Let's read these verses again
from Mark chapter 12. 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 make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples,
and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow
hath 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. Now, how much left over did this
woman have after she gave her two mites into the treasury. She had nothing. She had nothing
left in her account. Now the Lord's assessment was
that she gave the largest gift. If somebody puts a dollar back
in that box or two dollars and Somebody else puts in $10,000,
which gift is the largest? Well, it depends on what the
motive is. It's that simple. It depends on what the motive
is. It depends on what they had left
after the gift. Now, I heard a preacher say this.
This scripture teaches that God doesn't so much see what you
give, but what you have left after the gift. How does it make
you feel? Guilty. It was supposed to do
that. But that is an abuse of what
this passage of scripture is actually teaching. If that's
all I get out of this passage, I have missed it all together. Now, this passage of scripture
is a beautiful portrait, a beautiful illustration of saving faith. And I hope the Lord will be pleased
to teach each one of us this. Now, the Lord does not give this inspiration to Mark and Luke
in order to scold us about our giving. He doesn't give this
passage of scripture to make us feel guilty about how much
money we have left in our bank account. This is given to teach
us the gospel. This woman cast in All her what? Living. And what was she left
with? Utter dependence on charity. That's it. Utter dependence on
charity. Now many that were rich cast
in much. The scripture says, remember
the Lord was beholding how? The Lord was watching this. He
was beholding how they gave. And many that were rich cast
in much. Now, there's obviously something
about giving that's taught in this passage of scripture, and
giving is very important. I wouldn't in any way want to
discounts that. Somebody says, do believers have
to be taught to give or do they give naturally? Yes. Yes. Both of those are true. But Henry
Mahan wrote a tract entitled Nine Bible Words About Giving. And this was such a blessing
to me. As a matter of fact, I'm going to put it in the bulletin
next week. I ran across it and I thought, this is so good. But
he gives nine Bible words with regard to giving. And the first
word is grace. Therefore, as you abound in everything
in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence, and you're
loved to see that you abound in this grace also. Giving's a grace, isn't it? It's
just as much a gift of grace as faith is a gift of grace.
What a gift of grace if the Lord enables you and I to give willingly. What a grace. The second word
is love. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 8, I speak
not by commandment but by the occasion of the forwardness of
others to prove the sincerity of your love. If you love somebody,
you give. It's that simple. If you love
somebody, you enjoy giving to them. It's a love issue, it's
a trust issue, it's a love issue. Also, the third word is willing. 2 Corinthians 8, 12, I speak
not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of, well,
I'm giving the wrong one. Willing, there must first be
a willing mind. If you don't want to give, don't
give. Do you think the Lord needs your money? You know, he's got
a lot of money. He got a lot of money and he doesn't need
anything from me. He doesn't need anything from
you. There must be a willing mind. You must want to give. It's accepted according to what
a man hath and not according to that he hath not. Here's the
fourth scriptural word. First, there's grace, love, willing,
here's the fourth word, proportion. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 2, upon
the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in
store as God hath prospered him. Where's tithing come in? It doesn't.
It doesn't. Let me repeat that. It doesn't. You give as God has
prospered you. That's the rule of giving. We
give as God has prospered us. And then the next Bible word
with regard to giving is everyone. Let everyone lay by him in store. Don't think, well, the people
with money can give. No, you give. Don't think, well,
I'm in top place right now. No, give. Let everyone give in
proportion as God has blessed him. And then the sixth word
is bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9, 6, liberally, generously, he that
soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, he that soweth bountifully, generously. shall reap bountifully. That's the way to give. And then
I love this seventh, uh, scriptural word with regard to giving cheerfully. Second Corinthians chapter nine,
verse seven, every man, according as he purposes in his heart.
So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity because it's
a duty for God love of faith. What? cheerful giver. There's joy in giving, it's a
blessing. And then here's an important
word, as unto the Lord. Colossians 3.23, whatsoever you
do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not to men. Listen,
we're not giving to pay bills. When we give, we're giving as
unto the Lord. That's the purpose in giving,
not any other reason than that. as unto the Lord. And then the
writer to the Hebrews said, forget not. But to do good and to communicate,
to give, forget not. It's ought to be uppermost in
our minds. To give, forget not, for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased. Now remember, The Lord said,
it's more blessed to give than to receive. Those are the words
of the Lord. And what a blessing it is to
give. And the Lord did take notice how they gave. That's pointed
out. He sat there by the treasury
and beheld how they gave as they cast their gifts into the treasury. I love those words, don't you?
It's grace, love, willingly, as God has prospered, everyone,
bountifully, cheerfully, as under the Lord, and forget not. Those are great words with regard,
they're scriptural words, with regard to giving what a blessing
of grace now let's look at our text again 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 now this widow
cast in too much uh that's not going to do anybody any good
and many cast in much. Now let's consider the small
amount and the large amount. Would you be critical of these
people who cast in much? Probably. That's sinful, it's
evil, but it is so easy to be critical of people. What are
they trying to do? Who are they trying to impress?
We could be critical of the poor widow. Why, what'd she lose,
two mites? It's not like she gave that much
in the first place. I mean, you know, she had pretty much nothing
anyway, and there wasn't any great generosity or sacrifice
in that gift. That's the way we would think.
Yeah, we could easily be critical of both people, but let's think
of these people who, out of their abundance, cast in much. Now, I asked Siri, who are the
five richest people in the world? And I knew Bill Gates was one
of them, but I can't say that I knew the rest of them. There's
a guy that owns Telsa, the electronic cars at Elon Musk. He's the richest
man in the world. He has almost $200 billion. There's Mark... Somebody give me his last name.
Yeah. Facebook guy, yeah. He's real
rich. He's got like $150 billion. There's Warren Buffett, there's
Bill Gates, and there's the guy that owns Amazon, Jeff, does
anybody know how to pronounce his name? Bezos, okay. All of
those guys have over $100 billion. Now, let's say one of those guys
gave, wrote out a check to the Todd's Road Grace Church for
a million dollars. Man, can you imagine what good
could be done with that, a million dollars? That's a lot of money.
But if you take, let's just say, and some of these guys are twice
more rich than this, but that would be like somebody Numerically,
if you have that much money, giving a million dollars would
be the same thing as somebody with $100,000 giving $1. Same
thing. Out of their abundance, they
gave much. But this woman, after she gave,
had nothing left. Rich men who perhaps gave a million,
man, they had a whole lot left. They had a whole lot left. They
didn't even miss what they gave. But this woman gave everything,
and in this, we have the true nature of faith. And this is
what this is about. This is not really about giving.
Giving's involved, there's no doubt about it. But this is about
saving faith. Now, the first thing that I would
notice about this widow whom the Lord commended, she gave
not out of her abundance, not out of the meagerness of what
she had, but she gave out of her want. How much do you have when you're
in want? Nothing. Nothing. You remember the prodigal
that went, and he would fain have, he began to be in want,
the scripture says. He began to be in want, same
word. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks
of the swine, and no man gave to him in his want. He had nothing,
nothing. all have sinned here's the way
the word is used all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God the word has come short now in this thing of coming short
of the glory of God how short do you have anything that could
be equal to or be accepted by the glory of God you have nothing
Absolutely nothing this woman gave out of her want, out of
her need. She was destitute. How can you
give when you have nothing? Well, that's the only way you
can believe. When you have nothing, nothing to contribute, no good
works, no experience, you can't believe until you believe from
the place of nothing. What do you have right now? Nothing but Christ. That's a
good place to be. You don't want to be anywhere
else. This woman gave out of her nothingness. Now, the only way you can believe
is when you have nothing, when you're poor and needy. You see,
it's impossible to believe that Christ is all if you have anything.
If you have anything that could recommend you to God, if you
have anything that you look to and think, well, that counts
for something, something I did in my past, something I intend
to do, something, if you have anything that gives you any hope
that maybe God's had favor toward you and you're saved, if you
have anything that comes from you, you cannot trust Jesus Christ
as all. It is impossible. This woman gave out of her want. You only trust him when he's
all you have. You can't enter the straight
gate if you have anything other than Christ. You can't walk along
the narrow way. If you have anything other than
Christ, the only way you can get through and the only way
you can walk this narrow road is if all you have as your acceptance
before God as your hope is the person and work of Jesus Christ,
nothing else. And that's the way it is right
now. That's the way it is right now. Not that's the way you felt
when you were first saved. I'm talking about right now.
You never leave that position. The only thing that she had to
give came from nothing. Is that you? The only thing she had to give
came from her nothingness. And the Lord said that she gave
more than they all. Now, if you have anything, you
can't believe on Christ. Anything you've done or anything
you intend to do. If you have anything, you're
not like this poor widow. She gave out of her utter and
complete destitution her want. Now in casting in these two mites,
we see the act of faith itself. This thing of her casting this
money into the treasury. Now, it's very much like putting
money in the bank. You trust the bank to take care
of it. Now, Aubrey's tried to get us
to take pictures of our checks, and they go straight to the bank.
No way, man. I'm not doing that. I don't know that it's getting
in there that way. I go to the bank physically, and I put it
there. They've got it. But after that,
after that, It's totally up to them to take care of it. I have
no bearing there. It's totally up to them. I can't keep it. If they lose
it all, I'm a loser. If they keep it, I'm in good
shape. The point is, Paul put it this
way in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed, and I am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have, what's
the word? committed, and the word is literally
deposited. I've deposited the entire hope
of my salvation to him. I have nothing else. That's what this woman did. She
threw her two mites, as weak and insignificant as it was,
she put it all to him. And that's, you know, like when
I put money in the bank, I thought before, I thought, you know,
what if the bank fails? Well, I'll lose everything. But as to whether
or not my money's safe, it's up to the bank. As to whether
or not I'll be saved, it is up to the Lord Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. This act of throwing the two
mites in the, Treasury is the work of faith. Now here's where
my hope is. It is finished. And if there's anything else
required, I won't be saved. That is my only hope. Thank God nothing else is needed. I love to think of the words
of the thief. He said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. He didn't say, Lord, remember
what I've done. He didn't say, Lord, forget about what I've
done. He didn't say, Lord, think of
the things that I intend to do, if I could. I mean, you know,
I'm nailed to a cross here, and there's a lot of, I would give,
I would be baptized, I'd do all the, I mean, take into account
that there's things I can't do because of my present. No, Lord,
remember me. When you come as a mighty reigning
king, all I need is for you to remember me. Now what's that
mean? He'll say regarding me, I died
for him. He's mine. Will anything else
need to be said? Will anything have to be brought
up about me? No. Lord, Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Now, the next thing that I would
notice is that she didn't have anything left. She didn't have a plan B. She
didn't have any money hiding away in a Swiss bank account.
She didn't have any secret reserves. She was left with nothing but
being completely dependent upon charity. She had nothing. And she was completely, 100%
dependent upon the charity of the Lord toward her. She's a
charity case. You know, I was thinking when
I was, if there's anybody that's a pure charity case, it's me.
It's me. Now, I know some people would
argue with that and say, no, it's me. Well, as a matter of
fact, every believer here would say, that's me. She had nothing
left to trust in, nothing from her past, no works, no experience. She had nothing in her future
that she could hope she would do. You know, the two biggest
false refuges I know of are yesterday and tomorrow. Looking back to
yesterday, it's some kind of experience. I must be saved because
fill in the blank. That's a false refuge. And tomorrow,
I'll get it straightened up tomorrow. That's a false refuge. It works.
That's all that is. She had nothing but charity. Now, what I thought
of was the leper. How did he approach the Lord? Lord, I'm gonna do things that
are gonna make you make me clean. Lord, I'm gonna accept your offer
of making me clean. I'm going to accept it. That's
so offensive. It's so ridiculous to think in
terms like that. Drew, I appreciated when you
wanted to get rid of that word offer. I hate the word offer
in the gospel, and yet when I sing it, I offer. I thought, he told
us not to do it, but I did it. But gospel's not an offer. It's
not an offer that you accept. That leper, what did he say? Lord, my salvation, my being
clean is utterly and completely in your hands. It's up to you
as to what's going to take place with me. It's up to you as to
whether or not I'll be saved. You can justly leave me to myself
and I'll be damned forever. Whatever you do is right, but
I am in your hand. I don't have any control of this.
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. She cast in all she had, all she had to live on, her living.
She became completely dependent. All her living, it was gone. She was in a place of complete
and utter dependence. And the person I thought of when
I thought of what that was like was Mephibosheth. I'm so thankful
for that man, Mephibosheth. David, from the position of utter
power, said, is there any of the house of Saul that I can
show the kindness of God to for Jonathan's sake? God the Father
says, is there any of the house of Adam that I can show my kindness
to for Christ's sake? Well, the servant, Zeber, Zaba,
however you pronounce his name, he said, well, there's one, but
he's worthless. He's lame in both of his feet,
not just one of his feet, he can't just limp, he's lame in
both of his feet. He can't work for you. He can't fight for you. He can't do anything but be carried. Be completely dependent upon
your charity in every way. Now that is where this woman
was. She cast in all her living and
she was completely 100% dependent upon charity. Now, I wish I could say this
as it ought to be said, but I am so completely dependent on the
Lord Jesus Christ for everything in my salvation. I'm so dependent on Him to be
my surety, to take full responsibility for my salvation before I'm even
around. I have to have that. I have to have God looking to
him for everything for me. I mean everything. If there's
anything left out, I'm toast. I'm not going to make it. My
only hope is that everything God requires of me, he looks
to his son for. Righteousness, sin payment, new
heart, he does it all. I am Completely dependent upon
his law keeping and his perfect life as my personal righteousness
before God. I'm completely dependent upon
his death for my sin payment. I can't pay anything. I'm completely
dependent upon his resurrection as my justification before God
that God said, because of what Christ did, he said concerning
me, he's justified. wholly because of what Jesus
Christ did without any reference to anything I've done. I'm so
dependent upon him to give me life from the dead, to give me
a new heart, to cause me to believe and see my need of him. I am left completely with this. Him bringing
me to the Father. Not me coming behind Him or me
coming alongside of Him, but me being in Him. No man coming
to the Father, but by me. I miss Jerry a case. How about you? I miss Jerry a
case. And you know what the Lord said
with regard to this woman? He said in verse 43, this poor
widow hath cast more in than they all. which have cast into
the treasury, for all they did cast in their abundance, but
she of her want, her lack, her need, her poverty, did cast in
all that she had, even all her living." My living is what he
does for me. I don't have a thing. Now, it was said of Enoch, that
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Now the Lord was
pleased with this widow. What she did, this is faith.
This is the subject here. It's not how much is left in
your account after you give your gift. This is faith. The Lord was pleased with this.
Well, the Lord was pleased with in it. He had this testimony
and this is God's testimony that he pleased God, but without faith. It is what? Impossible to please
him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him now. The only place I find any safety
is having nothing and Christ being all. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that by your grace, We might be like this widow,
poor and needy, with nothing, looking to Christ only, and being
completely dependent upon your charity for Christ's sake toward
us. Grant us saving faith for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.