Thank you. Turn with me, if you
would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. In this chapter, the Apostle
Paul has been dealing with the subject of giving. And we're going to pick up this
morning with verse 13. This is the verse we've come
to, but I want to recap just for a second what he has said
up to this point. In verse 9, he reminds us of
all of our motivation in giving. I was going over these notes
this morning and I thought, let's just camp right there for the
entire 30 minutes. Verse 9, he 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." Lord, help us to enter into that. He said,
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, what else needs
to be said? Though he was rich, what other
motivation really does a believer need than that? entering in to
the love of God that gave Christ. Gave Christ the depth of his
giving. Absolute riches to absolute poverty. He gave up everything. The top of Mount Zion to the
bottom of the grave. That's where he went, the top
to the bottom, entering into what that in turn means for us,
the bottom of the grave to the top of Mount Zion. That's why
he did it. Absolute poverty. to absolute
riches. You know the Apostle Paul said,
I hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither has entered into
the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that
love him. You can't imagine what God has
prepared for his people. All they care about is the one
who prepared it. That's all they need. But even
so, you just cannot imagine absolute poverty to absolute riches. And what other motivation does
a believer need just to be thankful in return and to give in return? God's people love Christ. They really do. They really do. They are not in love with doctrine. They love the doctrine of Christ.
Sure they do. But they love Christ. They love this person. They love
the gospel of Christ. They love hearing about who he
is and what he did. They love hearing it. They love
hearing it. And then they love his people.
They love those that love Christ and his gospel. They really do.
And they prove that with all of their substance. Our Lord
said in Matthew 6, he said, where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also. And I'm telling you, God's people
prove where their heart is. They proved that their heart
is with the gospel of Christ and with his people because they
give, they just do. Verse eight, he said, I speak
not by commandment. God's people are not under law
on this. He said I speak not by commandment
but by occasion of the forwardness that means the willingness that
means the eagerness to care for others. The forwardness of others
and to prove the sincerity of your love he said what giving
does in every way that we can. Is it proves the sincerity of
your love? And let me give you a little
illustration on that. For my birthday a week and a half ago. Isabella is older than Sophie
and you know she wanted to do something a little bit more and
she needed Hannah's help with it and. I loved it and thankful for it. So I'll acknowledge what she
did. Okay. This illustration is about
Sophie. Sophie wanted to get me some
presents with only her money. No help from Hannah. She wanted
to pick them out, buy them by herself, wrap them by herself. She wanted to do everything by
herself. All right. So Hannah took her
to the dollar store. And she bought me, you know,
I think it was six items that cost a dollar a piece. And she wrapped all six of them
by herself, and they looked like Sophie wrapped them by herself. All right, now, I could not begin
to imagine how much money I have spent on her since the day she
was born. It would shock me to think about
all the money I spent on the doctor's visits leading up to
the day she was born. The hospital bill so she could
be born. The food, the clothes, the shelter,
the presents, the vacations, everything. I could not imagine. It would probably, it wouldn't
depress me because I love her. But it would shock me to know
how much I've spent on her since the day she was born, all of
her life so far. In return, she gave me $6 in
primitively wrapped stuff. And in the process, she proved
the sincerity of her love to me. That's all I needed. I'm thrilled
with that. I'm thrilled. We are not under
law. We're under love. Verse 12, the Apostle Paul said,
for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according
to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not. Sophie doesn't
have what I have. She gave what she could. And I don't expect her to do
any more than that. I really don't. I don't expect
her to give what she does not have. What she gave was well
accepted. I know for a fact that what she
gave me, she didn't earn. That was first given unto her,
previously given unto her. But even so, what she gave was
well accepted, and it proved the sincerity of her love. And
that's what Paul is encouraging us, them, to do here. As the Lord gives to us and supplies
our need, let's prove our love and our thanks by supplying the
needs of our brethren. All right, now, verse 13, this
is where we pick up For I mean not that other men be eased and
you be burdened. He said, I'm not saying that
one brother who has less bear no burden. And then another brother
who has more bear all the burden. He said, I'm not saying that. In the family of God, we all
bear one another's burdens with whatever ability we have. Look
back at 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 1 says,
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given
order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first
day of the week, that's Sunday, let every one of you lay by him
in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings
When I come every one of you, he said on Sunday, however, the
Lord is prospered. If he hasn't given anything,
don't give anything. As the Lord has prospered, you
let him lay in store everyone. So back in the text, second Corinthians
eight, he said, I'm not saying that one man should bear all
the burden and another man should bear no burden at all. Verse
13. I mean not that other men be eased and you be burdened,
but by an equality. that now at this time your abundance
may be a supply for their lack want that as the tides turn when
when things change their abundance also may be a supply for your
lack that there may be equality, and we see what he's saying there.
When you have more, supply for them, and when they have more,
supply for you. That is just how it ought to
be. That's just kindness. That's just goodness. We would
be wise to put that into practice. not only from one individual
believer to another individual believer, but from one congregation
of believers to another congregation of believers. As there is a need,
I pray the Lord would give us a heart to help supply it. We may not be able to supply
it, but may he give us a heart to help. All right. Now, with
all that being said, there's something in here that has blessed
me so much. This has put a little bit of
perspective. I think this will be a life help. I really do. This is this has been a confirmation
to me on some things. Just from a physical point of
view and I would say financial point of view for believers. This has also caused me to really
rejoice in a particular fact in our salvation. Verse 13 says,
I mean not that other men be eased and you burdened, but by
an equality that now at this time, your abundance may be a
supply for their want and their abundance also may be a supply
for your want that there may be equality as it is written HE THAT HAD GATHERED MUCH HAD
NOTHING OVER, AND HE THAT HAD GATHERED LITTLE HAD NO LACK."
That's a quote from Exodus 16, verse 18. Turn with me over to
Exodus 16. Now, I believe this will bless
your heart. Here in Exodus 16, Moses has
led the children of Israel out into the wilderness where there
is nothing. That's the key. It's the wilderness. There's nothing out there. They
are completely dependent on the Lord. That is a tough place to
be. That is a painful place to be,
but that's the best place a believer could be. Totally dependent on
the Lord. Exodus 16 verse 4 says, Then
said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven
for you. Now this is coming off of them
complaining. And this was the Lord's answer.
I'll rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go
out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them
whether they will walk in my law or no. Verse 15 says, And
when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another,
It is manna. That means what is this? For
they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. Now watch verse
16. He said, This is the thing which
the Lord hath commanded. gather of it every man according
to his eating an omer for every man." That was a measurement.
An omer was a measurement. They could put the manna in this
omer and it would measure out how much a man needed to live
on for one day. That's what the Lord said they
needed. You need an omer to live on for one day. Verse 16, an
omer for every man, according to the number of your persons.
Take ye every man for them which are in his tents. If a man had
a wife and six children, then he would go out every morning
and he would gather up, it was like hoar frost, it was like
a frost that laid on the ground, and he would start gathering
up however much he thought it would take to feed him, his wife,
and his six children, eight of them. If a man had a wife and
ten kids, he'd, well, I think this is how much it would take
to feed the twelve of us. And then they would put it in
their sack and they would take it to the omer. They would take
it and have it measured. and they would put it in that
omer and, you know, the guy who went out and gathered much, you
know, the measuring guy, you know,
he'd say, man, you have plenty. You have plenty. You did great.
Good day. It was a good day, wasn't it?
How many do you need to feed? Well, I have a wife and I have
six children. I need to feed eight. I need
eight owners. All right, let's see what you got. So he'd reach
into the sack and he, okay, there's one. When he got down to the
last drop of manna, he'd say, there's eight. How many did you
say you needed? I needed eight. Perfect. There you go. So he
had eight. All right, well, then another
guy would go out and gather. for whatever reason, other men
would beat him to the manna, he'd be searching around, he'd
be trying to find it, he'd gather some here, he'd gather some there,
and he just, there came a point, it said in verse 21, where when
the sun waxed hot, all the manna melted. Alright, there was a
certain time in the day that the manna just melted, and you
knew the gathering's over for today. So he'd go put his manna up there,
And the measuring guy would say, well, it looks like you did pretty
good. What, do you have a wife and a couple of children? I have
a wife and 10 children. Well, let's see what you have.
And he'd reach in, and there's one omer. And he'd reach in. There's two. There's a little more in here
than I thought there was. I'm still feeling some. I don't know.
Sometimes I don't guess right. Yeah, well, it's gonna be close.
I tell you, it's gonna be close. There's, I don't know, there's
11. There's 12. How many do you need? I needed
12. All right, look at verse 17. And the children of Israel
did so and gathered some more, some less. And when they did
meet it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over. And he that gathered little had
no lack. They gathered every man according
to his eating. There was always exactly enough
for every soul in the wilderness every day for 40 years. That is the physical, and if
we want to say financial, case for every child of God today. I believe what I'm telling you
right now with all of my heart. I'm convinced of this. Everything
about that describes our case today. You would think that they
had strong faith, wouldn't you? After this happened day after
day after day, every day for 40 years, you'd think they had
strong faith that God provided the exact amount, you know, they
were constantly going, for every day for 40 years. But
they didn't have strong faith. They spent almost every single
day murmuring and complaining that they were not going to have
enough. That was their complaint. So
do we. I'm guilty. Even though we have had everything
we need provided for us every single day of our life so far. The children of Israel back then,
they were welcome. If they wanted to, they could
just trust the Lord. And so can we. We're welcome
to. If we would like to, we could just trust the Lord. There is no reason to get too
excited one way or the other. I believe this with, I can't
tell you how strongly I believe this. There's no reason to get
too excited one way or the other. Have you ever felt like you were
on the verge of a financial break? You ever felt like, I can't believe
it. This is actually going to fall my way. Solomon said, when goods increase,
so are they that eat them. Is that not true? There's no
reason to get too excited over an increase in riches. If we
belong to God, he will shrink them for our good. He'll do that for us. We'll go
out and get all this and all this and all this and we'll bring
it all in and he'll. We'll get to the end of the day
and be like, well, that's just what I needed, man, I'm so glad it
was just what I needed and I'm glad I made that much. It was
just what I needed. There's no reason to get too excited over
not having enough riches. If we are God's children, God
will swell them for our good. In the end, all of God's children
get an omer. It's true. From my own experience, there
have been times when I have abounded. There have been times when I
have been abased. I have been able to say at the
end of every day, me and my family have all been fed today. We've
all been clothed, we've all been sheltered. I have worked hard. The Apostle Paul said, I don't
mean that any man be eased, that you bear his burden and he be
eased. If a man will not go out and work, he's worse than an
infidel, worse than an unbeliever. A man ought to get up and go
to work. But whatever the results are,
I've been able to say at the end of every single day, I have
exactly what I need. It's miraculous. It really is,
it's miraculous. The Apostle Paul used that example
to say, this is the reason we should take whatever God gives
us today and share it. Give it, use it. Brand new manna
is going to fall in the morning. It's going to. If we try to carry
it over for ourselves, it's just going to spoil. Isn't that what
happened to the manna? I'm going to put that back for
me. I'm going to go light today so I can really indulge tomorrow.
Is that not what we do? 65 years of my life, I'm going
to go light. I'm not going to touch it. I'm
not going to do it so I can hit it hard at 65 to 70. I'm going
to give it all I got those last five years. If we tried to carry
it over, just spoiled. The physical blessing in this
is God has provided, he's ordained an equality among his people
and he gives his people a heart to share it. If he gives me much
and you little, oh, I pray he gives me a heart to share it.
Let's even it out. What do you need? And it goes
always among God's people. Now, I'm going to have to be
quick, but the spiritual blessing, The Lord gave a parable of a
man who hired some servants at six o'clock in the morning and
he agreed to pay every single one of them a penny. And then he hired some more servants
at nine o'clock in the morning. He agreed to pay every single
one of them a penny at the end of the day, noon, hired more
servants. Everybody gets a penny three
o'clock. He hired more servants. Everybody gets a penny last hour
of the day. He hired some more servants and
he agreed to pay him a penny. Here's what that tells us spiritually.
Every single child of God gets the exact same reward. Every single one equally across
the board. The Apostle Paul spent years
and years and years in the service in the ministry of the gospel.
He gave it all. He endured hardship. He endured
trials. He endured persecutions. When
his time on earth was done, he said, I have fought a good fight. I finished my course. And then
he left this world and he received his reward. What did he get? Christ. That's what he got. The thief on the cross fought
no fight, no fight of faith. He had no course of service in
the gospel. He only knew the gospel for about
a minute, maybe an hour. And then he left this world and
he received his reward. What did he get? Christ. God has ordained it so that every
child of God equally gets Christ. Same reward. If we tried, we
could probably find the most significant believer in the scripture. And if we tried, we could probably
find the most insignificant believer in the scripture. In glory, there's not a bit of
difference in them. Not one ounce of difference in
them. I thought about that young damsel named Rhoda over an axe. She's the one who Peter was knocking
on the door and she was so excited she didn't open the door and
ran and said, Peter's out there and they didn't believe her.
All right, that's all that's mentioned of her. That young
damsel named Rhoda in glory, She's gonna receive the same
love, the same attention, the same affection, the same everything
that Abraham gets. Same as we. It's all the same. God said, Abraham is my friend.
He said it in his word, Abraham's my friend. You know what he said
in John 15? He said, you are my friends. Greater love hath
no man than this, and a man lay down his life for his friend. Seeing this, this is a precious... Aren't you so blessed by the
fact that there is equality in glory? Joint, equal, heirs with
Christ. And doesn't that make you have
a greater heart for inequality down here among God's people?
He's going to share it all up there, let's share it all down
here. I sincerely do pray the Lord would give me a heart if
He causes me to abound. Lord, don't let me say, boy,
if they abound, may they give it to me. I pray that he would
give me a heart if he causes me to abound. Oh, give me a heart
to share it. Give me a heart to spend it on
the gospel and share it with the world. whatever he gives,
Lord. And I'll close with this verse.
Go with me to Luke six. This is our Lord's promise to
us. And religion has ruined this. I read an article by, I believe
it was Spurgeon the other day. And he said, don't let false
religion ruin the promises of God to you just because they
mess it up. They've ruined this, but this
is God's word. 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. For with the same measure that
you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again. You know,
I thought about the fact that God, the father gave his son. And in return, he got a multitude
of sons. Beloved, we are the sons of God
because God gave his son. And he says the same thing applies
to us. And again, that doesn't just apply to money. We don't
have money. That's fine. He just said, give,
give your love. Love will be poured on you. It
will be. And may God give us the ability
to do that as Christ is our example. All right, you're dismissed.