Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. We are looking right here at
gifts that God has given to us to be used in the service of
the ministry. And I am coming to appreciate
these Bible studies so much. I feel like they're speaking
to my heart and I'm seeing just how necessary they are, how needful
they are. And I pray the Lord will teach
us. I pray He truly will teach us. For the sake of His gospel and
for the good of His people, I pray He'll open these things up to
us. The main thing that we wanna stress in this is His work and
not ours. That's the main thing. When we
talk about these exhortations and these good works that our
Lord, through His apostles, has commanded us to do. We always
want to stress His work and not ours. He is the one who gave us life. We were dead. Without life, you
can't do anything anyway. The dead man can't do anything,
so he's the one who gave life. He's the one who gave us redemption. He's the one who gave us salvation. And he's the one who has given
us these gifts. What do we have that we have
not received? What do we have? Men talk about
giving to Him. Well, you need to give to Him. What do we have that He has not
first given to us? It's all His. If we're gonna
glory, we're gonna glory in the Lord. Now, because salvation
is totally of the Lord, totally of the Lord, without our help,
without our work in any way, shape or form, because it is
all of Him. And because He by Himself purged
our sins. Because of that, by His grace,
we are going to say thank you. That's what we're gonna do. Just
because of all that, we're gonna say thank you. And we're gonna
do that by obeying Him. and by using and applying the
gifts that he's given to us with all our might. Now he mentions
seven of them right here. The first one is in verse six,
having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion
of faith. If he has called us to preach,
then let's give our all to it. If he has called us to preach,
then let's give our all to it. I sincerely pause on that. I pause on that. I pray God will
give me that ability. If I give my all to it, it is
him who has given my all to it. He has given me all and He has
given me to it and will glory in the Lord. But I sincerely
pray for the good of the body of Christ, for the good of the
church and the profit of all of us. I pray that if He has
called me to preach, then He will cause me to give my all
to it. Pray that for me. Pray that God
will keep me in the study. Keep me preaching the one only
hope that we have the only way. Well, the next one he mentions
is verse seven ministry. Let us wait on our ministering.
May God give us a heart for his ministry. Think about that. Just think about what that means.
May God give us a heart for his ministry. He has these ministries
that he has raised up and people gather to these local assemblies. He has the ministry and he has
these ministries. And if he, it all leaves me to
myself, I won't have a heart for it. I won't be committed
to it. I won't support it. I'll go up
prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. And we all do. Oh, may God give us a heart for
his ministry. May God give us a heart for the
gospel and never let us say, I've heard that already. I know that already. How many times
do I really need to hear that? Isn't that what this flesh will
do? May God truly give us a heart
for His people. Truly give us a heart for each
other. Every service that we can do
in His cause, may God give us a heart for it. I wanna show
you a very precious verse of scripture. We're gonna move forward,
but let me show you this wonderful verse of scripture. Hold your
place and go to 1 Corinthians 16. First Corinthians 16 verse 15,
the apostle Paul said, I beseech you brethren, you know, the house
of Stephanas. He said, you know, that it is
the first fruits of a Kea him and his family. They were
some of the first ones that God called out of a Kea. And he said,
you know that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints. They have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints. May God teach us what that means. and teach us to do it. He said
in verse 16, submit yourselves unto such. Submit means adapt
yourselves to people like that. Join yourselves with people like
that. Submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth
with us and laboreth. I pray that God will give every
person here, starting with me, a taste, a true taste, a true
craving, a true addiction to the ministry of the saints, the
ministry of the gospel. I pray God will cause us to just,
just be addicted to it. Open our homes to each other
and do for each other and help each other and comfort each other
and pray for each other. All right, go back to Romans
12. The third gift he mentioned is teaching. He said at the end
of verse seven, he that teacheth on teaching. As I studied on
the subject of teaching for last week, we looked at that last
week. I entered into, like I never have before, the command that
is given to me by God. to teach everything that God
has given to His people to know and to teach it with all of the
ability and all of the understanding that He's given to me. In the fullness of whatever He
has to say, I need to teach with humility. That's how I need to
teach. I need to teach with humility.
I need to do everything that I can do to prove my sincerity
to you. I need to do that. I need to
prove that I'm not just teaching you things for my own benefit.
In a moment, we're going to talk about giving. That's the one
we're about to come up on. I need to prove to you that I'm
not teaching that because we're building a building and you know,
I need to prove to you that I'm teaching that because that's
the next thing God said. It's the next thing he has to say
to all of us in his word. But with all that being said,
I can't let anything sway me and I can't let anything deter
me or influence me away from teaching every word that he has
to say. Every word. It's not my place
to do that. I'll only hurt us. I will hurt
the body of Christ and not help the body of Christ if I withhold
anything that God has to say to his people. Anything. So by
his grace, I'll teach with all the ability he gives me. I pray
he'll give me that ability right now. Pray he'll help me with
that right now. The next gift that he mentioned
is exhorting. Verse eight, for he that exhorteth
on exhortation. Exhorting means inviting, calling
near, witnessing. Last week, we looked at the blessedness
of the message that we witness. How glorious the news is. This
is the free gift of Christ, the free gift of salvation to sinners,
the free gift of His grace, the abundance of it, the depth of
His mercy. It's a message of love and peace
and total forgiveness in the blood of the Lamb. So Paul said,
go joyfully, tell everybody you can. He said, do it with gentleness,
do it with patience, Pray and God will have mercy on them like
he did on us. All right, so that's where we
left off last week. We're gonna pick up today with the God-given
gift of giving. Verse eight says, he that giveth,
let him do it with simplicity. That word simplicity means liberally,
generously. Generously, generously. God's
people are givers. God's people are givers. And
the reason they are givers is because of what has been given
to them. Everything. Everything. God gave his only begotten son
to us. And in Him, we've been given
forgiveness. We've been given redemption.
We've been given salvation. We have been given eternal life,
eternal, never-ending life, everything. In Christ, we've been given all
of the spiritual blessings that can be given. In Christ, we've
been given all of them. God's people know, like we just
said, what do we have that we have not received? Everything
that we have is on loan from him. Our children are on loan
from him. Everything belongs with him and
he shared it with us. That's what he'd done. Because
of that, this is what the hearts of God's people cry. How can
we say thank you? That's what they cry. How can
we say thank you? And he answers them in his word by saying, this
is how, as I have given to you, you give to each other. And as
much as you've done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren,
you've done it to me. Now, here are a few facts concerning
giving. I'm gonna try to teach His Word
with all the ability He'll give me. Pray the Lord a blessing. Here are some facts from God's
Word concerning giving. Giving, as the Apostle Paul said
at the end of verse one, is our reasonable service. He did not
say it was our salvation. He said it was our reasonable
service. That is our reasonable service. All of us ought to give. There's gonna come a point with
our children that we need to teach them to be givers. We need
to teach them as God has given to you, you need to say thank
you. All of us ought to give. Don't turn, but the apostle Paul
said in first Corinthians 16, verse two, he said upon the first
day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as
God has prospered him. If he increases us, our giving
ought to increase. If He decreases us, our giving
ought to decrease. Sometimes we feel guilty about
the fact if we can't give as much as we did last time. We
can't give what we don't have. Everything that is coming to
us is coming from Him. So if He increases us, that's
fine. If He decreases us, then we need
to give accordingly. However, He has purpose for us
to have. And he said, it should be done
on the first day of the week. This is again, how we say, thank
you. This is how we say, thank you. That's what we're doing in giving.
We're saying, thank you. All through the scriptures, our
Lord tells us to give our first fruits. All through the scriptures,
constantly. He said, give of your first.
The apostle Paul takes that a step further by saying, give your
first fruits on the first day, first day of the week, Sunday.
Our thankful giving to the Lord, it ought to be the first payment
we make out of what he gives to us. The reason is because, and I'm
gonna tell you this from experience, tell you this from personal experience,
If we put more importance on our mortgage payment, and we
put more importance on our car payment, and more importance
on our retirement account, and more importance on our entertainment,
eating out, even groceries. When you got a lot of money in
the bank, you eat steak. When you don't have a lot of
money in the bank, you eat spam. If we put all of our importance
on those things, when we get to the end of it, I promise we
will have crumbs. Everybody lives up to what God
gives them. We will have crumbs and we will
say, and I'm telling you from experience, pointing at myself,
this is what we will say. I just can't afford to give.
We will say that. I just cannot afford to give.
I just can't do it. There's nothing left over. But
if God teaches us and allows us to give our first fruits unto
Him, saying thank you, and all of those other things are secondary
to that, when we get to the end of them and it's just crumbs
left, this is what we will say. We'll say, I just can't afford
to get that new car right now. I just can't afford to eat out
all week this week. We will say those things. Now,
I know that this stings. It stings me too. It is convicting to me too. It is so, so convicting. But for our good, I know because
of God's promise, this is for our good and for our profit. It's not for our hurt. What he
is saying to us is not for our hurt. We need to know this. And the reason is because he
said he loves a cheerful giver. A cheerful giver. And he has
promised us that we will never be able to out give him. Never. Never. And I'm going to say something
about that in just a second. But turn with me to Malachi 3. Last book in the Old Testament,
Malachi 3. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Malachi 3 verse 8 says, will
a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But we
say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse,
for you have robbed me even this whole nation. Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will
not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it. He said,
prove me now. Prove me now with tithes and
offerings, what's required and more. tithes and offerings. He said, my promise to you is
I will not let you out give me. I will now. Now false religion
tells people, this is what it says to people. Would you like
to get rich? You wanna get rich? Here's how
you do it. You give all your money to us,
and God'll make you rich. It's not what he said. He said,
I'll pour out a blessing on you. False religion tells people,
if you don't give your 10%, then you're not gonna be saved. That's
a lie. That's not true. He never said
that. The only reason we give is to
say thank you for the fact that salvation is already complete.
It's already finished. It's over. We're not giving for
any reason other than to say thank you. We don't even pass
a plate here. If giving was a critical component
of our salvation, we would pass a plate here. But it's not. And we don't. Everybody's free to give whatever
God lays on their heart to give. Everybody. There's something
about this though that we need to know. He told us right here
to give tithes and offerings. This is for our good. This is
for our profit. Tithes and offerings. Many people
think that grace, grace, we preach grace. Many people think that
God's free grace, not works, but grace. Many people think that grace
has nullified and undone God's commandment to us to tithe, to
give 10%. Most everybody thinks that. who
comes to know something of grace, free from the law. In a moment,
we're gonna sing a song at the end of the service, Lord willing,
free from the law, O happy condition. The Lord Jesus bled, there's
remission, free from the law. So most people believe that grace
has undone and nullified that commandment to give 10%. It hasn't,
and I'll show you that in Luke 11. Turn with me over there to
Luke chapter 11. Luke 11 verse 41, Our Lord said, But rather give alms of such
things as you have, and behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you Pharisees, For
you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, you give 10%
of everything you have. He said, woe unto you, Pharisees,
for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and you pass
over judgment. And in Matthew 23, he added mercy
and faith. And he goes on to say, and the
love of God, you're passing over those things. These are ye to
have done and not to leave the other undone. He said, I'm not saying you shouldn't
have given the 10% of the other things, but you made a law out
of it. You made a work out of it, a
work of your own hands, and you missed it. He's saying you missed
Christ in it. You missed the love and grace
of God in it, and you ruined it. But he said you still should
have done what the law commanded you to do with grace. Now here's
what we need to understand and learn about this. May God teach
us this. Grace does not nullify the law. I'm gonna let us chew
on that for a second. Grace does not nullify the law. It fulfills it. None of God's commandments to
us have been undone by grace. Not one of them. not one of them. Grace in Christ does not change
the fact that we should not have any other God before the true
and living God. That was the first commandment
of the law. First commandment of the 10 commandments.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Grace has not nullified
that. Grace does not say it's okay
now to go worship whatever God you want to worship. You're under
grace. That was law. Grace doesn't say that. God's free salvation of grace
does not say you don't have to honor your mother and father
anymore. That was law. That was just law. It doesn't
say that. Grace does not give us a license
to commit adultery. It just doesn't. Well, sin is
sin, you're under grace. It doesn't give us a license
to commit murder. It doesn't give us a license
to lie. It doesn't give us a license
to steal. Those commandments to us have
not changed. Don't lie. Once we get past this
and get on the subject of lying, here's God's word to us. Don't
lie. Don't steal anything. Do not commit adultery. Grace has not diminished one
law. Grace has fulfilled them. all of them, and grace fulfills
more than what the law's even required. The law is so satisfied
with grace, the law is satisfied. Grace fulfills more than it requires,
whatever the law requires. Christ is our example of this. Christ came and gave for us. He gave for us. This is what
made His gift grace. All right, we talk about His
grace. This is what made it grace. The
law said 10%. How many percent did He give?
A hundred. That's what made it grace. It fulfilled what was required
and more. He gave all. He gave all. Our Lord pointed out to all His
disciples. He said, do you see that poor
widow right there with those two mites? Two mites. He said, she gave it all. You
think she died that afternoon from hunger because she didn't
have any money to buy any food? You think she suffered for that?
You think the Lord allowed that woman She's a picture of Christ. She gave it all. She gave it
all. She made herself to be poor. Gave it all. When it comes to
our giving in return, our thankfulness in return, this is the only problem
that we should have with tithing. Grace says, and I'm telling you
from experience, I understand this. Grace says, well, I don't
have to do that. That's law. I'll prove how into grace I am.
I'll, you know, here's two pennies. The only problem that God's people
ought to have with tithing is there's no grace in it. There's
just no grace in it. It's just the bare bones minimum
of the law. Just the minimum that's required.
Grace gives above what's required. It always has. That's what makes
it grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Thank
God for grace. Thank God. That's what we're
saying and giving. Thank you. Thank you. Grace gives more. Grace gives
more. That's God's promise to us in
our grace of giving. He says, grace gives more. If
I give you the gift of grace, free gift, free gift. If I give you that gift, grace
gives more. We're never going to be able
to out give our God. Now, I want to say it again.
That does not mean that his gift to us is always in the form of
money. If you give it, you may end up
being poor, but you won't regret it. How
could his blessings be counted or numbered or giving is not an investment.
It's not an investment. We don't give to get, we give
to say thank you. We give to show our love. When
we take the Lord's table, He said, you do this to show the
Lord's death. Well, He's telling us, you do
this to show your love for His death, just to say thank you.
But this is what He says to His people concerning the subject
of giving. Turn to Luke 6, Luke chapter
6. Verse 38, this is His Word to
us. Luke 6, verse 38. He said, give
and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down and
shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. He said, you give it And in your
moment of need, you're gonna start watching men give into
your bosom, and they're just gonna start giving into you and
giving into you, and they're gonna pour into you. I'm gonna
send men. He said, you just give it. And
he said, I'll make sure that it's given in return, good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give
into your bosom. For with the same measure that
you meet with all, It shall be measured to you again. What that
means is you will never be able to out give God. Somebody will say, all right,
I hear you. I'm going to give all I can so
I can get all I can. You still won't have anything.
If you take that approach, you still won't have anything. If
God gives you a heart to give all you can, He will pour into
you in return and He will have already given you that heart
and you'll give that away too. And then He'll pour it into you
and you'll give that away too. And He'll pour it into you And
you'll even give that away too. And it'll keep going and it'll
be about the most happy, joyful thing you've ever experienced
in your life because it is more blessed to give than to receive. And it'll be our blessing. Boy, you talk about pouring blessings
on God's people. That's probably one of the greatest,
when you see somebody in true need and God has given you the
ability to supply it, That's kind of what I get from
preaching. I know you're hurting. I'm hurting
too. I know it's a tough life. And
when God, by His Spirit, not by my work, not by my labor,
I'm a dead man in my flesh. When God gives the gift of prophecy
according to the proportion of faith, and He gives me that blessedness
to give it, and it reaches the heart of His people, and they're
just supplied what they need. If I feel like He's poured a
blessing into me that I can't even contain. I feel like He's
opened the windows of heaven to me and poured the blessing
out. Does that make sense? It'll be our blessing. Give.
It'll be our blessing. Give, give, give. We will have
plenty left over for our family. Naked came we into this world.
Naked we're going out. Give and along the way we will
have plenty left over for our family. Turn to 2 Corinthians 9. I'll
wrap this up. 2 Corinthians 9. The heading at the top of my
page here says, Paul exhorteth to a bountiful almsgiving. He's telling them give generously,
give sacrificially. 2 Corinthians 9, verse six. He said, but this I say, he which
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly," that means don't
come away from this saying, okay, you've guilted me into doing
this, not grudgingly, or of necessity saying, well, if I don't, you
know, I'm gonna be lost or I'm gonna be who knows what, not
grudgingly or of necessity, For God loveth a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver. And here's what that means. God
loves Christ. That's what that means. God loves
Christ. How did he so? How did he give? Did he come
here and give himself grudgingly? or of necessity. He said He did
it for the joy set before Him. He said, Father, I delight to
do Thy will. Happy to, I'm just happy to.
If that's what you'd have me to do, I'm happy to. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 says, For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, Yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be rich. Back in chapter nine, verse seven,
it says, every man, according as he purposes 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 you always having all sufficiency and all
things may abound to every good work. That means if God gives
you a heart to give, he'll give you something to give. And it's not. Well, I'll give
as soon as he gives me something to give. If he gives me something,
I'll give it. That's not what he said. He said,
give, even if it's two mites, and it'll be given unto you.
That's giving in faith. But, um, with whatever ability
he's given us. Verse nine, as it is written,
he hath dispersed abroad. He's done it. He hath given to
the poor. His righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministered
seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply
your seed some. and He'll increase the fruits
of your righteousness, being enriched in everything to all
bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God."
That's what this whole thing causes, thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this
service not only supplieth the lack of the saints, but is abundant
also by many thanksgiving to God. We're supplying the needs
of His people and saying thank you. 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 men, and by their prayer for you which
long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you." Verse 15
says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That's all we can say concerning
giving. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That's
all the motivation a believer needs. Thank you. Thank you for
the gift of Christ. All right, I'm done, and I'm
late. So, sorry.