Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter
8, and I'll be speaking to you this morning from verses 7, 8,
and 9 of 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Let's read these verses together. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence,
and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also.
I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness
of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that you, through his poverty,
might be rich." Now in this chapter, the apostles are encouraging
the believers at Corinth to be gracious and generous in their
giving. He commends and recognizes the
gifts of the Spirit God had graciously given to them in verse 7. Notice
what he says in verse 7. He says, You abound in everything
in faith. They abounded in God-given faith. God-given faith is a very means
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior. They abounded
in faith, being given of God. Not only that, but he says in
utterance, This is the gift of understanding the Gospel, the
understanding of Scripture, and the preaching and declaration
of the Word of God in faith, in utterance, and he says, in
knowledge. They knew who God is. God commanded the light to
shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God that shines in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They abounded in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in
knowing who God is. But not only that, he says, also
diligence. They were zealous about their
labors, a love for the gospel, in spreading the gospel and preaching
the gospel. They were diligent in their labors.
He also commands their love. He said, in your love to us.
They loved the apostle. They heard the gospel from Paul.
But these people in Corinth, these whom God called by His
grace, they loved the truth. They loved the gospel of God's
glory and God's grace, and they loved one another. He says you
do abound in these things. And then he also, in the last
part of verse 7, he says, see that you also abound in this
grace also. Now he's talking about being
generous, abound in giving, giving to those who are in need. See
to it that you're generous in this grace also. Now notice verse
8. Notice what he says in verse
8. Now he said, I speak not by commandment. by commandment."
Now, the Apostle Paul was not commanding them to give. He was
not putting them under a law to give, nor requiring them to
give. He wasn't putting them under
the Mosaic law to give 10%. I know many people practice that
in our day, but it's not scriptural for New Testament, New Covenant
believers to be under that law. His people give willingly and
freely because God has given to them in that manner. but he
motivates them to give, not by fear of punishment, not by promise
of reward, not by putting them or threatening them with the
law, but he motivates them to give by considering three things.
In verse 8 he points out two of them, by pointing out the
example of others, but by the occasion of the forwardness of
others. Now up in verse 2 he talks about
those who in Macedonia, even though with all their affliction
and their trial and the abundance, Even though they were in trial
and affliction, they had abundance of joy, and in their deep poverty
they abounded unto the riches of their giving. Even though
they were in trial, in heartache, and they were impoverished, yet
they found generosity in their heart to give to others who were
in need." And he points to their example and tries to motivate
them to give by this example. The second thing he says here
in verse 8 is, "...by causing them to prove the sincerity of
your love. Now, how are you going to prove
that you love God and love the gospel? Well, I tell you, the
proof is in the pudding. The proof is in prove by your
love for Him by loving and giving to others. But down in verse
9, we see the master motivation for every believer to give and
to be generous and to be gracious to others. Notice verse 9, and
here's what I want to camp on this morning. He said, For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be rich." Now, when you consider giving, when you consider
forgiving and being gracious, consider how the Lord Jesus Christ
gave. Consider how He loved. Consider
how He forgave. You see, my friend, it is the
love of Christ that constrains us, not the law. Not fear of
punishment, but Christ constrains the believer. Now, let's look
at five things from verse 9. He says, for you know, you know. You see how he begins this? He
says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
I ask this question, what do believers know? What do believers
know? My friend, faith is not born
of ignorance. Real faith is born of true knowledge
of God revealed from the inspired Word of God. Listen to this scripture
in 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. Paul is writing to this young
preacher and says, "...thou from a child hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and God uses this Word that's
inspired of God to teach us the truth about the true God. So faith is not born of ignorance.
Real faith is born of true knowledge of God revealed from the inspired
Word. We know whom we have believed. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him. We know whom we have believed,
that God is able, that God is sovereign. We know all things
are working together for our good, as Paul said in Romans
8, 28. And we know that it is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
that redeems us from our sin. These are the things believers
know. We know that salvation is all of grace, all of grace. From beginning to end, it's all
of the grace of God. We know by experience the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He elected a people by His sovereign
grace. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. He justifies His people by His
grace, justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ, Romans 3, 24. He called us by His sovereign
grace, 2 Timothy 1, 9. He keeps us by His saving power,
His saving grace, 1 Peter 1 verse 5. He glorifies us by His grace
being accepted in the Beloved to the praise of the glory of
His grace. We know the doctrines of grace
by the revelation of God to our heart, but we also know the grace
of the doctrine by God's regeneration. He's made us new creatures in
Christ. That's the first thing we know.
Now something else he says in this verse 9, 2 Corinthians 8-9,
he says, you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or you
know the graciousness and the love and the mercy and the forgiveness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, grace was the source
of His coming to seek and to save that which was lost. Grace
is the fountainhead of all covenant blessings. It was grace that
caused the Lord Jesus Christ to assume humanity. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was grace. It was by the
grace of God that He stood as our substitute, as our mediator,
as our advocate. It was by the grace of God that
He took our sin to Himself. It was by the grace of God that
He ever lives to intercede for us. It's by grace that Christ
saves us, my friend. It's all of grace. You remember
in Acts chapter 15, verse 11, when they had that counsel to
determine if salvation be of works or of grace? And Peter
stood up and he made this glorious statement. He said, but we believe
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as those Gentile dogs. God saves the Jew the same way
He saves the Gentile. Freely by His grace through Christ. So we know. We know who God is
and we know of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the
third thing he says in verse 9. He says, we know. This is
what believers know. We know that He was rich. Speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was rich because the Lord Jesus
Christ is eternally God. He is infinitely rich. He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. He is rich in all possessions,
all assets. Psalm 24 verse 1 says, The earth
is the Lord and the fullness thereof. All things were made
by Him and for Him. Colossians chapter 1. In John
3, 35, the Father loved the Son and given all things into His
hand. He's rich in possessions. Oh,
the unsearchable riches of Christ. But not only that, here's a second
way in which He is rich. He's rich in the perfections
of His nature. Paul said in Romans 11, Oh, the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,
how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. He's rich, yes, my friend, in
possessions. He's God of all the earth, but
He is rich in the perfections of His nature. You listen to
Paul in Colossians chapter 1, verse 19, "...in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He is infinitely holy. Such a high priest became us
who was wholly harmless. undefiled and separated from
sin. He is absolutely sovereign in all things. The Father hath
given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as the Father hath given him. He possesses all knowledge. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. God foreknows all things by his
eternal and infinite decree. God is immutable in his person.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob,
you are not consumed in Malachi 3, 6. He is plenteous in redemption. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is plenteous redemption. You see what he is
saying? He is rich in his perfection because he is God. He delights
to show mercy. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He is ever loving to his people.
He has loved us with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness has he drawn us." But notice the fourth thing he says
in verse 9. He said, Oh, you know the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, and then
look what he says, yet, yet for your sakes he became poor. He impoverished himself with
our humanity. You listen to Paul in Philippians
2. He says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He became God Almighty, took unto himself our humanity. His humanity is a poor thing
when compared to His deity, not that by becoming a man He ceased
to be God or lost His divine perfection. He remained what
He was and became what He was not, flesh and dwelt among us.
He identified with our humanity, for as much as His children were
partakers of flesh and blood, Hebrews 2.14, He likewise took
part of the same. He identified with our humanity
apart from sin, but wait a minute. He also identified with our sin
as our scapegoat, as our sacrifice. God made Him to be sin for us. God imputed the sin of God's
people, God's elect unto Him at Calvary. And He suffered the
wrath of God bearing our sin and His own body on the tree.
He identified with our humanity, and yes, my friend, He identified
with the sin of God's people. God made him to be sin for us. He was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. Now notice this. He says he did
this for your sake. For your sake. Now who's he writing
to here? He's writing to believers. He's
writing to the church of God. He didn't assume our nature and
our sin for the benefit of fallen angels, nor for the sake of all
mankind. Now will you hear me? Please
listen to me now. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die with an effort to render all men into a savable state. He didn't die to make salvation
a possibility. The Lord Jesus Christ made effectual,
perfect, and eternal atonement for God's sheep, and they shall
never perish. He laid down His life for His
elect, for His people, for the church of God. Paul said in Acts
20 verse 28 that he purchased a church with his own blood.
He obtained redemption for his people. He laid down his life
for the sheep. He did this for his beloved bride,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now lastly, we see this,
that you through his poverty, you through his sacrifice, you
through his death, through his blood might be rich." What's
he saying here? That we who are sinful, guilty,
unjust might be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight, being heirs of God and joint
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how can this be? Only one
way, my friend, through the suitable sacrifice of a substitute named
Jesus Christ, being made heirs of God and joint heirs in Christ. You know and understand, he is
not talking about gold and silver, but spiritual blessings in Christ. That's what he's talking about.
Our riches that we have are spiritual riches. Colossians 2, 9 and 10,
"...in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, And we,
believers, are complete in Him. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. He's made us kings and
priests under our God. He wiped out our indebtedness
to God's holy justice and gave us His blessed righteousness
freely imputed to us, Romans 4, 6. Blessed is the man to whom
God would impute righteousness without work. Now, these blessings,
my friend, are not temporal, but they're eternal. He saved
us with an everlasting salvation. He redeemed us with an everlasting
redemption. He obtained eternal redemption
for us, and He has given unto us an everlasting righteousness. Now, in closing, listen to this.
If the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ does not incite, motivate,
engage you to be gracious, forgiving, and generous, meek, loving to
others, it is because that you are a stranger to the grace of
Almighty God. You remember what Peter said
to old Simon Magus in Acts chapter 8? He said, I perceive that thou
were in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. My friend, the grace of God motivates
us and causes us to be gracious to others. Now, if you would
like a copy of today's message, you write to me and I'll send
it to you free of charge. My address is 6088 Zebulon Highway,
Pikeville, Kentucky, 41501.