's way. It's the Lord's provision. And
think of what's said concerning the children of Israel when they
come to the borders of the promised land. There in Deuteronomy chapter
8, in the second verse, they shall remember all the way which
the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.
to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine
heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee
with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the Lord doth man live, thy raiment, wax not old upon thee,
neither did thy foot swell these forty years." They lived a life
that was a miraculous life. They were poured in possessions.
They had no opportunity to plough, to sow, to reap. The Lord provided
for them continually. All this is ever the way of God. His children generally speaking,
are not the rich of this world. Hath not God chosen the poor
of this world, rich in faith, heirs to the kingdom that he
hath promised to them that love him? Think of the early ministry
of those apostles after the death and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.
We read of them how they were so emboldened after the Lord
rose again from the dead the ministry of Peter and John there
in Acts chapter 3 as they go into the temple that man lying
from his mother's womb carried and daily laid at the gate of
the temple called Beautiful asking alms and he asks alms of Peter
and John and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said
look on us And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something
of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, give I thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the
right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and
ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. Oh, he had nothing of the world's
riches. No, the apostle, but he could say, in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, how these men were rich in faith. Now, let me be clear, we're not
to think that poverty is virtuous of itself. There's nothing virtuous
in poverty. We have to avoid the awful superstitions
of the Roman church with their vows of poverty. You know how
those who want to live the monkish life take certain vows and amongst
them a vow of poverty. As if there's something so virtuous
in being poor. There's nothing virtuous in poverty
in and of itself. Think of the language of the
wise man. when we come to the end of the book of Proverbs.
What is it that Solomon sees to be the best way of living? There in Proverbs 30 verse 8 he says, Remove from
me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be fallen in idleness. and say, who is the Lord? Or
lest I be poor and still and take the name of my God in vain. He wants neither riches or poverty.
There's nothing virtuous you see. It's our relationship with
the Lord that is all important. And so what we have here with
regards to the experience of the God He's spoken of in our
text. That's poor. as having nothing. It's not just a question of being
poor in possessions. The important thing surely we're
to learn from this is we must be those who are poor in spirit.
Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God. To be
poor in spirit. And what we read of here is that
they are poor And yet, they are making many
rich. They're not spiritually poor,
you see. They have spiritual riches in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have to distinguish between what it means to be poor in spirit.
It's not the same as being spiritually poor. That being poor in spirit
indicates a certain humility of mind. We know that those apostles were
men who were clearly rich toward God. They were poor in spirit, they
weren't spiritually poor. I like the comment of the Puritan
Thomas Watson who says poverty of spirit is a kind of self-annihilation. That's what it means to be poor
in spirit. It is a sort of self-annihilation. It's the denying of self. if
any man will come after me says the Lord Jesus let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me that's being poor in spirit
having no confidence in self, no confidence in the flesh but
rather that despairing of ourselves And that's what Paul is brought
to in his experience. Remember how he writes here at
the end of this epistle when he speaks of his experience,
the thorn in the flesh. And he's entreating the Lord
and yet the Lord reminds him there's a purpose in all of this.
And what does he say at the end? Though I be nothing. Well that's the man's testimony.
though I be nothing. You know that passage, a tremendous
passage. There in chapter 12, Therefore I take pleasures in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. I am become a fool in glory, and ye have compelment. He's having to defend himself.
Time and again to these Corinthians who are so despising him because
how the false teachers have crept in and turned their hearts away
from Paul. They despise the man. And he
has to defend himself and he speaks of his experiences. And
it's all part of God's great purpose because through this
man's experience we learn something of what the life of faith is
all about. I am become a fool in glory and ye have compelled
me for I ought to have been commended of you for in nothing am I behind
the very chiefest apostles." And he was that. Nothing behind
the chiefest of all the apostles. Though I be nothing. That's his testimony. Paul, he was a nothing. He was
a zero. He was a cipher. Though I be
Nothing. That is that real poverty of
spirit. He counted all things but loss.
Doubtless I count all things but loss. That's what he says. His testimony there in the third
chapter of the Philippian epistle is one great burning desire simply
to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ I count all things but
last for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and who
count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith. Oh Paul was a man poor in spirit
poor in spirit there is a poverty poor in possessions
there is a poverty poor in spirit and then there is also a poverty
poor through giving through ministering and this is what we have here
surely it says in the text as poor yet making many rich it
was this giving of himself that so impoverished himself really
and we have that in the context look at how he continues verse
11 O ye Corinthians our mouth is opened unto you our heart
is enlarged you are not straightened in us but you are straightened
in your own bowels He is so open-hearted. He only desires their goods. When he uses his expression to
be straightened, it means you're in a narrow place, you're tight.
But that wasn't Paul. That wasn't Paul. Paul is one
who is willing to pour out his heart to them. Large-hearted. He would just give himself all
together for them and for their spiritual well-being, though
it impoverished himself. That's the sort of ministry that
he was seeking to exercise. Look at what he said back in
chapter 5. Verse 13, Where that we be beside
ourselves, it is to God. Where that we be sober, it is
for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. because we thus judge if one
died for all then we're all dead. Or how he would impoverish himself.
I remember reading somewhere in the letters of William Huntington
how he would speak of impoverishing his own soul in ministering to
his people. All that he was able to take
in and feed upon as he read in the Word of God and studied and
meditated in the Word of God He had to give all of that out.
And that was the way in which so many of the Lord's servants
ministered at that time in the 18th century. It was a time of
great awakening. The Spirit of God was abroad
in the land. It wasn't just the case with
a man like Huntington, it was true also of course in the ministry
of a man like George Whitfield, how he spent himself. You read
of him traveling over to the New World so many times in the
course of his short ministry. So it's spending himself in the
preaching of the Gospel. And that was the way of the Apostle,
that was the way of all the Apostles. Or what does What does Paul say,
writing there in 2 Timothy 2.10, I endure all things, he says,
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He would endure
anything and everything in order to make known the Word of God,
in order to faithfully preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it wasn't just the case with
Paul, it was true of all these men, these apostles. And that's
the way in which they encourage those that they're writing to
in their various epistles. Go and listen to the language
of Peter. There in the fourth chapter of 1 Peter, verse 10,
he says, As every man hath received the gift, Even so, minister the
same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the articles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion. forever and ever. All that ministry,
all of it for the honor, the glory of God, the praise of Jesus
Christ himself. This is a sort of poverty then that Paul is speaking
of. As poor as having nothing, nothing
himself. no possessions a man poor in
spirits a man poor through through giving to others but then it
is not in vain you see that these men serve the Lord Jesus Christ
there are also riches and so let us turn in the second place
to the to the riches the possessions of these godly as having nothing
it says and yet possessing all things as poor yet making many rich what are these riches? well they
are riches that are laid up in the Lord Jesus Christ whom have I in heaven but the
There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee, says the
Psalmist. Isn't that the language of the
godly? All what he wants to do is to
know the Lord and he wants to know more of the Lord. He has
come to understand the great purpose of his very existence.
It's what Augustine of Hippo was brought to. Thou hast made
us for thyself. Our souls are restless till they
rest in Thee. It's our chief end of man to
glorify God, to enjoy Him forever. Man's made for God. Now we see
it time and again in that wisdom literature of the Old Testament
in the book of Proverbs in particular. Solomon says there is that maketh
himself rich yet hath nothing there is that maketh himself
poor and yet hath great riches. It's paradoxical. It's treasure
in heaven, not treasure upon earth. But this is what God's people
are to be about. Before going, let us observe
the remarkable language of King Solomon there in that
book of the Proverbs in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 24 he says there is that scattereth
and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more than
his meat but he tendeth to poverty the liberal soul shall be made
fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself where we need to read, to mark
these things, to meditate upon these words. Now I read for our
public reading in chapter 8 and also chapter 9 and in those chapters
the subject matter that Paul is dealing with is the whole
business of giving. of giving to the needs and the
necessities of others when he speaks of the gift. And he is
commending this church at Chia there in the southern part of
Greece because of their readiness to give to the ministering of
the saints. And that language that we read
there in chapter 9 He says at verse 7, Every man according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is
able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
This is one of those good works, you see. We are to do our good works before
men that they may glorify our Father in heaven. What is the
motivation in all of this? Well, we come to that last verse
in chapter 9, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Oh, the grace of God in the gift
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that surely is the thing that motivates
the believer. Oh, the believer is one who desires
to minister to others, to minister to his fellow believers. It's one of those marks of the
grace of God in a man, is it not? John reminds us of that,
writing in his first general epistle. You know the language
there in chapter 3. He says at verse 17, Whoso hath
this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him, my little children? Let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Oh, there is the mark,
you see. There is the fruit, ministering
to the material needs of others. But not just material giving,
there's also spiritual giving. When Paul here speaks of making
many rich, as poor yet making many rich, how could a man who
was poor in possessions make many rich? It's that spiritual
ministry. It's that testifying of the grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to tell of the wondrous
dealings of the Lord with a man, with a man's soul, if we can
but bear testimony, you see. We're to be ready, you know,
to give an answer to every man that asks a reason of the hope
that is within us. And is it not good to tell? To
tell of what the grace of God has done, and what God's grace
can do. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. Or we
can make men and women rich by our testimony to the gospel of
the grace of God that we believe, and I trust that we delight in.
We love to hear of these things, and we should love to tell also
of these things. You know, the believer is not
like some stagnant pool. Surely the believer is to be
a channel of blessing. That's how we make many rich.
Poor yet making many rich. Having nothing yet possessing
all things. What does the Lord say there
in the 7th chapter of John? He that believeth on me as the
scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He that believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ he has something to give. something to minister, to give. Why? Is that not a very
major part and parcel of the great riches of the Christian
religion? Remember the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, says Paul, addressing the Ephesian The elders here
in Acts chapter 20 remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. How God gives, how God gives. God so loved that He gave. There's a love of God. God so
loved the world that He gave. His only begotten Son. that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life all
thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift thanks to the Father all but
thanks also to God the Son you go and look at the language of
Paul here in chapter 8 and verse 9 ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich. Having the Lord Jesus Christ
within possession of all things, it is life eternal to know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He ascends. Oh, let us then live our lives
as those who have been truly enriched by this grace of God. We don't desire or seek after
the wealth of this world. Thank God if He makes provision
for us. We know every good, every perfect
gift cometh from above, cometh from the Father of lights, in
whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. We are to pray to Him and in
our prayer we are to use that petition, give us this day our
daily bread. Or as we have it in the account
in Luke, give us day by day our daily bread. It's a daily supply,
it's a constant supply. But it's that continual looking
to the Lord, trusting in the Lord. He will make every provision
for our temporal good. And that's sufficient. That's
sufficient. But we seek not after those things
that are seen. Those things that are seen are
but the temporal things. It's the unseen things that are
the eternal things. It's those riches that are laid
up in glory for all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. All
God's grant that that love of Christ might therefore be shed
abroad in all of our hearts, in your hearts and in my heart,
that we might live this life demonstrated to us here in the
experience of the Apostle and all those associated with him
in that glorious ministry. As sorrowful yet all while rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing
all things. Oh the Lord, bless the word to
us.