I invite you to turn in your
Bibles back to the book of 2 Corinthians, the 9th chapter, and I'd like
to read verse 8. Verse 8 of 2 Corinthians, chapter
9. The scripture here says, and
God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good
work. I want to try to give you some
thoughts this morning that the Lord has impressed me with. We
have a tremendous text of scripture that we've read to you, and of
course the two chapters, the 8th and 9th chapter of 2 Corinthians,
wonderful chapters and have many, many challenging verses in them. I want to begin by saying this
morning that this is a very unusual message for me, the message that
I'll preach today. It's not my typical message,
but it's one that I believe that the Lord would have me to bring
to you. Now, in the book of Haggai, chapter
2 and verse 8, it says this, The silver is mine, and the gold
is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And then in Psalm chapter 24
and verse 1 it says, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness
thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. These scriptures make it clear
that God is an absolute sovereign God and that all things belong
to Him. And the question comes to me,
as I've meditated some upon these texts of Scripture, is why do
we have such limited means and opportunities of doing good for
the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ? How many faithful preachers of
the Gospel and how many churches struggle week by week just to
maintain a Gospel witness in their place? And also, how many
of God's dear children find that they have just enough in this
world for food and clothing and shelter, but are needlessly,
I say, embarrassed because they have little to give to the calls
of Christ and for the good of others and for the furtherance
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How often have we said, if I
had more, then I would do more. If I were rich, I would do this
or that for the cause of Christ and for the furtherance of the
gospel of his kingdom. Now the Armenian peddlers of
free will and works religion seem to have no lack of funds. They seem to have as much money
as they can spend. The enemies of God and the enemies
of men's souls appear to flourish with wealth. Never mind how they
get it, they have it. They have the world's wealth.
Now it seems that the more perverted religion is, that the more readily
that it's supplied with funds to ruin men's souls. And the ungodly seem to prosper
everywhere. Well, why then do true believers
If it is so that the silver and gold is mine, saith the Lord
of hosts, if it is true that the God of the Bible, that the
world is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, then why do true believers
and faithful churches often have such limited means and opportunity
of doing good for the cause of Jesus Christ? Certainly, it's
not because there's any lack of ability in the God of the
Bible to supply these things. Now the reasons for our limitations
are, I believe, number one. Now listen to me carefully, if
you will. I want you to listen because
I believe that the Lord would have something to say to our
hearts. Beloved, we believe God, we trust God, and we rely upon
the God of the Bible. We believe in His absolute power,
His omnipotence, and we believe that there's nothing that the
God of the Bible cannot do, that there's nothing that's too hard
for the Lord. And some of these questions that
I've raised here this morning are legitimate questions and
we need to think about them and surely there must be an answer
to these questions. And the number one reason why
I believe that there are limitations and why we have these limitations
upon us is that the Lord knows. And this is very humbling, and
I'm sure that it would be to you, and I'm sure it will be
to you to reflect upon this, but it's exactly, I believe,
the truth. And that is that the Lord knows
exactly what we will use for His glory, and He wisely supplies
us accordingly. Now, as I said, that's very humiliating
for an individual to say, well, amen to that. But, beloved, nevertheless,
it is the truth. It is humbling to say it as we've
said, but if we could be trusted with more, then we probably would
have more. Now, you listen as I continue
here, because I know that if I was to end there, you would
say, well, that really puts us down, Preacher. Well, now look,
over your accounts, how much of your time, how much of your
talent, how much of your property, how much of your money do you
now use for the glory of the Redeemer? How much of it? Well,
let each one answer for himself. If we're honest, we may know
the cause of our limitations. Were we faithful stewards over
a little? The Lord might. He might trust
us with more. Well, if we are faithful with
what God has given us, then our limitations must be for another
reason. Number two. What is the number
two reason why we suffer limitations and are not able to do all that
we would like to do for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ? It
is not God's will. Number two reason is that it's
not God's will at present for us to do what we desire to do
for Christ and the furtherance of the gospel. Now, beloved,
we must acknowledge that there's a time for the doing, and this
time of the doing is in the Lord's hands. And he opens doors and
closes doors, and whenever God's pleased to open a door, it's
open, and when he closes it, it's closed. Now Paul, on one
occasion, wanted to go to Bithynia to preach the gospel, but it
was not the Lord's will. And in Acts 16, verse 7, it says,
They, meaning Paul and Barnabas, assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not. The Spirit of God did not
allow Paul and Barnabas to do what they wanted to do. They
desired to go and to minister in Bithynia, but the Lord shut
the door. There was no door open, so Paul
quietly submitted himself to God's will. But he did not do
nothing because God kept him from doing what he wanted to
do. He sought the will of God still
and very diligently pursued that which God had given and the work
which God had put into his hands and let us, beloved, do the same. Now I want to continue by having
you to look again at the text in 2nd Corinthians 9 and verse
8 where it says, and God is able to make all grace abound toward
you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may
abound to every good work. I'm quite certain that the God
of the Bible is going to provide in His time that which we need
and that which His work needs in order that it might go forward. Now the scripture says here that
God is able to make all grace abound toward you. What a wonderful
statement that is and what a encouragement that is to the elect people of
God in this world, those who have been chosen of God as they
journey in pilgrimage in this world, to have such a statement
as that to look to and to look upon. Now God makes His grace
abound toward His elect. I believe every time He gives
them a fresh view of Himself. Every time He enlarges our knowledge
of Himself just a little bit, God is making His grace abound
toward us. And when there's any personal
application of His eternal love and His covenant mercy toward
us in Jesus Christ, God is making His grace abound toward us. And He's able to make all His
grace abound toward us no matter who we are, where we are, or
just exactly what our circumstances might be. God is able to make
all grace abound toward you. Now God can make His eternal
love and His favor in Christ abound toward you. You may be
here this morning without hope and without God, without Christ,
without the hope of the gospel in your heart, but God is able
to make all of His grace abound toward you in manifesting Jesus
Christ to your heart as the answer for your soul's need and to provide
you with an everlasting hope in eternity. And we read also
that God can bring us into the bond of His covenant. This is
in Ezekiel 20 and verse 37 where it says, And I will cause you
to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the
covenant. Now the covenant, the eternal
and the everlasting covenant of grace, this is the source
of all of God's provision. It's the source of all of God's
grace and His provision. Many of the poor people of God,
the afflicted and tried and tested people of God have taken great
comfort in the fact that there's an eternal covenant that's been
ordered that all things ensure, and that in that covenant that
God has made arrangements and provision for them, right down
to the very daily needs of their lives. And in this covenant,
God has made arrangements. Now the Lord has gone before.
God is able to go before His people and to make provision
for His servants. And God is able to open the hearts
and minds. The God of the Bible who opens
His hand and feeds every living thing is able to provide for
His own, to provide for His people. Now then, God can make every
blessing of grace. Every blessing of grace, election,
redemption, justification, peace and pardon, adoption, and eternal
life to abound toward all of those who hope in His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now these blessings are the fruit
of His everlasting grace. And Ephesians 1, these are marvelous
verses, and I'd like to read them to you. Verses 3 through
7 of Ephesians chapter 1, where it says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein it made us accepted in
the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And so this God, who is able
to make all grace abound, toward you is a God who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing and given us the fruit of His
everlasting grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God can make
all the gifts and the graces of His Spirit, faith, hope, love,
joy, and peace abound toward us. through His grace. Now this
is a marvelous thing to think about. God in His provision of
grace has given us all the fruits of the Blessed Spirit which is
implanted in believers in regeneration. Now grace within the people of
God is always full. It's always full and it's always
growing. Now grace, I believe, this word
grace is an unlimited, it's an unlimited word. Like God Himself,
His grace is infinite and it is eternal. But in the context,
in the book of 2 Corinthians here, in chapter 9, along with
chapter 8, in this context Paul is dealing with believers in
the area of their giving, in the area of their giving. He
is encouraging here the people of God to be generous. He's encouraging
them to be cheerful in supplying the needs of the poor and in
supporting his cause in the world, his gospel of free grace. Now he's telling us that he will
never What is he telling us in verse 8? Well, he's telling us
this, and I want to give you this at the outset, and I'll
remind you of it again in the message, but he's telling us
here that we will never impoverish, we will never impoverish ourselves
by being generous, even sacrificial in our giving unto His cause. Now we must never give, listen,
we must never give hoping or desiring a reward for our giving. Now we believe that God will
bless His people for obeying Him and doing that which He's
told them to do. We believe that He'll do that,
but we know that a person can, and we believe there's a blessing
through giving, but we know that a man cannot give or a child
of God cannot give in order to obtain the blessing. That's not
the way that you go about it. Now listen, if selfishness and
greed, if we have a desire that we just give in order that God
give back to us, if selfishness and greed have any part in motivating
us to give, then our gifts are an abomination rather than a
blessing. However, these two things are
certain. And I want you to listen to what
I'm saying. These two things are certain that God will always
cause what we give in faith to return to us with an increase. Now listen to what the Word of
God says. I'll read from Luke chapter 6 and verse 38, where
the Scripture says, Give, and it shall be given unto you good
measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall
men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that
you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again. Now that's the language of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in 2 Corinthians chapter
9 here, look at verse 5 and 6 if you please, where it says, Therefore
I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would
go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, Where
have you had notice before that the same might be ready as a
matter of bounty and not as of covetousness? But this I say,
he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Now these scriptures
make it crystal clear to me that God will bless those who give
in faith and those who are motivated by love toward his son and love
toward his gospel to give, that God will bless them and that
it will come back to them again. And in Philippians 4 and 19 on
the subject of giving the Apostle Paul said, but my God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now the second thing is this,
that if we use what God puts in our hands for the good of
His people and the furtherance of the gospel, that He will see
to it that our hands are continually supplied for every good work. In other words, God will see
to it that we have sufficient to maintain the work which He's
called us to do. God will see to it that our hands
will be supplied that there will be a sufficiency to take care
of that work which he would have us to do. Now it may be that
we may have wants and desires and ambitions far beyond what
God is pleased to give us and to grant us. And we must submit
ourselves to the will of God, to the sovereign will of God,
and be willing to fit in to the purpose that God has called us
to perform and to do. And in order to do that, we can
believe God, and we will have always that which God would have
us to have. Now notice, if you will, in 2
Corinthians 8 and verse 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And verse 8, Paul says, I speak
not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others,
and to prove the sincerity of your love. This is a very, very
important scripture this morning in our message. Paul's subject
in both the 8th and the 9th chapters here is giving. Now giving both
to the poor among God's saints and to the support of the gospel
ministry in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we notice in
this 8th verse of 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 that giving is not
by commandment. Giving is not by commandment. I speak not by commandment The
Apostle Paul says now listen to me now I'm going to say some
things that might be some of you might be strange to hear
and others of you might already Know this you certainly haven't
heard it from me very much because this is the first time I've spoken
on a subject like this I don't even know when the last time
was and that I spoke on a subject like this. This is not my ordinary
message, but listen to me. I want to say this. Tithing is
a commandment under the law. Paul says, I speak not by commandment. Tithing is a commandment under
the law. But we are not under the law
as the people of God. We are under, according to what
Paul said, we are under grace. Now in this gospel age, God will
not receive any gift that is not free, any gift that is not
voluntary, and any gift that's not spontaneous, arising from
and motivated by love for the Lord Jesus Christ. I speak not
by commandment. I'm not putting you under a law.
I speak not by commandment. Now listen to me. In 2 Corinthians
9 and 7, we read these words. In 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7, Every
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now to preach tithing in any
form is to bring men and women back under the law of Moses. To provide rewards for those
who give or to threaten punishment to those who do not give is contrary
to the spirit of the gospel and it is dishonoring unto God. Did you get what I said? I want
to say it again. Now to promise rewards to those
who give. for me to get up here and say
that God's going to reward you. I did read the scriptures a few
minutes ago where God has promised to those who give, He said that
it will come back to them again. But I'm not going to promise
a reward like that. to the people of God, because
to do so, or to threaten punishment to those who do not give, is
contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and it's dishonoring
unto God. And it is certainly contrary
to the gospel of Christ, and it's dishonoring to God for His
church to seek to raise money for any cause, by the arm of
the flesh, like soliciting pledges or having sales or for the people
of God to go out on the streets begging the world for means to
sustain the church, this is dishonoring to God and it's contrary to the
spirit of the gospel. Now, the work of the gospel is
to be supported by the free, voluntary gifts of the saints
of God, of the people of God, of the redeemed, of the Lord. Now, I want you to look at this. Those who love God have shown
us examples of true generosity. And I think this is very important
for you to see this. First of all, giving is not by
commandment. And secondly, those who love
God, and the scriptures bear this out, they have given us
examples of true generosity. Now, I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness of others, Paul said. By the
occasion of the forwardness of others. Paul had in mind, of
course, the generosity of the Macedonians whom he mentioned
in verses 1 through 6 of the text here that I read in chapter
9 this morning in your hearing. He's talking about these Macedonian
brethren who were very generous and out of their deep poverty
and while they were in great affliction, they freely gave
of their means to help the poor and the poor persecuted saints
of God down at Jerusalem. But there are numerous other
examples, besides the Macedonians, as to what it is to give. And
let me just point out hurriedly some of these examples. They've
been a blessing to me. First of all, the widow of Zarephath. In 1 Kings chapter 17, in verses
8 through 16, I'd like for you to turn there. This is a blessed
story. And it's a tremendous example
to us of what it really means to give. And the word of the
Lord came in 1st Kings chapter 17 verse 8. The word of the Lord
came unto me saying, Arise and get thee to Zarephath, which
belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to
Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold,
the widow woman was there, gathering the sticks, and he called to
her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel
that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch
it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel,
and a little oil in a cruz. And behold, I am gathering two
sticks, that I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we
may eat and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear
not, go and do as thou hast said, but look here in verse 13 now,
but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto
me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meals shall not waste, neither
shall the cruels of all fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth
rain upon the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did
eat many days, and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did
the crews of all fail according to the word of the Lord which
he spake by Elijah. Now then we have here an example
of this poor widow woman who was told by the prophet Elijah
said, well now you go on and do what you said you're going
to do, but you make me a cake first. There wasn't enough meal
to make the prophet a cake and to make one for her son and herself.
But the Lord said, the barrel will not fail, the crucible will
not fail, you do what I tell you to do, the prophet said,
and the Lord will take care of you. And she did exactly what
the prophet said, and God did sustain her all the days of that
famine. And then over in the book of
2 Samuel 24 and 24, David there was asked to make an offering
and he said, well I'll now offer unto the Lord my God that which
doth not cost me nothing. David said, I'll not give to
the Lord that which costs me nothing. And then the widow in
the temple in Mark 12, verse 41 through 44, if you could turn
there, these are precious verses. And Jesus said 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 mites, which made a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples,
and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow
hath cast more in than all they which hath cast into the treasury,
for all they did cast in of their abundance. But she, of her wont,
did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Now you see, the Lord Jesus knew
all of her circumstances. He knew everything. There was
nothing hid from Him. He's omniscient. He knows all. He knows your situation. He knows
your true state. He knows exactly has cast in more than all they
that have cast into the treasure. And there had been many that
were rich that had cast in much. But he said, this woman, she
put in more than all the rest of them, for all they did cast
into their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that
she had, even all her living. So beloved, is this not an example
toward the people of God in their giving? And then we have other
examples, but I believe that the supreme example Is our Lord
Jesus Christ himself and look if you will in the 8th chapter
here with 2nd Corinthians and in verse 9 Here beloved is the
example that I want you to look at this morning fix your eyes
upon Listen to what this verse says for you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich and He was rich in
eternity with the Father before the world was. He was rich. He
had all the glory of heaven and the honor of heaven. Yet for
your sakes he became poor. He came down here into this world,
this one that was rich, he came down here into this world and
he became poor. The Lord Jesus Christ, He became
poor in that that He was made to be sin for us. He was stripped
of all of His honor as far as men is concerned. And the sins
of all of His elect was placed upon Him. He was numbered with
the transgressors and He was nailed to the gory tree. And
there the Lord Jesus Christ was stripped of His very life. His
life's blood flowed forth in order to make an atonement for
His people. And listen to what it says further,
that ye through His poverty, that ye through Him becoming
poor, you that are the beneficiaries of this, that you might be rich.
And we are rich today in righteousness, we're rich in merit, we're rich
in saving mercies today because the Lord Jesus Christ became
poor that we through his poverty might be rich. Now beloved, there
is hope for your poor soul this morning. You say, I'm in debt
to God, I cannot pay. Well, there was one who was rich,
and he became poor through paying the debt that you owe. He became
poor in pouring out his life to satisfy the inflexible justice
of God on your behalf. And the Lord Jesus Christ, through
his poverty, he has made all of his elect, all of his chosen,
rich. And so we stand today as rich
men having the very riches of the Lord Jesus Christ that has
been imputed and accredited and imparted unto our account on
the books of God. And so if you're here this morning
and you're a poor child of God, you say, I'm poor as far as the
world is concerned, rejoice! because you're rich, you're a
child of the King, and because all of the benefits and blessings
of the gospel has been poured out freely unto you. The gospel
feast has been set, and you've been invited, and you've been
enabled to come by this irresistible grace of God, and you sit down
at the banqueting table of the Lord Jesus Christ and partook
of the dainties, and your soul this morning flourishes, and
your soul is rich. Because of Him. Because of Him. Now beloved, that's giving. That's
giving. That's the unspeakable gift of
God that God has given unto His people. And so when I'm talking
about examples of giving, Then I come to this supreme example,
and I hope this morning that we can profit from that. If you
want to know how to give, then follow the example of your Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, listen to this. Giving
is motivated by love. Now, Paul said, I speak not by
commandment, but by the occasion of the forwardness of others.
And you do this to prove the sincerity of your love. To prove the sincerity of your
love. And so true giving is motivated
by love. I speak not by commandment, but
to prove the sincerity of your love. What this means to me is
this. that the key to generosity is love toward God. Now, the
sincerity of our love to Christ is demonstrated by the gifts
that we give. Now, not the law of Moses, but
the love of Christ constraineth us. Now, there are no rules to
determine what you give, how you give, or where you give,
but this, the sincerity of your love. You say, can you trust
the people of God? Can you trust the work of God
with the love of God's people toward the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, if we preach Him up, and if we are constantly preaching
Christ and showing the people of God what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for them, if we set forth His person and His work
in sincerity and honesty, I believe that the love of the Lord Jesus,
that the love of the Redeemer for His people will cause love
in them. Because the Bible says that we
love Him because He first loved us. Now then, listen, someone
once said that it is possible to give without loving. But it is impossible to love
without giving. It's possible to give without
loving, but it's impossible to love without giving, because
giving is the very nature of love. Lord, teach us to love
you and to give accordingly. Now we say so little as I've
mentioned here briefly about giving here in this church. We
just don't say anything about it. And all of you know that,
that are accustomed to coming here. We just don't ever say
anything about it. It's just not something that's
mentioned. I hear in this place. But now tithing was a matter
of legal obedience for the children of Israel under the law. Let
me say that clearly. But it's no more to be enforced.
upon men and women today, then the observance of the Passover
is to be given to the people of God as something they are
to practice and to obey. Now these carnal ordinances of
the legal dispensation are forever abolished, and I make that statement
without fear of anyone being successful in contradicting it. All of these carnal ordinances
Yes, under that legal dispensation, the Old Testament has been forever
abolished and we're now under grace. And in this dispensation
of grace, every aspect of worship is a work of divine grace. Now I'm leading up to something.
I want you to see this. Let me show you three things
concerning the grace of giving, and I'll be done. I want to show
you three things concerning the grace of giving. The statement
that I've just made is one that is of tremendous importance in
the house of God. And I want you to get that statement
again. In this dispensation of grace,
every aspect of worship is a work. It must be a work of divine grace. It must flow out of that which
God has worked in us. And if we come like they did
under the old dispensation and we give by commandment, you must
do it, then this is not a work of divine grace. This is a legal
ordinance. And every, listen, every aspect
I want the worship to be right. I want the people of God to know
why they do what they do. And I want them to feel the proper
motivation. And for them to feel this Beloved
is for them to respond and for them to do as God would have
them to do out of the heart. Out of the heart. We have no
use for outward appearance. It's what comes out of the heart
that God is interested in because the Lord does not look upon the
outward appearance but he looks upon the heart of his people
and he knows what is in your heart. Lovers thou me, said the
Lord Jesus to Peter. And Peter finally said, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. Well, the Lord, you see, He knows
whether we love Him or not. He knows. But now let me show
you three things here concerning the grace of giving. Number one,
giving is an act of faith. It's an act of faith. Now that
may sound very simple to you, but that's exactly what it is.
We believe God. We believe that God, we believe
that we're in God's world. We're drinking God's water, wearing
God's clothes, eating God's food. We believe that God is providing
all the air that we breathe, everything to sustain our life,
that it's His. And we believe everything in
our pockets is His. It belongs to Him. Somebody says,
oh, just 10%. Boy, no, no, friend, you missed
it all. It's all His. Every bit of it
is His. It all belongs to God. He said, the silver and the gold
is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. It's mine. It don't belong to
you, it's God's. It belongs to Him. Now, we believe
God, we trust God, we hope in God, and our confidence is in
Him. We give by plan and purpose,
according to our ability, laying by for God that which we're led
to give Him by His Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 16 and 2 it
says, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay
by Him in store as God has prospered Him. Now that's what the Word
of God says, and this concerning, this is concerning correction.
You read that in the first verse of that chapter. And so the people
of God then believe God, and they believe His Word, and they
obey what the Lord tells them. Now we're to trust God for our
wants, and we're to trust Him for our needs, and in so doing
In so doing, we acknowledge that all that we possess, that everything
that comes our way, that every blessing that is on our table,
that every blessing that comes into our household, that it belongs
to God, and it comes from God. It comes down from the Father
of lights, with whom there is no bearableness, neither shadow
of turning, the good God of heaven. It comes down from Him unto our
lives and to our souls, and we acknowledge also that we're dependent
upon Him for our daily provisions by thanking Him for these provisions
every day of our lives. We are to give thanks unto Him
every time we come to the table. We give thanks unto God for His
bounty and for His blessing, knowing that all these things
come from Him. But I'm telling you that when
a man gives to God, he gives believing all that I've told
you. He gives by faith. He gives because he believes
that God has given to him, and he believes that what he has,
that God has given it to him. And so therefore he ought to
give to prove the sincerity of his love. And that brings me
to the second thing, and that is that giving is an act of gratitude. It is an act of gratitude. Now
we recognize in some measure what God has done for us, we
recognize in some measure His goodness and free grace. Everybody
here has experienced, I believe, common mercy and common grace,
but those that are in Christ Jesus, those that are believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has been especially good to them
in that He has elevated them, lifted them out of the pit of
darkness and out of the miry clay, and set their feet on a
solid rock. In grace, He gave us the Lord
Jesus. As we mentioned to you earlier,
that unspeakable gift. And in giving us Christ, I believe
that he's given us all the riches of his grace in time, and the
riches of glory are prophesied to us in eternity. Beloved, if
God gives you Christ, there is nothing that He has that He will
withhold from you. Because when He gives you Christ,
He's given you the best thing that He has, and God has nothing
any more valuable than His Son. Let the super-religionists say
what they will, let those who claim that there's a higher,
there's something more beyond Christ that we must have. Beloved,
listen, God put all of His eggs in one basket, and Jesus Christ,
everything God has is in Him, and when you have Him, you got
all God's got. That's all He has to give unto
His people. When will we ever treasure the
Lord Jesus Christ? You say preaching, you make too
much of the Lord Jesus Christ. I read this little poem the other
day and I really liked it. Listen to it. If I am in the
least degree more than nothing. Now get this. If I am in the
least degree more than nothing, that would make my Lord, in some
degree, less than everything. Now, beloved, I want to make
it clear to you this morning, our Lord Jesus Christ is everything. And when the people of God are
put in Him, they have everything. I'm trying to make you to feel
some gratitude toward God. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also through
him freely give us all things? That's the language of Paul in
Romans chapter 8. God will freely give unto us
all things because he spared not the Lord Jesus, but delivered
him up. for us all. And so might this
excite some gratitude in our hearts. Now listen to me, in
giving us Christ then, He's given us all of this. Now it's His
good providence, it's the good providence of our Heavenly Father
that constantly continues this supply that keeps on flowing
down to us in every way. Oh, the grace that just continues
to abound toward the Lord's people. Life and breath, food and drink,
God's bountiful hand, clothing and shelter. And I thought a
day or two ago when the wind was howling, And it was 25 below
zero, 30 below zero. I thought about this shelter
business. A lot of times you don't think
about it, but whenever it gets as cold as it was this last week,
you think about it a little bit. When you can get inside and sit
down by the stove and when you can be comfortable, even in Montana,
when you can be comfortable in Montana. Wow, that's a wonderful
provision of God's providence and how we ought to be grateful
unto it. Now we depend entirely upon our
Heavenly Father for all things. And our gifts to Him are tokens
of our gratitude to Him for all that He's done for and all that
He's given to us. They're tokens of gratitude. Now what we give to our Lord
is not a tribute paid to a triumph But it's the response of a grateful
heart unto our Heavenly Father. Every gift of love Beloved that
God receives and this is the third thing I want to mention
to you every gift of love To God is received and it is honored
by him It's received and honored by him if we give for Christ's
sake as unto the Lord God for Christ's sake accepts our gifts
we read in Hebrews 13 and verse 16 but to do good and and to
communicate and that word if you look it up it means to share
but to do good and to share forget not for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased God is well pleased that's Hebrews 13 and
verse 16 he is honored by that which is given in the name of
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is honored as men and women
give in that blessed and holy name and for the cause of the
Redeemer. Now all gifts and all who give
with a willing heart are, I believe, equal in the eyes of God. Whether you're a poor widow with
only too much to give, or whether you're David who had riches,
or whether you be, you know, one who is in a position favored
by God, and they have, by the purpose of God, been put in a
position where they're able to give whatever. Beloved, listen,
God accepts you as in His Son, the Lord Jesus, and whatever
your position is, you're equal in the sight of God. Now then,
remember this. that it is, and I told you I
was going to remind you of this as we close this morning, that
it is impossible to impoverish yourself by giving in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to challenge you
to nothing. I'm telling you on the basis of what the Word of
God says that God is able to make all grace abound toward
you that you always having all sufficiency may be able to abound
to every good work. God's able to do it. I leave
it with Him. I tell you what the Word of God
says. You cannot impoverish yourself by giving to the cause of the
Lord Jesus. And then again, Philippians 4.19,
My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. May God add His blessing this
morning. Might we remember Christ and might we be full of love
toward Him. and might we do as God would
have us to do and might the needs of all of His people and the
needs of the ministry be met by those who love Christ. We
pray it, we pray it before God day by day and we ask that you
might be willing as a child of God to seek the face of God concerning
your own life, concerning your own situation and that before
Him with an honest heart do that which God would have you to do.
as a child of God in this world as we all pilgrimage along our
way toward the glory land. May God bless you this morning.