All right, if you would, open
your Bibles again to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. The title of the message is The Grace
of Giving. The Grace of Giving. This subject has been on my mind
quite a bit recently, and I felt led to bring a message on this
subject of The Grace of Giving this evening. When I turned my
notice in at the warehouse, told them I was leaving there to come
and be the pastor here. One of the men told me, you'll
have to get a message on tithing. Pull it out about once a quarter
in order to keep the coffers full. And I told him, no, I won't
do that. I never preached a message on
tithing. I can't recall ever hearing one, as a matter of fact.
And that's not what this message will be either. We don't preach
tithing because tithing is part of the Old Testament law. that's
been done away with in our Lord Jesus Christ. Under that law,
the people had to give 10%. They didn't have an option. It
was a tax levied upon them. And there's no generosity or
there's no grace in tithing. Tithing is what people have to
do who are under the law. In the New Testament, tithing
never one time is mentioned in relation to a believer, not once. Tithing is mentioned eight times
in the New Testament. Three times referring to what
a self-righteous Pharisee does. Five times referring back to
what was done under the Old Testament law. So believers don't tithe. Believers give. Giving is plainly
taught in the New Testament to believers. But you know giving
is also taught in the Old Testament. This is not just a New Testament
concept. Giving is taught to believers
in the Old Testament. Solomon said in Proverbs 3 verse
9, honor the Lord with your substance and with the firstfruits of all
thine increase. He wasn't talking about a tithe,
he's talking about giving. And that passage we read where
the people gave an offering to build the temple. You go back
and read that five times, David talked about the people willingly
giving. We're willing to give. It was
a willing gift. It's taught in the Old Testament.
Tithing is only taught under the Old Testament law, but giving
is taught in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And giving
is a grace. That's why I titled the message,
The Grace of Giving. Giving is a grace, just like
the grace of faith, the grace of love, the grace of joy and
peace. And all graces grow. Tithing
doesn't grow. Tithing is a set amount. It's
capped at 10%. It never grows. It doesn't get
any smaller. It doesn't get any bigger. And if I pulled out a
message on tithing to you, preached it to you every three months,
I'd take the grace out of giving and the joy out of giving. Now,
believers understand giving because every believer knows this. The
whole gospel is about giving. That's what the whole gospel
is about, is giving. You understand, if you know God,
you understand this. God so loved the world that what
he do, He gave his Son. He gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Salvation is God's gift to sinners. And believers also understand
this. Everything we have, God gave us. What do you have God
didn't give you? Everything you have, God gave
you. You know, I've never earned a penny in my life. Ever. Now, I've always worked a job,
you think. Well, if you worked a job, didn't you earn your paycheck?
Well, in that sense. But I never earned a penny. Everything
I have, God gave me. God gave me that job. God gave
me the health to get up and go to work. God gave me a work ethic
that I'd go do a little bit of work, at least while I was there.
God gave me a car to drive so I'd get to work. He gave the
company profits so they could pay me. Everything I have, God's
given me. I never earned a blessed thing.
And I'll have a better understanding of giving when I understand that.
That I never earned anything. Everything I have, God gave me.
When I understand that, I understand I don't have anything of my own. None of this is mine. It's all
the Lord's anyway. I'm just a steward of what God's
given me. And when I give an offering,
I'm just returning a portion of what He already gave me. Stewards
are a whole lot better givers than earners. if we understand
we're just stewards of what God's given us. Now, all of you may
not know this, but I'll tell you a story of how this congregation
came to have a bank account. You remember, we began meeting
in a funeral home. They didn't charge us any rent.
We weren't supporting a pastor. John was working his job, preaching
on Sundays, and we were just going to wait and see what the
Lord would do. We had no expenses. We didn't know what would happen.
We were just going to wait and see. And Jim Bond, kept trying to
give John an offering, and it wasn't working, so then he tried
giving it to me, and we just said, Jim, we don't have any
expenses. We don't have a bank account.
We're just going to wait and see what the Lord does. One Sunday
morning, Jim came and put an offering in my hand, closed my
fingers around it. He said, you're going to keep that. He said,
I know we don't have any expenses right now, but we will someday. He was confident. We will someday. And he said, so you're going
to have to do something with that. You're going to give it to the missionaries,
save it until we do have expenses, give it to the poor, but you're
going to have to do something with it, because I'm going to give.
He said, God's blessed me, and part of worship is giving, and
I'm going to give. So I went and gave it to John
and told him, and John said, well, I guess if you're on the
bank account, he took note of the bank account with it. The
next Sunday, John set out this little wicker basket. I don't
remember making a big deal about it at all. Something may have
been said, I don't remember. But I mean to tell you there
was an offering in that wicker basket every week, even though
we had no expenses to meet. There was an offering. Believers
understand giving, and that's how believers give. And just
like the other graces, now you all understand this, you're giving
generous people. But just like all of the other
graces, the grace of giving must be taught. It's shameful, but
we forget to be loving sometimes, don't we? Loving is one of those
graces. Sometimes we forget. Peace is a grace. We forget sometimes,
don't we, by having peace and joy in our heart. We need to
be reminded, and giving must be the same way. Because the
church at Corinth wrote the Apostle Paul and asked him about this
thing of giving, and Paul devoted two chapters in his letter to
them about giving. And I want us to, we're not going
to look at both of them. verse by verse of these chapters, but
I want us to see some of the highlights about what giving
is, the grace of giving. The first thing we see in 2 Corinthians
8 is giving is a grace. You see that in verse 1? He says,
Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit, we want you to know namely
of this, of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of
Macedonia. Giving is a grace that God puts
in the heart of all of his people. When someone's born again, they
receive a new heart. And this grace of giving, a generosity,
a spirit of generosity is in that heart. One of the evidences
that God's grace was upon the people of these churches is the
gift they gathered. They gathered up this gift for
their brethren who are in need in Jerusalem. They heard they
were in deep need and in trouble and so they gathered up this
gift to send to them. And you all understand that.
If we're ever useful to anybody, you know it's God's grace in
you, don't you? That's the way giving is. Second, giving is
a spirit. It's not so much a gift. Giving
is a spirit of generosity. Look at verse 2. How that in
great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their
deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For
to their power, to their ability to give, I directly, yea, and
beyond their power, they were willing of themselves. Praying
us with much entreaty, I think they were probably a lot like
Jim Bond saying, you've got to keep this, you've got to take
this and do something with it. They were praying us with much
entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the
fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they
did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the
Lord and unto us by the will of God. Now, Scripture teaches
believers to live in a spirit of generosity. And that means
more than giving of money. It does include financial gifts.
But it includes the giving of your time. It includes the giving
of your talents to help other people. And you all do that so
well. I appreciate you so much. And
if someone needs help, you go help them. You wouldn't take
pay for it. That's a spirit of generosity.
That's the way believers ought to conduct themselves. Giving
is being generous with what you have. no matter how little or
how much that may be. The churches in Macedonia at
this time were in great trial. They were suffering deep poverty,
but yet they were still liberal with what God had given them.
And they took up an offering to help their brethren in Jerusalem
who also were in need. Maybe they thought our brethren
in Jerusalem were worse off than we are. Well, take up an offering
and give to them. Even though they were in deep
poverty, they gathered up this gift. And they had to force the
Apostle Paul, sounds like, to take their gift and give it where
it was needed. You know, they didn't know who
would need it or where it would be best used, but they knew the
Apostles would, so they gave it to him. Just this week, someone
gave a very generous gift to this church and said, somebody's
in need. You know, you'll know, give it
to somebody that's in need. We don't know who, but give it
to somebody that's in need. That's what these churches did
in Macedonia. And Paul was really surprised
how much they gave. He knew how much they had, and
he was surprised at this gift. He said, they gave more than
I thought they could give. They gave more than what the
world said they could afford. But they gave of their limited
financial resources, they still gave. And I'll tell you why they
did that. Why would they do that when they
can't afford it? Why would they give anyway? See
what Paul says in verse five? But first, gave of their own
selves to the Lord. They committed themselves to
the care of the Lord. They just put their care in Him.
They said we're going to give and we trust the Lord to provide.
He's going to provide for us. We're going to give and we just
know to provide. Give ourselves to Him. Trust
ourselves to His care knowing He can take care of me better
than I can of myself anyway. I'm going to give and trust the
Lord to provide. They just trusted the Lord, and so they said, well,
we'll give this offering. The Lord's not going to let us
starve. That's giving of themselves to the Lord. It's a spirit of
generosity. Third, giving is learned by example. Look at verse 6. When Paul said,
we saw this insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had
begun, so we would also finish in you, the same grace also.
Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith utterance and knowledge
and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound
in this grace also." Now, Paul says, this grace has begun in
you, but I'm sending Titus in you to perfect it, to mature
this grace in you and teach you this grace. And one of the ways
that Titus taught this grace was by the example of the churches
at Macedonia. And Paul says, no, you abound
in all these other graces. These other graces grow in you.
Well, see, this grace of giving is the same. The church at Corinth,
you know about them. They abounded in the grace of
faith. They abounded in the grace of believing God. Well, Paul
says, see that you abound in this grace of giving too. They
abounded in the grace of utterance and preaching. They were gifted
in preaching the gospel. And that grace grows. You know,
the more we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, the better
we're able to preaching. This grace grows. Paul says,
see, this grace of giving grows, just like the gift of preaching.
They abounded in the grace of knowledge. They knew God. They
understood the scriptures. And that grew as they studied
and the Lord revealed more to them. That grace grew. Paul says,
see, this grace of giving grows, too. It's just as important.
They abounded in the grace of diligence. They earnestly were
striving for the gospel. They abounded in the grace of
love. They had a love for God and a love for God's people.
And that love grows. That's a grace that grows. Paul
says, since you grow in this grace of giving as well, it's
a grace. And I'll tell you how the grace
of giving will grow. The grace of giving grows because
love always gives. This grace of giving is very
closely tied to the grace of love. Love always gives. See, in verse 8, he said, I speak
not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others,
and to prove the sincerity of your love. That's how you'll
show the sincerity, the truth and warmth of your love is by
giving. He says the same thing in verse
24. He says, Wherefore, show ye to them and before the churches
the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
We boasted on your behalf. Now you show this proof of your
love by giving. And this is a perfect time of
year to illustrate that, Christmas time. You parents, nobody had
to tell you to go out and spend a minimum amount on Christmas
presents to give your children. More than likely, when you got
done opening your presents Christmas day, you thought, oh boy, I'm
going to cut back next year. This was too much. I bet you
didn't think it was too little. Nobody had to tell you go out
and buy something for your children. You did. Because you love them. That's why you did. Because you
love them and you enjoy giving presents to them. You're generous
with those that you love. You're stingy with them. And
you know, you teach your children to give too. Because this grace
is taught by example. Fathers. We get out and take
our children to the mall. You know, we got them. You're
all like me. I got one person to buy for. She buys for everybody
else. I got one. When our girls were little, I'd
gather them up and take them, and we'd buy a present for Janet.
And they loved it. They loved going and looking
at all this, you know, what they could buy their mother. And the
school said, I probably still do this, but Russell, they set
up this little store, and the kids, you'd send them money,
and they'd go buy a little knick-knack, you know, for their family members.
They loved that. Our girls loved doing that, because
they're going to get something to give to somebody that they
love. Now, you might think, you know,
I don't have very much to give. I just, you know, I'm just barely
scraping by. I don't have very much to give.
And my gift is just not going to matter. It's just not going
to add anything, you know, to the pot. Is that so? Is it really? Look, Mark chapter
12. I'm afraid that's human logic and not the teaching of our Lord.
What did our Lord have to say here about the widow woman who
just had two mites to give? Mark 12, verse 41. And Jesus
sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast
money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor
widow, and she threw in two mice, which make a farthing. And he
called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, that this poor widow have cast more in than
all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did
cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all
that she had, even all her living. Our Lord said, was more impressed
with those two mites than the large gifts somebody else gave.
Why'd she get her loose hair? She gave herself to the Lord,
didn't she? Her small gift mattered a great deal. Now, let's go back
to the example of our children. One of the girls, I don't remember
which one of them it was, one of these little things at the
school, bought a teacup. It's got a thing on there, something
about the best mother. Cost a dollar probably. That
same Christmas, I probably bought Janet a gift that cost a hundred
dollars. Guess which present Janet treasures the most? You
know which one. It's that little dollar cup.
It's like one of her prized possessions. Because it was given out of love.
And our Heavenly Father accepts offerings from His children the
exact same way. Because they're given out of
love. And love will simply give the best that it has, no matter
how much that may be. It'll be the best that it has,
because it's out of love. And when your children grow up,
and they get a job, and they go out and shop for their own
sales, and they got a little more money because they got their
own job, just try telling them. Don't spend money on me for Christmas.
Just try telling them that. Just try telling them you all
got your life to build. Just keep your money and you
don't have to buy me anything. They won't listen. Out of love. They've been taught by example
and out of love they give. That's the way believers give.
You try stopping them. You can't do it because they
give out of love and what they've learned from example. And we'll
come back to that example at the end of the message. Before
giving, it needs to be taught. Look here at verse 10. Paul says,
And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you
who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward
a year ago. Now, therefore, perform the doing
of it. That is, there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. In verse 1 of chapter 9, he says,
For as touching the ministering to the saints It's superfluous
for me to write to you. You don't need me to write to
you about it. You know what you wrote and asked, so I'll teach
it again. This grace of giving needs to be taught. Now, the
desire and the willingness to give is in the heart of every
believer. That's that new heart God gives. But still, this grace
must be taught. I mean, apparently it needs to
be. Paul said, see that you do it. And when we teach this grace
of giving, Believers don't look at it like, man, that preacher,
he's putting a burden on me. Believers don't look at it that
way. Hope not, anyway. We should see it as being reminded
from God's Word of the joy and the blessing of this grace of
giving, just like when we're reminded of the joy of all these
other graces, the grace of love and joy and peace and longsuffering.
When we hear those things preached, we're reminded of the joy of
it, the blessedness of it. Same thing's true with the grace
of giving. Sixth, or fifth, excuse me, grace comes from a willing
mind and a willing heart. Look at verse 12, chapter 8.
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according
to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not. Now, tithing
was a law. People were forced to do that.
And I bet you they looked for loopholes in this matter of tithing.
You know, you can calculate ten percent maybe different ways.
They're looking for a loophole in that. The exact same way people
are going to begin to look for loopholes in our income tax,
which everybody's going to be starting to get ready to do here
shortly, because it was a tax. But giving comes from a willing
mind and a willing heart that God's made willing in the day
of His power. It's the heart He gives all of
His people. Sixth, giving is for every believer, not just
the rich, but for every believer. Look at verse 13. For I mean
not that other men be eased, and ye be burdened, but by an
equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply
for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your
want, that there may be equality." Now, when Paul talks about inequality
here, he doesn't mean everybody gives the same amount. He means
everyone gives so that the burden of giving is spread over everybody. It doesn't just fall on a few. Now that's subtle, but if that's
all we get out of that verse, you don't get a blessing from
that. Paul also says this because the blessing's not from you.
The blessing is to be spread on all believers. Every believer
has the ability to give. Every believer doesn't have the
ability to give the same amount, but every believer has the ability
to give something. Isn't that right? God always
gives you enough to share. That's not original with me. God always gives you enough to
share. Somebody else. God always gives us enough to
give. And we're only to give what we have. But it's all God's,
isn't it? Whenever we give it, it's all
God's. It's His. We're just returning
back to Him. But you know what? It's still
called our gift, isn't it? It's still called our offering.
Even though God gave it to me, it's still called mine. Back
to the example of our children. When our girls were little, I
took them out shopping. They picked out a present. I
paid for it. And they wrapped that thing up
and put it under the tree. It didn't say from Frank to Janet. It said
from Savannah to mama, from Holly to mom. It's their gift to her. I paid for it, but it's their
gift. Our offerings are the same way.
God gave it to you, but it's your gift. God's given you the
blessing of returning to him a portion of that which he's
given to us. Now seventh, I hope this is helpful to you. This
was a blessing to me. Giving is not a loss. Giving
is not a loss. And if you listen to this, I
hope this will clear up a widespread confusion in our day. Look at
verse six of chapter nine. Paul says, With this I say, He
which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Now, giving
is never a loss. It's not, you know, we give and
then we never see the results of that gift ever again. You
know, just like if we threw money into the ocean, it's gone. You
never see it again. Our gifts bear many different
kinds of fruit. But now listen, giving is not
an investment either. Giving is not a loss, but giving
is not an investment either. You don't give your seed money,
so God will give you more you know, back than you gave and
make you rich. Now that's foolishness. I saw this fellow on TV. I just
was channel surfing and I, like one of these train wrecks, I
stopped and watched it. And he's making this big appeal
for money, you know, and he's telling me all these fields of
the Spirit. This person in this state should send him this much.
And this person in this state should send him this much. And
he kept hammering on this seed money, seed money, seed money,
you know, just telling people, you give money to me and God
will make you rich. And he said, this couple decided
one day, I want to give $1,000. He had a $1,000 pledge, he called
it. They were going to meet a $1,000 pledge. And the wife said, we
don't have $1,000. The husband said, that's right,
we'll go borrow it. And they went and borrowed it.
And the next week, God gave their church $100 million. I don't know whether it happened
or not, but if that is what you think about giving, it's not
a grace and it's not a blessing, it's investing. And I don't know
a whole lot about investing, but I see on TV, these fellows
work down there on Wall Street and Fifth Avenue and the Stock
Exchange and all this business, but they don't look like happy
people to me. That's investing. God's Word
never teaches investing to believers. He teaches giving. Giving. Now, what's this mean about the
seed Paul's talking about here? The point of this verse is not
the seed. It's the open hand. It's a generous
hand. You know, if this time a farmer
would go out and he'd scatter seed the way they planted, would
they scatter seed in their field? Well, if he's scattering seed
with just, you know, what little bit of shake out of his tight
fist and he's going to keep the rest of the seed, he's not going
to have a big harvest, is he? But the point is not the seed
and the harvest. The point is the open hand. We give with an open hand, a
generous hand. You're not making somebody tear
that gift out of your hand. If you want it that bad, keep
it. Just keep it. God loves a cheerful giver. He's
giving with an open hand. That's the point of this whole
thing. It's not the seed, not the harvest. It's giving with an open hand.
Now, if you look back in chapter 8, verse 15, as it's written,
he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered
little had no lack. Now this is referring back to
the gathering of the manna when the children of Israel were in
the wilderness. People went out and gathered enough manna for
themselves and maybe they gathered some extra that they could give
to someone who's sick or old and couldn't go out and gather
for themselves. Now if you gather extra and you try to hang on
to it for yourself, you know how you find it the next morning?
Bull worms and stinking. The point is giving with an open
hand. God will provide for you tomorrow.
You give with an open hand and a generous hand today, just like
God's given you. See, that's what this is teaching.
And when we teach this grace of giving, we're teaching being
generous in all things. Financial gifts and otherwise,
in every way. Be generous with people. Be generous
giving a compliment. Be generous with your warmth.
Be generous with a kind word or just be generous and warm
with one another. Now, it's true. You can't out-give
the Lord. I firmly believe that. You can't
out-give the Lord. But if you give, so God will
give back to you, you've got the wrong motivation. That motivation
is selfishness, isn't it? It's not love. That motivation
is selfishness. We give because God has given
to us. Now, it could be the Lord will
make you rich. It may be. He will. I kind of
doubt it, but He may. But I promise you this, I guarantee
you this, you give yourself to the Lord and you give, God won't
let you suffer for it. He'll meet your need. He'll meet
your need every time, I guarantee it. Eighth, this grace of giving
is done from the heart. It's done from the heart, not
done from the wallet. It's done from the heart of a believer.
Look at verse seven, chapter nine. Every man according as
he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly
or of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver.
Now why do we give according to what we purpose in our heart,
not our wallet? Because Christ dwells in your heart. And that
heart is a generous heart. That heart's got some discernment,
some generosity to it. You give what you purpose in
your heart. I've got a good illustration
of this from a number of years ago. There was a widow lady.
And she sent an offering in to Brother Henry to support the
TV ministry every month. She sent an offering in to support
that TV ministry. She sent in, I believe this is
right, nearly or over a third of her Social Security check.
And she didn't have any other income, no savings, no pension.
The only money she had in this world was what she got in that
check, Social Security check, every month. She sent a third
of it to support that TV ministry. And Henry wrote her a letter.
thanked her for it and told her, you know, you don't have to send
that offering like that every month. He just, he didn't want
her to not give, but he just was never going to build the
financial resources of the minister on the back of widows, you know,
just taken from them. He wasn't going to do that. That's
not gracious or chivalrous either one. He said, no, Lord, provide
for us. Don't, don't put yourself in
a bind. She's kind of fiery lady. She wrote him back. She told
him, don't you tell me what to do with the Lord's money. I'm
going to give what I decide to give and you're going to take
it. That's what this is saying. What's your purpose in your heart?
You give. And whatever the Lord lays on
your heart to give, give. If it's money, give it. If it's
of your time, give it. If it's going to help somebody
else, do it. And don't ask, is this too much? Or, you know, do they really
need this? Or can I afford this? If the
Lord lays it on your heart, give it. If the Lord lays it on your
heart to do something, do it. I'm telling you, don't try to
rationalize it and think, well, I don't know if that's going
to make any sense. If the Lord lays it on your heart, do it.
The Lord will take care of the results. You just give and do
what the Lord lays on your heart. And last, and this is the most
important, now get this, giving is like every other grace. It's
the result of Christ's sacrifice for his people. That is the nuts
and bolts, the foundation of this grace of giving. It's the
sacrifice of Christ for his people. Look at verse 15 at the end of
chapter 9 there. Paul, after he's devoted two
chapters to giving, he says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. I told you, giving is learned
by example, and the greatest example The greatest example
is the gift of salvation, free gift from God. We learn the grace
of love when we see the Father giving His Son to die as a substitute
that sinners might have life because He loved them. We learn
the grace of love when we see our Lord Jesus Christ giving
Himself. He gave His body as a sacrifice. He gave His soul as a sacrifice
for the sins of His people because He loved His people. We learn
the grace of faith when we see the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. We learn the grace of joy when
we see the Lord Jesus Christ enduring the cross for the joy
that was set before Him. That's how we learn the grace
of joy. We learn the grace of longsuffering
when we see how longsuffering the Lord has been with us. Aren't
you thankful? for the Lord's long-suffering.
That's how we learn that grace. We learn the grace of meekness
when we see the meekness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we learn
the grace of giving the exact same way. We learn giving when
we see how the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself, willingly, freely,
he gave himself to be made sin for his people. We can't begin
to understand how horrible That was for him, but he gave himself
to be made sin. He gave himself to suffer for
his people. He gave himself to suffer everything
his people deserve. He gave himself to die the death
that his people deserve so that they could live. Look back at
chapter 8, verse 9. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your He
became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich. Our Lord
Jesus, how much did he give? How generous was he? He was so
generous, he gave everything he had, even though he's unspeakably
rich. In every way, he's rich. He gave everything so that he
became poor. He became destitute until the
point he actually died. He gave everything. You talk
about generosity. The generosity of Christ towards
his people motivates his people to live a life of generosity
and a spirit of generosity. And like I said, not just with
money, but all things. Generous people. Christ gave
himself for his people. Well, we'll give ourselves to
him, won't we? To him and to his people. Believers give to
others because we're thankful. Oh, how thankful are you what
this table represents? The broken body and the shed
blood of our Lord. His body broken, bearing the
punishment that we deserve. His blood shed dying the death
that we deserve. That blood, His precious blood. You talk about wealthy, how precious
is His blood? And He shed it to pay our sin
debt, the sin debt of His people. Our Lord gave himself willingly.
One of the points about the grace of giving is it's willing. The
Lord Jesus gave himself willingly. He laid down his life for his
people. Nobody could take it from him.
He laid it down willingly. So we give willingly. And the
death of Christ was not a loss. I told you giving is not a loss. The death of Christ was not a
loss. The death of Christ was a great victory. A victory over
sin and hell. died, but he was raised from
the tomb. The firstfruits of the harvest.
You talk about a seed. He's raised the firstfruits of
the harvest. There's going to be many more
to follow, made just like him. Risen to be with him, be just
like him and be with him eternally. And that's what we're going to
observe right now. The Lord's table. Thankfully, remembering
the broken body and the blood that our Lord Jesus Christ shed.
He gave for the sins of his people. Brethren, if that doesn't motivate
you, nothing will. I mean, just nothing will. It's His sacrifice
that teaches us the grace of giving.