Second Corinthians eight. This
is such a needful subject. I heard my pastor deal with this
years ago. And. Consequently, we've dealt
with it also here. I've dealt with it a couple of
times. And then recently, I heard it
again during the Bible. up there in Kentucky. My pastor spoke to all of us
on this subject again, the subject of giving. Giving. We're dealing with scriptural
things, names of grace. Last Wednesday night we looked
at prayer. I hope that was a blessing to
you as it was to me. And I hope this is a blessing
to you as well as it was to me and some of you who have heard
it. It's such a needful thing. There are several words here
in this chapter about giving. And I haven't consulted the finances. I haven't consulted the treasurer.
And that's not the reason I'm doing this. I have no idea. We may be in the black or we
may be in the red. I don't know. Don't ask me. But I just felt impressed to
get this because I was blessed and an inspiration to me and
I believe it will be to you. of a work of grace in someone's heart. Giving is a proof or evidence
of the work of grace in someone's heart. Selfishness is natural
to the natural man, isn't it? You don't have to teach your
children to be selfish. That comes natural. And that's
what we do. We do things for ourselves. But when God Almighty does a
work of grace in someone's heart, a regenerated man or woman, a
young person, He makes them gracious. They no longer think of themselves.
They begin to think of others. You didn't get to hear this. It's proof of the work of grace
in someone's heart. All right, look at verse 8, here
in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 8. He says here, it's proof of your
love. Verse 8, I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness of others, or that is the example
of others, to prove the sincerity of your love. Proves the sincerity of your
love. Giving proves your love. True love. Love for Christ, love
for the gospel, love for the people. Giving proves that. 1 Corinthians 13. Nearly all of us know that chapter,
don't we? The theme of that chapter is
charity. Now, what do we think of when
we think of the word charity? What do we think of? Giving. Well, the Bible, when it uses
the word charity, it's talking about what? What do you say? You know what
I'm saying? What the Bible calls love, we
call giving. A bell is synonymous. You can't
have one without giving. You can't have love without being
giving. And true giving proves love. It's synonymous. Isn't that,
that's ironic, isn't it? No, it's confidential. All right, Paul used the church
at Macedonia, verse 1 here in chapter 8, which is the church
at Philippi. He used them as an example. Look
at verses 1 through 4. He said, Brethren, we do you
to wit, or I want you to take note of the grace of God Now,
he gives the glory and credit where it's due, the grace of
God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Now, here's how
he showed that, here's the grace
that he bestowed. Verse 2, having in great trial
of affliction, though they were in affliction and trouble and
tribulation and even poverty. It says, "...the abundance of
their joy, and even deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their
liberality." That is, they freely gave, liberally gave, abounded. Verse 3, "...to their power."
I bear record, "...yea, and beyond their power." They were willing
of themselves. They gave above and beyond what
it seemed like they were able to do. And verse 4 says, they prayed
us, or that is, they entreated us. They prayed us with much
entreaty. They just insisted. Sounds like
Paul gave a great gift to the Apostle Paul and others to distribute
as they saw need. And the Apostle said, they can't
afford this. And he may have said, this is
a liberal gift. Now, we insist. Don't take it. Please. Don't offend us in not taking
it. They wanted to minister to the
saints, beyond their ability. Look back
at 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16. I like this. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 15. He talks about the house of Stephanus. You know the house of Stephanus. That is, the firstfruits of Achaia.
That is, some of the first believers in Achaia, of this house of this
man named Stephen. And they've addicted themselves
to the master's saying. They're from addicted to it.
They've just got to do it. I like that. Addicted to it. Well, look back at the text again
now, 2 Corinthians 8. So he says, this they did. Now, as we had hoped, but first
gave their own self, or that is, not as we had, you know,
not only what we had hoped, but more. Gave their selves to the
Lord and unto us by the will of God. That's important. They
first gave themselves, and not only their good. Verse 6, as he had begun, so he would
also finish in you the same grace also." Read on. Therefore, as
you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge,
and all diligence, and you know the gospel, you abound in this
knowledge of the gospel and so forth, and you love to us, see
that you abound in this grace also. And this church has been greatly,
greatly blessed with the gospel. Very few churches have been blessed
like this church has. Now I'm talking about this man. I'm talking about, you think
of the myriad of men, gospel preachers and saints, people
who have passed through this place. We've entertained many
angels, and we were aware of it. Not angels unaware, we were
well aware of some of the angels we've entertained here. So he says to us, and I say to
us, and me, that we need to abound in this grace also, not only
this knowledge of the gospel and so on, but in this grace,
all right? Now, this is the first word.
I've given you several Bible words about giving, and this
is the first word, grace. Look at verse 9. You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich." Grace. What does the word grace mean?
What does the word grace mean? Gift. Gift. It's what it means. They
named our daughter Hannah, which is the Hebrew word for grace.
It's a big gift because God gave her to us. We weren't expecting
it. We didn't deserve it. He gave
it to us. It's a big gift. Grace means
gift. Everything we have is a gift,
isn't it? What you have, you have not received.
It's grace. By the grace of God, we are what
we are, have what we have. It's all been freely given us. Great, all right? And as in everything,
Christ is our supreme example. He has the preeminence in all
things. He is our motive, too, in this
thing, the grace. And that's what He says here.
You know the grace. Did He love His people? Well, how do you prove it? How much? Him saying all that he is, all
that he was. Scripture says it's full of grace,
grace personified. He gave himself, gave himself,
thus proving his love to his God and to his people. And when
the love of God, when the love of God, the grace of God is in
a man or a woman or a young person, they are gracious. And I'm not
saying this for much, but it's what we ought to do. So it is. It is in gospel. It's either
there or it's not. God's people are either gracious
or they're not. God's either done a work of grace
and then that grace comes out or it's not there. They're gracious,
they're giving, they're charitable, they're liberal. And this is
what they say. The first word is grace. This
is what they say. What do I have that I have not
received? And then the Lord said, So you
freely receive? And they say, Freely receive?
Then do what? If you really get received. All right, look at the next word, verse
eight. I speak not by commandment. In other words, you can't make
somebody do this. That's not the purpose. It'd
be law, wouldn't it? It wouldn't be grace at all.
Now, God makes us do it. He gives more grace. He gives
this grace, and we'll see that in a moment. How He's able to
make this grace abound in you. If you don't feel these workings
right now, and you desire this grace, ask Him, and He'll give
more grace. All right, look at verse 8. Prove the sincerity of your love.
That's the next word, love. And we've already mentioned that. My pastor gave this definition
of love years ago, and it's still one of the best I've ever heard,
apart from the Scripture, a man given that name. He said, Love
seeks to bestow the best that it has on the object of its love. You get that? Love, real love,
seeks to bestow the best that it has on the object of its life
purpose. In other words, if I love somebody,
I want to do the best, give the best I have. What's the best
or what's the most that I have? And all that I am. The Ephesians
5. Turn over to Ephesians 5. Look at this. Ephesians 5. And look carefully with me at
this. Ephesians 5. All right? I told you, we're seeking to
be followers of Christ. And all through Ephesians here,
look at verse 32 in chapter 4. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. You see how Christ is the motive,
Christ is the example. Christ is the root in everything,
not the law. Christ is the root. Our example,
our motive in everything. As He's forgiven us, we forgive.
All right? He's the Son of God, is He not?
Isn't He the perfect Son of God? All right? Verse 1 of chapter
5, Be ye therefore, therefore, or in like manner, or because
Christ did this, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children,
and walk in love. All right? How, Paul? As Christ
also hath loved us, and hath Himself, or a gift in love. Husband, and look at chapter
five there, Ephesians, chapter five, verse twenty-five. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave it. Every time he says love,
he says give, doesn't he? Doesn't he? A man does not love
his wife who does not freely give. A man who does not love to give
freely to his wife does not love his wife. And vice versa. A woman
who does not love to give and do for her husband does not love
her husband. Isn't that right? Did Christ love his wife? How
do we know? He didn't grudgingly give. He loved to give, and he gave,
and he gave, and he gives again and more. He gives us more grace
than a believer who does not love to give to
the cause of Christ. Does that not stand to reason? 1 John 3, listen to this, don't
have to turn now. Remember, 1 John 3, where John
says, If we, a man who has these earthly goods, and seeeth his
brother in thee, and withholdeth these things, This is how love is shown. This is how love comes
out. Give. Give. Love. Love. Important isn't it? Alright, look at verse 11 and
12 here in 2 Corinthians 8. Here's another word. See if you
can spot it. Now, therefore perform the doing
of it, but as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance
also out of that which you have. Or if there be first a willing
mind. Willingness. Willingness. Look at the next chapter. Chapter
nine, verse seven. And these are the—they go hand-in-hand,
they're similar, they're the same. Verse 7, "'Every man according
as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly
or of necessity,' or that is, of course, have to. to give her. Somebody who loves
to give her. Willing to give her. Do you parents
go with Sam? You probably don't have to give
your family money anymore. They've probably got all you
need at Winn-Dixon. Let me give you some money. Well,
do you? They ought to have all I need, too. That's just what
dads are for. All right? She comes to you.
Dad, I need help. I got a bill I just can't pay. Do you have a little extra? Do
I have a little extra? Well, honey, I knew it all along. I was waiting. And often don't
wait. You see the need, you give it
anyway. But grudging? You ever begrudge your children
to come and see Brother Joe? Gracious. You wouldn't love them
if you did. Cheerful. Delight to do. Why? You love them. And if you had
to, you'd mortgage your house, wouldn't you? Or haven't you? Huh? What can I do? Well, what do I have to do? Cheerful
willingness. Willingness. Scripture says our
God is ready to pardon. Ready. Willing. Delights to show mercy, the scripture
says. Waits to be gracious. He waits to be gracious. To this day, my dad's that way.
He's just ready to help me if I come along. Never begrudging
or does it out of necessity. Always cheerful to do so. Amen. What a statement this is, here
in verse 8, no, verse 7. What a statement this is. Those
last six words, for God loved it. God. Love it. Love it. God. Love it. Cheerful kid. You want God? You want the love of God? You want God to love you? We know
it's not conditional. We know that. Do I have to go
back over this again? Do we know that this is not conditional?
The love of God, he loved us in that while we were yet sinners,
before we knew him, before the foundation of the world, God
set his love upon us. His love is not conditioned,
right? But this does say this to us, God loves us. A cheerful giver. And we give
an illustration here, you're children. The more generous they are with
what you give them, The happier you are with them,
the more pleased you are with them. Is that right? You know,
you love them. Manson, you love your children unconditionally,
don't you? You really couldn't, you couldn't
love them anymore. Huh? You love them with all your heart.
You can't love them any more than that, can you? Huh? But
are you not more pleased? Are you not just happy? Are you
not just, just, just pleased when they show a little bit of
that graciousness and charitableness? Are you not? He makes them, in
our terms, love them that much more. All right. What would be the
opposite of that? God hates a miser, a stingy person. What is it you hate in your children
more than anything else? You don't hate them, but what
is it that you absolutely despise? Selfishness. I remember when
my daughter was a young, well, very, very toddler, you know,
and she had $448,372. And there was somebody that,
somebody for it. We found out little girl didn't
have any dollars, and we were trying to instill in her to give
one of those dollars, so she kind of begrudgingly left. And
it made me sad. And you know what I did? I got her favorite doll. I mean the doll of her eye. The
apple of her eye. You know, to this day she still
remembers those. The thing she remembers about my discipline. She threw out many claims in
every spanker. I have. I have. He did do more spanking than
I could see simply around him all the time. But the thing that
stuck in Hammond's mind more than any other thing was that
I could go away and crush and kill her. Why? Because I caught her being selfish. In the same way with our God,
who hates us and grudges us, loves a fearful girl. I'm going
to go see you in a minute. Whoever cheerfully and liberally
gives, so does he. It says that God's able. Look
at verse 8. God is able, chapter 9, verse
8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you. You say, I
don't have this grace. Well, he's able to make it abound. And back there in verse eleven
of chapter eight, chapter eight, verse eleven, look at it. It
says, Now therefore perform the doing of it. But as there was
a readiness to will, so there'll be a performance. Just do it.
Do it. I'd like to be able to do it.
I wish I had more grace to be in. Do it. Do it and He'll bless you. You're
saying tithe and God will bless you? No, I didn't say that. Did
you hear me say the word tithe? We'll talk about that in a minute.
Do it! Verse 12 says, There be first
a will in mind, set it according to the man hath, not according
to the hath not. Do it! What you have, do what
you have. I've heard my pastor talk about
this pledge giving. You know how people on TV and
I don't know, maybe you've done it in the past, but pledge things,
then sign a pledge card. That's corrupt. That's corrupt like investing
in the stock markets. You know, we're not called on
to do what we have not. give what we have not. That's
presumption. We can thrive. All right, look at the next word.
1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians
16. Turn over there. And keep your
place there in 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 16, look at verse
2. Here's the next word. Upon the
first day of the week, Let every one of you lay by him
in store as God hath prospered him." Here's the next word, prosperity. How much am I to give, preacher? How much does the Bible tell
me to give? How much are you going to give? It says, as God has taught me. But how much? How much? How much has God given? Tithing
is not taught in the New Testament. Our Lord only mentioned tithing
five or six or seven times, and every time it was in derision
of the Pharisees. Every time. Every time. They say, oh, they
tithe, they pay tithes of men and it's incumbent, and so forth.
So careful about these little things that will make the way
you're tithing. Well, tithing is not the rule for believers.
Tithing in the Old Testament, Malachi in particular, but tithing
was ordained by God. When was it ordained, you know?
Back when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt. That's
when it started. It was ordained by God for a
grudging bunch of unregenerate Jews. Where do we get that term,
Jews? Misery. That's what people mean. You and me. You're a skin plant. It's cheapskate. What are you
holding back? God instituted tithing for a
grudging bunch of unregenerate people to ensure that the needs
of the tabernacle were met. There were needs, monetary needs,
physical, material needs that had to be obtained, purchased,
or whatever, for the tabernacle. And these bunch of Jews weren't
going to do it. And God commanded it. How much? Ten percent. That's the very least. The very
least. That wasn't much. It was one-tenth. That wasn't
too much to ask. The very least. God, very graciously
and very mercifully, commanded just a pittance. A pittance.
Uncle Sam takes more than that. Ten percent is not giving. That's
grudging. Giving is over and above that. Giving. It's our duty to meet
the needs now. It's our duty to meet the needs
of this people in this place. It's our duty, right? It's in
our reason for serving. We must. It's our good life to
give here. It's our duty to make the need.
It's our client to give. Give. He, listen to this principle,
he that hath been forgiven much will walk. All right? And if you love much, if you've
been given much, you'll give much. It's just something. Our
attitude, listen to this verse here, our attitude should be
this, should not be this, how much do I have to give? Our attitude should be, how much
do I have to give? Did you catch that? Not how much
do I have to give, how much do I have, how much do I have here
to give? Now the needs of this congregation
are being met. They always have been, haven't
they? They always have been. Miraculous.
We've been real tight at times, haven't we? And like I said,
I don't know. I really don't know. Well look at chapter eight back
back in chapter eight. Second Corinthians eight. I want. A verse. That is verse
seven it says as you have found in everything. The last line says, See that
you abound in this grace also. We don't need to just be meeting
a need or getting by. We ought to have an abundance. We need to abound in that. We
need to bountifully support. We support the missionary for
the people. How much did we give to Cody
Gruber for having him in on his plan for Mexico? Sold his house, sold his house, sold his car, quit his job, took
his Three lovely children down to a hostel where I didn't know
them. Just plunged them right down there. They said, take three
or four baths a day because it's so hot. Those kids sent them
to school. Sent those kids to a Mexican
school. I don't know a lot of words or language. It'll break
your heart. You reckon winter? Watching those babies get on
that bus or walk to school, knowing what they're about to go through.
White kids on a Wednesday. How much do we get a month? Wouldn't you like to
give Cody a couple grand a month? And tell him, this ain't enough,
but what we have we'll give you. We don't even support Bill Clark. Those Indian men, 13th Street,
my father, 13th Street sent those Indian men, I've been telling
you about, sent them recently a check for about $500. And he
wrote back and said, you know, that is 15 months' salary for
me. A year and a half. Wouldn't you love for this church
to have a couple extras cast on the wall? Well, I've been looking for the
means to go on radio, maybe even TV in the future and all that.
But if you look at the finances, the stands are going rumbling. Let's talk about that. Not if
we just freely give. It's there. Come on. Yes. The
door's open. Take it. Freely. Abound. Graciousness. All this
takes a gracious giver, doesn't it? A gracious giver. Not highly.
However, maybe if everybody do at least that much. Well, ask
yourself. I'll ask myself. If everyone gave, Could we buy the fuel oil and
burn the line? Could we pay the bill? Well, look at 1 Corinthians 16
now, and I know I'm going a little over time, but First Corinthians sixteen, let
me hurry. First Corinthians sixteen, we started a few minutes late. First Corinthians sixteen, verse
two says, on the first day of the week, there's another word,
first. All but the Scriptures were given
this principle, the first lengths of the flock. Why did God say
on the first day of the week? What do you have left, Sam, on
Saturday? I don't mean you get paid, you
might get paid on Friday, but say you go and you get paid on
Friday and you wait till the next Saturday. What do you got
left? First day of the week, lay by
and store. Not after the bills are paid.
This is the principle God has given all the way through. He
gives God first. So what if I don't have enough
money to pay my bills? What if I don't, you know, what
if I give this money and later on I get this bill coming up?
I don't have... Try it! Look at Psalm 37. Psalm 37. No man has ever outgiven God
Almighty. Psalm 37, my pastor quoted this,
I'm about to jump the queue. Nobody has ever given too much
so that they got poor because of it. Ever! David said, I'm an old man. Look
at verse twenty-five, Psalm thirty-seven, twenty-five. David said, I've
been young, and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen, ever, one
time in my seventy years, the righteous forsaken, doing
without, begging bread, a soup line, But for that matter, had to sell
their house till they couldn't pay for it. Never! 70 years. David saw a lot more people than we
did. He ruled the kingdom. Not once. Not ever. Now, you know, we get in debt. We all get in debt. No, he's different than I am. We get deep in debt sometimes,
wrongfully so. We should not do it. But then
perhaps if we get in a state like that, we ought to be like
that wise servant. Remember that wise servant? Our
Lord came and said, You owe me, and he didn't have anything.
Do you remember that? You owe me.
Where's what you owe me? He didn't have anything. What
did he do? He went after all of his creditors
and debtors and all that. He gathered all the money he
could to pay everything he could off. And he gathered what he
could and came back and paid what he could. He became financed for
solving everything. Reorganized stuff. Refinanced. That's what
he did. Why? So he could give. So he
could give. So he could do what he ought to
have done. We could do with an older car
so we could do more for the gospel. Here we go. Be content with such
things as we have. Seek ye first. I'm going to preach
from this Wednesday night. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added
unto you. What things? All these things. Well, I'm going to seek a job.
Seek Christ, and you'll get a job. All this while, I'll get married.
Marry Christ, and you'll get the job. Seek Him first, the
King. I tell you what, where is it?
I didn't write it down. I think it's in... Let me see if this is it. Second Corinthians nine. Second
Corinthians nine. No, it's not this. Luke six.
Luke chapter six, verse thirty-eight. Luke six, verse thirty-eight.
Look at this. This is wonderful. Wonderful. Look at it. Luke six, thirty-eight.
Everybody. Got it? Everybody got it? Luke six, thirty-eight. Yeah. Now, this is our Lord talking.
He doesn't ask questions of each other. He doesn't give advice.
He gives command. He says, Give, and it shall be
given unto you. Good measure. It presses down, shaken together. You ever feel the bag full of
leaves and outracking leaves, huh? And you wanted to get as
much as you could in a bag, what'd you do? You shook it, you pressed
it down, put some more leaves in there, stomped on it, shook
some more, put some more, stomped, stomped. That's what he said,
you give. And it shall be given you. How
much? Press down, taking the cup running
over, my cup running over. Why do you think God gives us
so much? We give into the abundance. We give out of the abundance.
We give the excess. He knows us. with the same measure,
verse 38, with the same measure you meet with all that shall
be measured unto you. And the next word is purpose.
He says that every man is a God as he purposes in his own heart.
And I've got to quit. Purpose. What is our purpose
in all this anyway, in this life? Galatians says, well, we reap
what we sow, whatever we're after. Sow the flesh. You want to be
a rich man in this world? You can be it. Right? Right, Henry? I mean, if you
work hard. Henry says, no, I've tried. I've worked 18, 19, 20
hours a day. Well, thank God it didn't make
you too rich. Well, the point I'm trying to make here is if
a man is willing to go for it, I mean really go for it, invest
everything he is and has into this world, he'll get it. He'll
get rich. But what's worse than that? Well,
he's poor toward God, isn't he? Well, if you want to be rich
in faith, rich in grace, then invest in it. Sow toward it.
That's purpose. And unto the Lord. The last saying
is, unto the Lord. We give as unto the Lord. As
unto the Lord. And that goes back, it comes
back around, doesn't it? Back to love. How much we love
Him. Give. Give. Well, and giving is so much more
than money, isn't it? Really, really, writing a check
is the easy part. It really is. It's the easy part. To give somebody a little money
is the easy part, but giving time now, that's what this generation
has a hard time coming up with it. Time to give ourselves. But oh, that's the greatest proof
of love. This helped you and helped me. All right. May God grant us this
grace. All right.