Good evening everybody. If you
would turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We're
going to look at the first nine verses tonight. I want to start by reading
them. We're just going to take it verse by verse and I want
to paint the picture of what Paul is actually talking about
here and what's actually going on. Just look down at verse one
there. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit of the grace of God, bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Now Paul obviously is writing
to the churches in Corinth right now, but he's going to teach
them something, he's going to tell them something, and he's
going to use the church in Macedonia as his illustration. Look down
at verse 2. Paul says, how that in a great
trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded unto the riches of their liberality. Now, here's what's
going on here. At this time, the church in Jerusalem,
they were incredibly poor through whatever means came by them.
There was famine, maybe there were no jobs, but in any case,
these people were dirt poor. Paul was going around, he was
taking up a collection from all the other churches to give to
the church in Jerusalem. And what's interesting here is
these Macedonians, they come up with this huge gift, just
more than Paul could ever expect of them, could have ever asked
for, just an enormous offering for this church in Jerusalem.
What's interesting about that is that the Macedonians were
dirt poor too. They were in the exact same boat.
They had absolutely nothing, but yet out of nothing, out of
this abundance of nothing, they give this great and extreme gift. Look at verse three. Paul says,
for to their power, I bear record. What he's saying is I just told
you their ability to give, they didn't have any. They didn't
have anything. Yea, and beyond their power, they were willing
of themselves. They gave this gift willingly.
This came out of a willing heart. Verse 4, praying us with much
entreaty that we should receive the gift and take upon us the
fellowship of the ministering of the saints. And what Paul's
saying here is, when they gave this gift, I told them to take
some of it back. Don't give all this. This is too much. You guys
keep some of this. Maybe you need something for
later on. Just keep some of this. I won't take it all. But these people
were persistent, and they were instant. They said, no, you take
it all, and you take it to them, and you give it to the church
in Jerusalem. Look at verse 5. And this they did, not as we
had hoped, or as we would have expected, but first gave their
own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Paul says this gift, it was so
amazing, it was more than we can ever expect, but here's why
they gave it, and how they gave it. These people were dirt poor,
but they gathered up everything they had. Everything they had
in reserve, all their possessions, they gathered it all up, and
they gave it to Paul, and they said, our hands are off. And they simply trusted that
the Lord was going to take care of them. And this was against
Paul's judgment. Paul said, don't do this. They
said, nope, we're done. Take everything we have. We're
not going to hold anything back. And he says right here, the reason
they did that was because of the will of God. Who gets the
credit for that? Who gets the glory of that? They
don't. The Lord calls them to do that. The Lord put it in their
heart for them to do that. Now look at verse six. in so
much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would
also finish in you the same grace also." Now apparently these Macedonians
had appealed to Paul and said, here's what we want you to do.
We want you to take Titus and send Titus down to Corinth and
tell them about this big gift we've given to the church in
Jerusalem and see if they want to give a big gift as well. And
you have to question their motive in doing that. Why were they
doing that? Were they making a show in the
flesh? Were they saying, hey, listen, we've given this huge
gift. Send Titus down there. Have him tell them about this
big gift. And maybe these guys want to match us, right? Spread
the word around about what we did. No, that was not their motivation. This was their motivation. They
had received such a blessing from giving this gift. The Lord
had blessed them so much that they wanted somebody else to
receive this same blessing. They're saying, send Titus down
there. Tell him to tell them they gave, they were greatly
blessed. It's better to give than to receive. I think there's
something to keep important when we give, folks. The Lord just
doesn't need anything from me and you. He doesn't need my money,
and He doesn't need my time. He just does not need anything
from me and you. This thing of giving, the blessing's
for us. It is solely for us, that's it.
Now look at verse seven. Paul says, therefore as ye abound
in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and
in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound
in this grace also, this grace of generosity. I speak not by
commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others,
and to prove the sincerity of your love. Paul's saying there's
no command here, there's no law. This thing of tithing, giving
10%, that was all done away with with the Old Testament economy.
That's over with. There's no law here, you're not
under law. Just give according as you love, because love always
takes action. There is no love unless there
is action behind it. And then he gives us the best
illustration of true love in action that you could ever see.
Look at verse nine. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Love in action. Now, If you had
asked me a couple months ago, what is the theme of 2 Corinthians
chapter 8? What's the point? What's it getting
to? What I would have said is generosity and giving. That's
the thing. And if I was honest with you
in that conversation, I would have also told you that every
time I read it, I left with a feeling of depression and insufficiency,
inadequacy. Every time I read it, I'm thinking,
I'm just not giving enough. I need to give more to the church, more
to Lord's people, these feelings of depression and inadequacy.
Listen to this. If you are a sinner and you are
in need of mercy and you read this book and what you read makes
you walk away with a feeling of depression or despairing or
inadequacy, you've read it wrong. Because to a sinner, there is
nothing but good news in this book. It's just precious promises
to sinners. That's it. Every promise is yay
and amen. It's all good. And that was my
problem. I read it wrong. I was reading it wrong. What
is this story all about? What is this chapter all about?
It tells us in verse one, and I read it over and over again
and missed it every time. Moreover, brethren, We do you
to wit, that means this is the point, this is everything I'm
talking about, of the grace of God. That's what this chapter's
all about. It is about the grace of God,
particularly the results of grace, what happens when the Lord is
gracious to a man. And what's interesting, this
church of Macedonia, it has very gracious origins. So keep your
finger there, 2 Corinthians 8, turn over to Acts chapter 16. story picks up its pole in Timotheus
and they're seeking the Lord's face as to where to go to preach
next, trying to decide where they're going to go. Pick up
in verse 6 of Acts 16, Now when they had gone throughout
Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them
not. And they passing by Mesia came down to Troas, and a vision
appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately he endeavored to go into Macedonia, gathering
that the Lord had called for us to preach the Gospel unto
them." Now here's what's interesting about all this. As far as I can
tell, and I looked, there is not a story in this book about
the Macedonians having any interest in the Gospel, having any interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, writing to Paul and saying, hey, why
don't you come down here and preach to us. They had absolutely
no interest in hearing the Gospel, had no need. What's interesting
too is that Paul had no interest in preaching to them. He tried
to go to Asia, the Lord said no. He tried to go to Bithynia,
the Lord said no. And then this man of Macedonia,
this is Christ, appears to Paul and he says, you come help us.
He's always one with his people. The Lord graciously intervened
for a bunch of people who had no knowledge that they needed
Him at all. And I was smiling back in the
study, because Claire and Paul David were talking about this.
And Paul David said this, he said, when the Lord found me,
I wasn't looking for Him. That's grace. grace. The Lord comes to a man, he has
no knowledge that he needs him, he does not care. The Lord reaches
out with that hand of sovereignty and He draws him to Himself.
These are gracious origins for this church. Now like I said
the rest of this chapter deals with the results of grace. Look
down at verse 2 again, let's read it again. Paul says, how
then in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and
their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. Where there is grace, there is
deep poverty." Now, I said this just a moment ago, but I want
to say it again. This is not how this works. A man does not
come to a natural knowledge that he is a sinner. And he is in
great need of the grace of God. He is in great need of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ on his behalf. That is not how it works.
He does not come to that natural knowledge, and the Lord rewards
that knowledge with his grace. It is quite the opposite. The
man has no understanding of his need. He has no knowledge that
he's a sinner, and the Lord comes to him where he's at, and he
visits him with grace. And when he bestows his grace
on a man, you know what happens? That man becomes deeply impoverished. He becomes a mercy beggar. I
looked that up, that phrase deep poverty, you know what that means?
It means beggarly, beggarly. What are the hallmarks of a beggar?
First this, a beggar can't supply for his own need. What does God
demand? Perfect, unchanging, immutable
righteousness. perfection before His holy law,
holiness through and through to be absolutely spotless. You
can't come up with that. I'm a beggar. I can't meet that
demand. I can't even come close. I can't
even take the first step towards that. Beggarly, I can't supply
my own need before God. Here's a second hallmark. A beggar
is completely dependent on the kindness, the unmerited kindness
of someone else to have everything he needs to live. That's a beggar. He looks to Christ, and he is
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to have done, past tense, everything
that is necessary for him to live before God. I gotta be righteous,
I gotta be holy, I have to have a sin atonement that actually
put away my sin and made me perfect before God, and I'm looking to
Christ for every aspect of that. And here's the third hallmark
of a beggar. A beggar isn't owed a thing. Not one thing. Now,
there's plenty of beggars in Lexington. I pass them every
day on the way to work. And they'll stand in those street
corners, and sometimes somebody will pull to the side of that
street a corner, and they'll hand out a dollar. And that guy will
take it. And then you'll see five other
cars just drive by that guy and not look at him once. Who's right?
They're both right. That beggar does not deserve
a thing. They don't owe him a thing. One man can stop and be gracious
to him. Another man can drive by and do absolutely nothing.
And it is right, just, and fair, whatever they do. And that's
the same way with a spiritual beggar before God. He owes me
absolutely nothing. If he were to pass me by in judgment,
right, just, fair, and holy is his name. Where there's grace, there's
joy. What joy do we have? The joy
of knowing for every believer Christ is my surety. The Father
doesn't look to me for anything. He looks to Christ for everything
He demands of me. But there's an equal joy here.
There's something else. Now, I get great joy in knowing
that everybody Christ died for. They're saved. They couldn't
be any more pleasing to the Father than they are right now. But
here's a very similar joy. I've got to know who those people
are. Cause I got to know whether I'm one of those people. And
this is what gives me joy. The joy of knowing that the gospel
is for beggars. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save whom? Sinners. That's the greatest
joy I know right there. That means everything he did,
he did for me. Revelation 2.9 says this, this
is the Lord talking to the church in Smyrna. I'll just read this
to you. He says, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty,
but thou art rich. I want you to think about this
statement. He says, I know your works. For a man who is trusting
in his own merits before God, he's trusting something about
him, his best thought, his best motive, his best action, his
best decision, the Lord looks at that man and he says, I know
your works. I know they're filthy. I know they're polluted. I know
that everything you've ever done, everything you've ever thought,
you've thought of it in the sense of your own glory. I know your
pollution. I know your works. And that's
a terrifying thought for a man who approaches unto God on the
basis of his own works. But when he looks at the beggar,
that man who has absolutely nothing to bring to the table, he says,
I know your works. They're perfect. because he sees
just the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
you've ever done is perfect. I know your works. He says, I
know your tribulation. That means I know your suffering.
And I'm thankful for that in this world. I'm thankful that
we have a high priest that can be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He actually knows and can identify with our
physical sufferings, and he pities us in all that. But this is the
beautiful thing. When the Lord looks at the beggar,
the spiritual beggar, he says, I know your suffering. I see
the one who suffered on your behalf. I see the sufferings
of my son. He sees a man who is drenched in blood, and that
blood is completely and utterly wiped away. That man sins, and
he has perfect peace with God because of the suffering of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says this. He goes, I know
your poverty, but thou art rich. I know exactly how you view yourself.
You're nothing but a sinner, but here's the reality of the
situation. You're rich. You have everything. You have
perfect communion with me. You have perfect acceptance with
me. As long as Jesus Christ, my son, is your surety, you will
always be perfectly at peace with me. And folks, he will always
be our surety from everlasting to everlasting. Where there is grace, there is
liberality. I looked up that word. It doesn't
mean exactly what you think it would mean. It means singularity,
singularity. This is what I thought was beautiful
about this story. Every believer, we have a singular
faith. Our hope is in the person and
the merits and the blood of Jesus Christ alone. It is a singular
faith. And you see a beautiful illustration of that here in
our text. Look at verse 5. And this they
did, not as we hoped, first gave their own selves to the Lord
and unto us by the will of God." What these people did is they
gathered up everything they had, everything, every scrap of possession
they had. They left absolutely nothing in reserve and they gave
it all to Paul and they said, our hands are off. We are simply
trusting that the Lord is going to feed us today, and He's going
to clothe us today, and He's going to provide everything we
need. And that's a beautiful picture
of faith. Well, We gather up everything we've got, and we're
just like these people. We don't have anything. We're
poverty-stricken. We gather up everything we used
to look to, any hope we had in ourselves, and we give it away.
We get rid of that, and we simply cling to Christ, trusting He's
going to provide for every need. God is going to satisfy God on
my behalf. And everything else, just get
away from it. Get away from it. Absolutely lacking nothing. And
I think the most beautiful illustration of that in the Scripture, we
looked at it last Sunday morning. You remember Acts 27. Lord promised
all those men in that boat. He said, everybody in this boat
is going to be saved. That ship was crushed. But some
of the men, they got scared. And they started looking around,
and they found something in that boat to cling to. They had a little
lifeboat there. They had a little dinghy. And they thought, man,
if this ship goes down, something happens to this boat, at least
we have the little dinghy here. And at one point, they decide
they want to get in it. We think we'll be safer in the little
dinghy. Talking about a man's words. And Paul said this, he
goes, unless you abide in the ship, there's safety in one place,
in this ship, in Christ, unless you abide in this ship, you cannot
be saved. And here's what those men did.
They took that life raft, that was their plan B, that was their
safety net. They took it, they cut it off,
they let it fall into the water, and they watched it drift out
in the darkness. And all they were left with was the bare promise
of God and that beautiful, sturdy ship. And folks, that's faith.
You cut ties with everything else. You give it all up, get
rid of it. I want absolutely nothing to do with it. And you
stay in the ship. You cling to Christ. Faith is
always singular. Look at verse three of your text. Paul says, for to their power,
I bear record. Yea, and beyond their power,
they were willing of themselves. Now these people, these Macedonians,
they gave this great gift and it came from a willing heart. Let me read you this. This is
King David speaking to his son Solomon. It's 1 Chronicles 28
9. And now Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father and
serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. You see the
connection there, the correlation between a perfect heart and a
willing mind. When the Lord's gracious to a
man, he gives him a perfect heart. He births him into his kingdom.
That new man in Christ Jesus, that holy man, that man who believes
God, that man who loves God, who loves God's people, who is
of a repentant mind. He's had his mind changed about
who God is and who he is. There is a new heart, a new man
there, and part of that new man, there's a willing mind. He is
willing to do something he was not willing to do before. He
is willing to be saved by a Savior who will have all the glory for
himself. And that's man's problem with
the gospel. There's no glory in it for man. If Jesus Christ
does all the work in my salvation, that means he's going to get
all the glory, and that means I have to take my rightful place
with the child molesters and with the murderers and with the
drug dealers and everyone else because that means we're all
on the same level. We have to be saved the exact
same way by grace because we can't take one step toward God.
There's no glory in that for me. There's nothing special about
me and all that. So I will not be saved that way.
But I tell you what, the Lord does a work of grace in a man's
heart and he gives him that new man. There's a willing mind.
I wouldn't be saved any other way. That's the best news I've
ever heard, that grace is free. Salvation is free to every sinner.
Reach out and take it. It costs you absolutely nothing.
And you know what? Christ is gonna get every bit
of the glory in every man's salvation that he saved. And we love it
that way. We wouldn't have it any other
way. And Todd's pointed this out. The chief reason we wouldn't
have it any other way, because if he gets all the glory, that
means he does all the work. And if I'm gonna be saved, that's
how it's gotta be. He's gonna have to do all the work. He gets
all the glory, we love it that way. Look at verse four. Paul says, praying us with much
entreaty that we should receive the gift and take upon us the
fellowship of the ministering to the saints. Now, these people
wanted to give this big gift and Paul was holding them off.
He said, no, not that big. No. And they said, no, you take
it, take every ounce of it, take every coin, take every nickel.
We won't have any out of the way. Where there is grace, there
is insistence and there is persistence. The teaching of this book is
this, before the foundations of the world were ever built,
God loved the people. And He chose those people unto
salvation. He gave those people to His Son,
Jesus Christ, in a covenant of grace. And His Son came into
this world, and He lived for those people, establishing the
righteousness. He died for those people, putting their sins away.
because of that the Holy Spirit comes in time, does a work of
grace in their hearts and calls them with a call of irresistible,
invincible grace. And they believe on Christ. And
you know what? They are preserved by the power
of God all the way to the end to the day they die. If you'll
notice everything I spoke of there had absolutely nothing
to do with a man doing anything. Had everything to do with the
power of God. And somebody says, if you preach
that what's the point? Why do I show up to church and
Why do I come to Christ? If everything's just foreordained,
if everything's just predetermined, I mean, God's going to save me.
He's going to do it. And I'll just live my life and go about
things. Why come? Why believe on Christ? Why come
to church? Why hear the gospel preached? Where there's grace,
there is never apathy. There is always persistence.
One of my favorite stories in the scripture is Genesis 32.
If you're familiar with that story, it's where it says, a
man wrestled with Jacob all night long. Jacob didn't wrestle with
a man, a man, Jesus Christ, wrestled with Jacob all night long. And
when that day broke, that man, Christ Jesus, said, let me go.
And here's what Jacob said. I will not let you go until you
bless me. I'm holding on. I'm clinging
here. It's the only power I've got
is just to grab onto you. I can't whip you. I can't beat you, but
I'm going to hold on and I'm not letting go until you bless
me. And that's every believer. That's
everyone who's shown grace. You know what they do? They cling
to Christ. They come and they beg mercy today. They were begging
mercy yesterday and they're going to beg mercy tomorrow. Why? Because
I sinned yesterday and I sinned today and I'm going to sin tomorrow.
I need Christ today, yesterday, tomorrow, all those days. Faith
is always in the now. Faith is never apathetic. We
are coming to Christ. And I'll tell you what, the sovereignty
of God, the promise that everybody in Christ is eternally secure,
that doesn't cause us to be lackadaisical. That builds, that's the push.
That's everything to us. Knowing that in Christ, I have
everything. I cling to Him. I come to Him.
I believe on Him. It emboldens us. And this scripture,
I think, is one of the most encouraging in all the scripture. Hebrews
4, 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. What does it mean to come boldly?
It means to come with absolutely no fear of being rejected. And
this is the beautiful part. This is the thing that keeps
us coming back for more. Every sinner is commanded to come to
Christ. Come just as you are. Don't clean yourself up. Come
and believe on Him and you will not be turned away. That's coming
boldly. And that's great news for a man
like me, for a sinner. Come boldly now to the throne
of grace. We have an advocate with the Father. Now look at verse 6. insomuch that we desired Titus,
that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace
also." Now, I was telling you these people, they wanted Titus
to go down to the church in Corinth and tell them, hey, we gave this
great gift, we were blessed, would you like to give a gift
too? They wanted them to have this exact same blessing. If
a man's been shown grace, you know what he wants? He wants
others to have the same grace he was shown. Now Paul said this,
this is 2 Corinthians 10.1, said this to Corinthians, said, now
I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness
of Christ. Now he loved these people, he
loved these Corinthians, and he sought their salvation. He
wanted them to come to Christ. And he says, I beseech you by
the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. And he could have
said, I beseech you by the command and the power of Christ. And
those would have been great words. Coming to Christ. Everyone in
this room is commanded to come to Christ. Would have been perfectly
said. That's not what he says. He says, by the meekness and
the gentleness of Christ. And you think of the beauty of
this. This is how the Lord woos his people. It's not a rough
bringing them before him saying, listen, you know what you did,
and I'm not happy about it. And this thing of me having to
save you, I'm not happy about that either, but you know what,
I'm gonna do it. I said, I'm going to. It's not at all. Come, it's
all forgiven. I've taken care of everything.
The table's been prepared. Come eat at my table. Everything
is fine. You're completely at peace with
me. Listen to this. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians
5.20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. Now he's speaking to men and
women who are in deep spiritual poverty. They can't come up with
the goods. And here's what he's saying. Be reconciled to God. I'm not mad at you. I sacrificed
my son for you. I'm satisfied with him. All your
sin, it's been put away. It was put away at his cross.
I've taken up all my arms and I've put them in a mormonry.
I'm not mad at you. Now here's what you do. You take
your spears and you beat them into plows and you stop being
mad at me. Put down your arms. I'm at peace
with you. Now you be at peace with me."
Think of who is saying that. This is the Creator. This is
the Sovereign. This is the one who doesn't owe
us a thing, and He goes to those in deep poverty, in deep sin
debt, sin debt against Him. And He says this, be ye reconciled
to God. I'm at peace with you. Look at verse 7. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence,
and in your love to us, see thee abound in this grace also. A man who's shown grace, you
know what he does? He grows in grace. I don't know who I'm stealing
this from. But I heard, I think, either
Henry or Todd say it for the first time. What does it mean to grow
in grace? It means this. You grow downward
in views of yourself. In your own eyes, you just get
worse. You grow upwards in dependence and admiration and adoration
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you grow outward in love
and thoughtfulness towards your brethren. That's what it means
to grow in grace. Here's what it doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean I grow in holiness. And it doesn't mean I grow in
righteousness, and I grow in favor with God, becoming less
sinful and more holy. Absolutely not. All that's taken
care of. As you are right now, believer,
as He is, so are you presently in this world. As accepted as
Christ is, you couldn't possibly get any more accepted. No, we
grow, though. But I always found this interesting. I would think
about this thing of growing in grace, and all I thought was
this, I wish I could grow. How do I grow? How do I grow
in grace? I want to, how do I do that?
We've got children sitting here. Those two boys right there, right
now, presently, you know what they're doing? They're growing. They're not trying to grow. They're
not conscious of their own growth. They're not doing anything to
grow. They are simply growing. And that's what happens. Every
man the Lord shows grace to, He grows in grace and He doesn't
know He's doing it and He's not trying to do it. Other people
may recognize it but the person who's growing won't. I'm not
giving you anything to do. I'm just telling you what's going
to happen. You're going to grow in grace because that's what
believers do. Now look at 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. What Paul's telling these Corinthians
is this, you're not under law, you're under grace. That old
commandment of tithing, giving your 10%, that's gone, it's all
put away. Now you just give according as
you love. And to a man who's been shown
grace, you're not under the law. The law was fulfilled in Christ.
Romans 6.14 says this, for sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Now let's get that first part
taken out for a minute. Sin shall not have dominion over you. That's
how we feel every single day, is the experience of the believer.
Sin has dominion over me. That's what it feels like. But
it doesn't. And here's the evidence of it.
When you look to Christ, and you find nowhere else to look
but to Him, that's the evidence that sin doesn't have dominion
over you. Because if sin has dominion over a man, he can't
look to Christ. The evidence sin does not have
dominion over you, you actually look to Him, and He's all you've
got. But as far as the law is concerned, Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. The law demanded two things of
us. Number one, it demanded that we be punished. The law says
you're guilty, and the law demands justice. He has to be punished.
And you know what? The Lord Jesus Christ took our
sins in His body. The wrath of God came down on Him for those
sins. He died. And when He said, it is finished,
the law for everyone He died for, it was satisfied in that
respect. Justice has been served. All been meted out. It's gone.
Sin's gone, so the law is completely and utterly satisfied. But I
can't just be neutral. I can't just have a clean slate
before God. The law demands that I've kept
it. And you know what? In Christ we have that too. When
He walked the paths of righteousness, we walk them too in Him. The
law has absolutely nothing to say to the man who has been shown
grace. So what do you do now? You believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you do what you want. And people
get mad when you say that. You can't just tell people to
do what they want. Do what you want. But you can't. And I can't either. What would you do? I'm asking
you honestly, answer that question for yourself. What would you
do if you could? Do you want a blank check to
sin? I don't. I don't want a blank
check to sin. I would that I would never sin
again. Although I know that all day
tomorrow, all night tonight, all day the next day, that's
all I'm going to do. to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. You're not under the law. Do what you want. Look at verse 9. Paul sums it up. He says, For
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. Now he sums up with the reason
for grace. and he connects us with the concept
of love. He says in the verse above that,
Corinthians, here, here's your rule concerning giving. As you
love, give, because love always takes action. If there is no
action, there is no love. Love always takes action. What we just read in verse nine
is love in action. What proved the sincerity of
Christ's love for his people? He took action. He was rich. rich in the praise of his father,
rich in communion with his father, rich in the praise of angels.
He needs absolutely nothing and needed absolutely nothing, be
it for our sakes. Out of love for people in deep
poverty, he became poor. He took on the form of a man.
He took on the sins of his people. He died a brutal, suffering death
on the cross, completely removed from any favor with his father
whatsoever, and he did all that out of love for us, because he
would not be without us. That is love in action, and that
is the reason that we have the grace of God. Now I'm going to
leave you with this thought. What's the conclusion here? What
did these Macedonians do? They gathered up everything they
had, and they gave it a poll, and they said, well, our hands
are off. We're simply going to trust the Lord. He's going to
provide for us in every way, shape, and form. And it's exactly
what you do. You get rid of everything you've
got, any hope in yourself, any hope anywhere else, get rid of
it and simply cling to Christ. That's it. Trusting he's going
to take care of everything. He has taken care of everything.
That's it, folks.